Context | Knowable Word

Context Matters: O, Death, Where is Your Sting?

February 25, 2022 By Peter Krol

This is a guest post by Clint Watkins. Clint is a missionary with DiscipleMakers in Lancaster, PA. His passion is to help sufferers find hope through honest wrestling. He blogs at frailfather.com, and you can find him on Instagram @clintdwatkins.

Perhaps you’re familiar with these hopeful and defiant questions: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” You may have sung them on Easter Sunday to revel in Jesus’ triumph and deliver death a lyrical one-two punch. Or maybe you have stood silent as others around you sang victoriously—you believe that Jesus overcame death’s power, but you have felt defeated by death’s pain.

Whatever your experience is with these questions, they reverberate with hope. Jesus conquered the grave. The tomb is empty. We’ve been set free.

But could our taunting of death be premature?

Context matters. When we learn to read the Bible as it is—not merely as an archive of lyrics for happy songs—we may find our most cherished verses to provide even deeper hope than we imagined.

Resurrection Matters

These rhetorical questions come from 1 Corinthians 15, one of the most important chapters in your Bible. Some believers were saying Christ did not rise. So Paul realigns their history and theology.

If there is no resurrection then we have some serious issues: preaching is pointless (1 Cor 15:14), faith is worthless (1 Cor 15:14), we’re still in our sin (1 Cor 15:17), and the dead have perished forever (1 Cor 15:18). If Jesus did not rise then we have no hope beyond the grave and Christians are “of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:19). So we should just party hard until we die (1 Cor 15:32).

Christian faith rests entirely on Jesus’ resurrection. If it did not happen, we are magnificent fools. But Paul establishes the historical fact of the resurrection, verified by hundreds of eyewitness accounts (1 Cor 15:1-11). The empty tomb changes everything.

Jesus’ resurrection reverses the curse of sin. Death is mere sleep for those who are in Christ—just as he rose, so will we (1 Cor 15:20-22). We will exchange our broken frames for glorious bodies (1 Cor 15:35-49). Jesus’ resurrection means life has purpose—what we do matters. Instead of indulging every craving, we ought to live holy lives (1 Cor 15:34) driven by the grace of Jesus’ victory (1 Cor 15:57). Preaching the gospel is not pointless, but is “of first importance” (1 Cor 15:3). So we should “always [be] abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58).

Tense Matters

This brings us to our refrain of questions, which occur in Paul’s crescendo at the chapter’s end. Take note of the verb tenses in this passage:

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
1 Cor 15:51-55

Do you notice how much of this is future tense? We shall not all sleep. We shall be changed. The trumpet will sound. The dead will be raised.

Paul gazes down time’s corridor and describes an unimaginable scene: We are alive, and death is dead.

The resurrection accomplishes the unbelievable. But not all of these promises have been fulfilled yet. This includes the defiant questions we sing so often. Quoting Isaiah 25 and Hosea 13, Paul says, “then shall come to pass the saying that is written.” You might expect him to say these promises have been fulfilled because of Jesus’ resurrection. And that’s how we often use these verses—as a present reality. But Paul’s eyes remain on the future.

We will, one day, mock death at its defeat. We will taunt, “Where is your sting? Where is your victory?” But that day has not yet come.

Death Matters

Why is this distinction important?

In a passage like this, we should hesitate to claim future promises as present reality. We don’t, afterall, profess that our bodies have already been transformed or that Jesus has already returned. These things, including death’s final defeat, are our inheritance in Christ—guaranteed, but not yet dispensed.

Specifically, to declare that death’s sting has already vanished can lead to a casual posture toward death. Excessive triumph can promote Christian dismissiveness. This leads some believers to avoid sorrow while others feel guilty for their grief.

But this passage is not about how to grieve. Elsewhere, we see that Paul does not treat death casually. Losing people hurts. He himself spoke of “sorrow upon sorrow” when he considered his friend’s potential death (Phil 2:27). And he encouraged the Thessalonians to grieve—with hope—for those who died (1 Thess 5:13).

This lines up with how Christ encounters the grave in John 11. How does Jesus respond to death, even when he knows resurrection is imminent? He weeps (Jn 11:35).

As Tim Keller says,

Death is not the way it ought to be. It is abnormal, it is not a friend, it isn’t right. This isn’t truly part of the circle of life. Death is the end of it. So grieve. Cry. The Bible tells us not only to weep, but to weep with those who are weeping. We have a lot of crying to do.

You do not have to dismiss the pain of losing someone you love. Wisdom weeps. Godliness grieves.

