Matthew Adams has some helpful reflections on our use of context in Bible study. In particular, he’s noticed a trend, where people hand the keys to cultural context to drive the car of interpretation.
Of course, context matters. Context is a crucial aid to interpretation to help us grasp the meaning of the text.
Only after we have understood a passage within its literary context, its historical setting, and its place within the unfolding history of redemption do we finally ask how it addresses our own culture.
But cultural context is not an excuse to deny the plain meaning of the text. Nor is it our job to adjust the Bible to be more palatable in our own culture. So, for example, cultural context may help us to understand why Paul said a particularly difficult thing to a certain audience. But that does not mean we are authorized to dismiss that message as being therefore irrelevant to our cultural audience today.
The mission of the church has never been to make the gospel comfortable within the world. It has been to proclaim the Word of the Lord until every knee bows before King Jesus.
