Searching for Context

One day my family and I were at the grocery store. We were about halfway through when my mom looked at the list. She said a few items we still needed. One of the items was Apple cider. My dad said, "well we missed that. It's with the fruit." Mom said, "No, it's with the tea." There was a bit of discussion. Then I said, "mom is talking about the Apple cider mix that's with the tea bags and hot chocolate." That's when everyone finally understood.

In this situation if you didn't know the context of what you were looking for then you may have grabbed the wrong cider; or, gone to the wrong area to get the cider. This situation is also like in books. If a person takes a sentence out of a book they are losing the context. There is a particular book that this happens with a lot: the bible.

People like to take certain verses out of the bible and use them individually. When you do that you are missing part of the message. I'm not saying it's not okay to take a verse out of the bible to memorize it. But, you shouldn't use the verse in the wrong way if you explain it.

Christians should know how important it is to not take the bible out of context. Yet, people still do it today. What can we do when bible verses are taken out of context? How can we know when a verse is taken out of context? First we need to know the bible. In Joshua 1:8 it says:

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

If we don't know the bible then we won't know when a verse is taken out of context. That's why over and over the bible tells us to know the word. That's the way we can know the will of God. That's why it is important to spend time in the word each day, so we know God.

When we hear that someone has taken a verse out of context what should we do? We should keep them accountable. Galatians 6:1 says:

"My friends, if someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should set him right; but you must do it in a gentle way. And keep an eye on yourselves, so that you will not be tempted, too."

Did you catch that? We are to set people right when they are caught in wrong doing. But, we are not to do it in a mean way. We are to be gentle. We are to correct them in love.

So, do you take the bible out of context? Do you know the word enough to know when a verse is taken out of context? Will you choose to keep others accountable if you hear someone take a verse out of context?

Image from here.