Why Bible Study – Part V
Ever had an awkward moment where someone overheard you say something and mistook your meaning because they only heard part of what you said? They took it out of context, making you look bad.
Because the Bible contains so much, we can easily bend what it actually says to what we want to hear. If you want more rules, you can find them. If you want endorsement for your sinful lifestyle, you can pull out words to support you.
This happens when you don’t look at the Bible as a whole and compare sections with each other. For instance, have you heard this verse before?
“Judge not, and you will not be judged.” Luke 6:37
People use it often to say, “Don’t judge me. Jesus doesn’t. I can do whatever I want.”
But look at the whole section around that verse.
Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.
Jesus said those words while talking about doing good to others. Yes, we are not to look down on people. But Jesus wasn’t saying, “Do whatever you want!”
By understanding Jesus’ teaching more comprehensively, we learn that there is judgment for breaking God’s law. God the Father is our judge and Jesus agrees with his judgment. God the Holy Spirit convicts people of the judgment coming for their sin. And Jesus died on the cross to take away our judgment.
So there is more to the topic of judging in the Bible than people like to think. But you might not know that if you didn’t look at the bigger picture.
This Christmas season we’re talking at church about understanding all sides of Jesus and not just “the Christmas Jesus.” As we study God’s word, we gain a richer understanding of all the ways he works. He is so amazing that to see only a part of who he is means we miss out on so much. We may dangerously misinterpret important truths in his word.
So when reading the Bible, our first mission should be to figure out what God was saying to the people who first received his words. What is the occasion and purpose of each book or even each story? What’s going on in this passage, and why is the author saying this to his readers? This is context.
We have to answer these questions before asking “What’s the point for me?” This helps protect us from assuming meaning in the words that isn’t there and twisting the Bible to say what we want it to say.