We have all done it...we all have them those favourite verses, those verses that seem to speak to us, those verses that resonate with where we are, those verses that at any one time God seems to be using to speak to us.
Yet how often do we stop to consider the context of these verses? If we did would these verses continue to bring us such encouragement, such joy and pleasure?
The most obvious example that springs to mind is Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare[b] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (ESV)
A verse which on the surface of things seems to bring comfort to a people in exile, a verse which speaks of the goodness of God to his people. And in some senses it is that, but is that all it is? Well no, the whole of chapter 29 speaks of a return from exile that is conditioned on the people turning to God, seeking him with their whole heart.However there is also a note of judgement in this chapter because God will judge the kings in the line of David, verse 17 doesn't seem as encouraging as verse 11 does it,
‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,19 because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’ (ESV)
Yet this is from the same passage from the same letter from the same book of the bible. It has to be said that verse 17 is in some senses the outworking of verse 11, that this sword, pestilence and famine are all part of the plans that LORD has for them. The plans in the immediate future may not be pleasant, may not be welcome but ultimately it is for the peoples good.
We consider another famous example from 2 Chronicles 7:14if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (ESV)
Without looking tell me the context? The context is the finishing of the building of God's temple, the glory of the LORD coming and dwelling in the temple. The idea is of the consecration of the temple as the place where God's presence would be physically.For us today to simply take this and use it as a call to prayer probably isn't appropriate, unless of course we happen to be in the temple.
For us to apply either of these two passage to us directly without first going through the lens of Jesus Christ isn't right. Only when we see that Christ is where we meet with God today do we understand 2 Chronicles 7, only when we see that in Christ our sin has been forgiven will we understand 2 Chronicles 7, only when we see Christ and has painful death can we truly appreciate the plans that the LORD has for us.
Yet the question may be so what? Why does this matter? Well it matters because if we pursue this practice of taking texts out of context it makes it very easy to make the bible say things that the bible doesn't say.
Think about 1st Corinthians 7:1
Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman (ESV)
Without the context we could argue that Paul is actually advancing homosexuality,, celibacy or any number of things, the context shows us that actually what Paul is arguing for is marriage between one and and one woman because of the danger to sin.Now what am I saying? Don't have favourite verses? Don't have verses that encourage you in difficult times absolutely not but what Im saying is remember that those verses have a context, a situation into which they were written originally, remember that and don't jump to it being all about me.
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