We need not ponder where death’s sting has gone. It’s still here. For a little while longer.

Hope Matters

Recognizing this does not dampen resurrection hope—it deepens it. Because the gospel holds our pain in tension with God’s promises. It permits honesty in the face of grief yet assurance that God will resolve our sorrow one day. We still wait for death’s final defeat. Until then, its sting runs deep. Yet the empty tomb of our risen king declares that the sting won’t last forever.

Context matters.

Amazon link is an affiliate link. Clicking it and buying stuff will help us continue laboring but not in vain.

For more examples of why context matters, click here.

Context Matters: The Letter Kills

February 9, 2022 By Peter Krol

“The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Some have read 2 Cor 3:6 in a way that opposes “Spirit-filled” ministry to “Bible-focused” ministry. I have not come across this particular perspective very often, but Graham Heslop has, and does a wonderful job explaining how the verse’s context reveals a different argument in the mind of the Apostle Paul.

Oft quoted, and always from the King James Version for effect, is 2 Corinthians 3:6. There Paul writes: “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” This verse is usually cited in support of Spirit led ministries, over against those that prioritise theology and study. Because the letter kills, so the logic goes, we should not overemphasise detailed teaching or a focus on the Bible. For many, Paul’s statement liberates Christian believers from lifeless, dull, and bookish expressions of faith into the exciting and novel. Lively and Spirit led ministries have put the “letter” away, embracing the life-giving work of the Spirit. But is this really the distinction Paul is making?

Check it out!

Context Matters: Righteous Deeds Are Like Filthy Rags

January 31, 2022 By Ryan Higginbottom

Adapted from Erich Ferdinand (2010), Creative Commons

Perhaps you’ve heard that all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags before God. You’ve been taught that God looks at our works and sees something unclean, a pitiful offering not worthy of his attention.

This phrase is often used to urge sinners to embrace Jesus’s work instead of their own for salvation. But is this a correct use of Isaiah’s words? When we learn to read the Bible as a book and not a loose collection of verses and phrases, we’ll see that some familiar sayings take on different meanings than we’ve always assumed.

No Salvation by Works

This memorable phrase comes from Isaiah 64.

We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

I often hear this verse cited to emphasize the emptiness of pursuing salvation by works. The speaker usually comments on how the “polluted garment” may be the Old Testament version of a menstrual cloth—a vivid and effective image. (In my memory, this was an ingredient in the first presentation of the gospel to which I responded!)

The problem, as you may have guessed, is that this verse is often pulled out of context. And when that happens with this particular phrase, young disciples may be left questioning their efforts to obey God. If God views our deeds as bloody rags, why should we try to do anything righteous?

The Meaning of “Righteous”

How could God hate righteous deeds? We only need to look at the surrounding verses to answer this question.

You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? (Isaiah 64:5)

The first clause in verse 5 shows that God is not against every attempt at righteousness. Further, this helps us understand that the “righteousness” in Isaiah 64:5 cannot be the same as the “righteous deeds” in Isaiah 64:6. God cannot embrace what he calls unclean.

The “righteous deeds” of verse 6 must be ceremonial tasks (or something similar) done by those who have been in their sins a long time (Isaiah 64:5–6). God hates these deeds because they are not righteous at all.

God Our Father

Another key observation about this passage is how the Lord is being addressed. Yes, the people have sinned and turned away, but the prophet (on behalf of the people) is calling on God as “Father.” (This shows up twice in Isaiah 63:16, and also in Isaiah 64:8.)

The rebellion of God’s people can be so great that “righteous deeds” are like polluted garments. This would not be a surprise to Isaiah’s audience, as it formed the spine of his argument in Isaiah 1:10–17. God wanted offerings, incense, and assemblies to stop because the people did them in vain, with their hands full of blood. Going through the motions without love for the Lord is worthless.

God’s people were privileged to call him “Father,” and as their father he wanted their whole-hearted worship. Offering disjointed obedience to the Lord after being seduced by sin is offensive to the One who has been compassionate and merciful (see Isaiah 63:7–14).

In the modern church, the phrase about righteous deeds being like filthy rags is often used to persuade unbelievers. But in the context of Isaiah 64, God’s people are in view. Unlike unbelievers, they knew what righteous deeds were, but they carried them out with cold hearts.

The Dangers of Sin

There are several passages that could be used to instruct unbelievers about salvation by faith alone. That is a glorious truth, and the church should teach it! But we need not resort to pulling this colorful simile out of context to make the point.

The sobering truth of this passage is that God’s people can be deluded. We can chase after sin so much that our attempts to worship and glorify God are offensive to him.

Context matters.

For more examples of why context matters, click here.

The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard

January 12, 2022 By Peter Krol

In Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus tells a famous parable about the owner of a vineyard who hires workers all throughout the day, paying them all the same amount at day’s end. What is the point of this parable?

Jonathan T. Pennington seeks to answer that question, not by digging deep within his own speculations, nor by staring at the sky. He examines historic traditions of interpretation from the context.

In the history of the church, there have been many attempted explanations of this parable. Some suggest the five different hirings represent five stages of world history during which God has called people to Himself, or different stages in life that one may become a Christian. The point, then, is that God is gracious to all and welcomes all into His kingdom, no matter when they were called. Some say the parable is a picture of God’s future kingdom where all saved people receive heaven, no matter how much they have worked for God. The broadest and maybe most popular interpretation is that this parable is simply a picture of God’s incredible and marvelous grace and generosity—the gospel in a nutshell.
Each of these interpretations has some truth in it. But there is something more to be seen. The key is to pay attention to the context that Matthew gives us for this parable.

I encourage you to read his brief piece for another clear example of why context matters.

Check it out!

Context Matters: Have We Not All One Father?

December 1, 2021 By Peter Krol

Malachi 2:10 is a verse that many cults and spiritual gurus use to show that every member of the human race is a child of God, a member of his holy family.

Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?

Bill Muehlenberg simply takes us to the context of this verse to show us that there’s something much different going on in the prophet’s train of thought.

Check it out!

Context Matters: Dashing Little Ones Against the Rock

November 3, 2021 By Peter Krol

Psalm 137:9 offers an alarming benediction on those engaged in a shockingly outrageous behavior: “Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!” What is a serious student of the Bible to make of this, in light of Jesus’ welcoming of little children and his admonition to love one’s enemies?

Joe Palekas has a marvelous piece asking this very question. And to answer it, he takes a thorough tour of the context of Psalm 139:9. He looks at the literary context and train of thought in the poem itself. He looks at historical context when it was written. He looks at the larger literary context of the arrangement of psalms. He looks at the covenantal context, particularly in light of Isaiah’s predictions of the Day of the Lord to be brought against Babylon in Isaiah 13. Palekas looks at the context of the fulfillment in Christ. And he examines how all these contexts then lead us to application in our day and point in history.

In the end, he reaches the following conclusion:

Now Psalm 137 begins to become clearer. The community of exiles weeping by the waters of Babylon are calling for the day of the LORD. God has promised his covenant people that he will return them from exile and visit a just reward upon their captors. He promised this before he even sent them to exile. Psalm 137 contrasts the “day of Jerusalem” with the day of the LORD promised in Isaiah 13 and alluded to in Psalm 137:9. The astonishing and overwhelming image of dashing infants on the rocks is not the product of some twisted or vengeful human imagination. It is a call for God to be faithful to his covenant promises.

This is some terrific Bible study and contextual thinking at its finest. If you’ve ever wondered about that line about bashing babies on rocks, I encourage you to check it out. And if you’d like to see a skillful example of how context matters, I also encourage you to check it out!

Context Matters: The Man of Lawlessness

October 1, 2021 By Peter Krol

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Man of Lawlessness, otherwise known as the lawless one, who “opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thess 2:4). Sometimes connected with the Beast of Revelation and the Antichrist of John’s letters, this mysterious figure appears in a rather difficult passage, which is certainly to be numbered among those writings of Paul which are hard to understand (2 Peter 3:15-16). Yet the figure has become something of a staple in Christian fiction and end-times theology. What are we to make of him?

We always need to pay attention to the context of our favorite verses and phrases. When we learn to read the Bible for what it is—and not just as a code to crack—we may find it has a deeper or different meaning than we’ve assumed.

The Immediate Context

Notice how Paul explicitly introduces this character to his readers:

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself…
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4

Please take a close look once again: “Now concerning the coming of … Jesus … and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed…”

So we may have great confidence that Paul is writing about the coming of Jesus and our being gathered together to him. There is much disagreement over what exactly those things mean, along with when and how they take place. But there ought to be no disagreement whatsoever regarding why Paul is writing about these events. That is, he wants to prevent his readers from being shaken or alarmed. He wants to correct the deception that abounds in Christian teaching and writing regarding these events. He wants to make sure his audience, the church at Thessalonica, knows what to look for before the coming of Jesus or gathering of the saints can take place. And this foreknowledge, when truthfully presented, will neither shake them up nor alarm them.

Therefore we can confidently conclude that, sadly, this passage has been used for centuries, contrary to its stated purpose, to create alarm among those who love the Lord Jesus. Whatever conclusions we may draw about the identity or timing of this Man of Lawlessness and his rebellion, any use of this text that provokes shaken minds or alarmed spirits among Christian brothers and sisters is a deception and a misuse of the text in direct violation of its context.

Let us ensure that the sensational but unclear parts of this text do not overshadow the abundantly clear comfort being offered to believers in Christ through it.

The Broader Context

And the broader context points in precisely the same direction.

Paul’s first letter begins with thanks to God for the people’s “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess 1:2-3). This triple theme of faith, love, and hope can be traced through the letter as Paul’s chief focus. You are doing well in these three areas; now excel still more. (See my upcoming interpretive overview of 1 Thessalonians for more detail.)

But by the time he writes his second letter, only a few months later, something is missing. The object of his thanks is now that their “faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one” of them for one another is increasing (2 Thess 1:3). Some commentators have tried to identify the presence of hope in the following sentence (“Therefore we ourselves boast … about your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions” – 2 Thess 1:4), but it is telling that Paul now links their steadfastness not with hope—which was so prominent in the first letter—but with faith. Instead, Paul seems to remind them of the hope which was once theirs and could be yet again:

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

In many ways, the brief letter of 2 Thessalonians is about regaining hope, receiving its comfort through grace. The church was once characterized by faith, love, and hope. They have continued abounding in the first two; they now need to regain the comfort of the third.

And Paul’s teaching on the Man of Lawlessness is delivered with this purpose in mind. Not to shake them up or alarm them, but to deliver to them eternal comfort and good hope through grace that they might be established in every good work and word.

Conclusion

We ought to be careful not to be seduced by sensational topics, lest we miss the express purpose for which the Lord has revealed such things to us. As Paul had said while he was with them (2 Thess 2:5): Yes, the man of lawlessness and his rebellion must come before the day of the Lord. This is not to alarm you but to comfort you, so you know you haven’t missed it.

Context matters.

For more examples of why context matters, click here.

Sometimes We Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Apply Scripture

September 1, 2021 By Peter Krol

Pierce Taylor Hibbs has a really helpful piece entitled “Christian, Here’s When You’re Allowed to Apply Scripture.” In it, he laments the way too many of us too often use the Scripture.

Much of the time, we’re pigeons grabbing bread crumbs of information and entertainment. And that crumb-picking habit carries over into our understanding and application of Scripture. We’re not asking questions of a text, working through context in widening circles, or even using our God-given reason to reach understanding. Instead, we’re crumb-picking. We grab a friend’s complaint here, a Facebook comment there, and a Scripture passage we found through a Google search, and boom: we’ve got an “argument,” an arrow to shoot in conversation. And because we’re quoting Scripture, it appears to be biblical. But let’s be clear: Quoting a Bible verse doesn’t mean you’ve made a biblical argument.

He then proposes that what authorizes someone to make use of the Scripture in application is that they have first done the hard work of observing it in its original context and interpreting it in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ. He then walks through a 3-step process, showing how to do this difficult work, with the example of an easy-to-misuse verse: “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim 1:7).

This article is well worth your time. Check it out!

What Does “All Israel Will Be Saved” Mean?

August 11, 2021 By Peter Krol

In Romans 11:26, Paul makes a statement that has baffled interpreters for generations: “And in this way all Israel will be saved.” New Testament professor Jared Compton has attempted to explain the key phrase, “all Israel will be saved,” in this brief piece.

Compton approaches the topic through a series of four interpretive questions:

What does he mean by “saved”?
What does he mean by “Israel”?
What does he mean by “all”?
What does he mean by “will be”?

To be frank, I would probably disagree with Compton’s answers to a few of these questions. But I’m eager to link to his article anyway because he models some excellent Bible study skills in the process of seeking to answer his (insightful) questions. He engages with the text. He observes carefully. He reckons with the context of Paul’s argument in the chapter and this section of Romans.

Even if I might disagree with a few of the answers, based on further observation and investigation of the same text, I have much trust that Compton would be a fellow with whom one could have a productive debate on such things. One who isn’t committed to a particular theology despite the text, but one who may arrive at a set of theological conclusions precisely because of the text. I am happy to send you his way to consider his careful handling of this challenging topic.

Check it out!

« Previous Page