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The Absurdity of Using God’s Word Out of Context

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Wolfgang Hasselmann (2020), public domain

The Bible contains many surprises: reversals of fortune, shocking victories, demoralizing deaths, and (spoiler!) resurrection. But plenty of claims and commands in the Bible remain elusive. Despite reading the Bible for years, some Christians have missed important truths.

I’m here to change that.

Three Bible Surprises

Now readers may not like what they are about to read. They may find it shocking or even offensive. But I’m only reporting what the Bible says.

Windows are evil. Most readers can probably look out a window where they are sitting right now, but perhaps they should reconsider. Here is how this truth emerges in God’s word.

  • “Windows” — 1 Kings 7:5
  • “are” — Ecclesiastes 12:3
  • “evil” — Proverbs 2:14

(Should this principle be used to advocate against certain computer operating systems? I’ll leave that for personal application.)

Everyone should own four camels. Readers may be tempted to dismiss this as antiquated advice that modern Christians no longer need to follow; remember, this is found in Scripture!

  • “Everyone” — Genesis 16:12
  • “should” — Psalm 25:12
  • “own” — John 10:12
  • “four” — Isaiah 11:12
  • “camels” — Judges 6:5

Dance all night on your neighbor’s roof. Here we have another clear command from the Bible. Will following this command cause persecution? Perhaps! But God’s people have frequently suffered for the truth.

  • “Dance” — Psalm 150:4
  • “all” — Genesis 2:20
  • “night” — Joshua 1:8
  • “on” — Genesis 1:11
  • “your” — Genesis 3:5
  • “neighbor’s” — Exodus 20:17
  • “roof” — Deuteronomy 22:8

Quoting Verses

I’ve never seen anyone use the Bible in the way I did in the previous section (though some “word studies” aren’t far off). It’s ridiculous to pick words from all over the Bible, string them together in an order of my choosing, and then claim the resulting statement is from God.

The sobering truth is that when we pluck phrases or words from their Scriptural context and string them together, we’re not doing much better. We have an entire series of articles on this website as evidence. When we use a verse outside of its original context, we risk missing some of the meaning or getting the point wrong entirely.

The common answers to these questions are likely missing the nuance, depth, or intention of the original author. It’s as true for the Bible as it is for a legal document or even your text messages: context matters.

Avoiding Laughable Mistakes

How can we use the Bible faithfully? How can we learn the truths of Scripture while avoiding these contextual mistakes?

We must learn how to read and study the Bible. Sometimes, we need to relearn how to read and study the Bible. The Bible is not a one-cup coffee maker that we visit for a daily shot of spiritual caffeine; it is a book to which we must give careful attention.

Learning to study the Bible is a process, one done best in the company of other Christians with similar ambitions. We have lots of articles and resources to help!

Bible Study is for Everyone

In our Christian circles, sometimes we absorb the truth that serious Bible study is for professional Christians—pastors, preachers, seminary professors, or counselors. But studying the Bible is for everyone!

God’s word is not beyond your grasp. Reach out your hands and take hold of it, for the Bible contains the best, most important, most hopeful news you’ll ever read.

How to Sabotage a Bible Study

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Following in the vein of The Screwtape Letters, Greg Morse posts a letter from a senior demon to his underling with instructions for undermining his patient’s Bible study. The demon first needs to have no fear of allowing his patient to attend a Bible study, as they are so easy to turn toward evil purposes.

Then the senior demon, Wormwood, proposes a course of action that ought to convict us all:

Keep the Bible study merely that: a study.

Bring the Enemy’s word out to be dissected, examined, and (if at all possible) critiqued — but make sure to divide the three strands. They must never read devotionally, theologically, and ethically all together. Keep them to one lane. If your man tends towards a theological bent, give him a heavy head, a shriveled heart, and uncalloused hands. Make him the first to debate, the last to worship, and the first to excuse himself from service.

If devotional, make him sentimental but shallow in his understanding and ignorant to any further application. Let him be deeply affected by his personal devotions but never enough to think too hard or to take the Enemy’s commands too seriously.

And finally, if ethically inclined, let him build his social-justice house without any real love for the Enemy. Let him imagine that he does wonders to advance great causes in the world, all while leaving behind the most significant command: love the Enemy with his all. And his highest mission: Make disciples of all nations. “Lord, Lord did we not . . . ” is one of the most satisfying refrains for our Father Below to overhear just before the patients are placed before us for good.

This is challenging stuff. The rest of Wormwood’s letter to his nephew Globdrop is worth your time.

Check it out!

Context Matters: The Most Commonly Overlooked Life Advice

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Perhaps you’ve heard about the famous Bible verse for graduates: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11). I’ve heard that this verse comes up often in commencement speeches. And why not? It’s packed with inspiring vision and hope for young people about to proceed into young adult life. Sure, people sometimes criticize the way this verse tends to be read (for example, see The Gospel Coalition and Relevant Magazine take it on). Such critics talk a lot about context…exiles…70 years in Babylon…blah blah blah. But if we could only free our minds from these shackles, we’d see that the common usage of this verse doesn’t go nearly far enough.

Context matters. If we keep reading the Bible as a collection of independently assembled proverbial sayings, we’ll discover that we really can look deep within our hearts for ultimate meaning and get whatever we want out of life.

Why Jer 29:11 Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Sometimes people offer a vision for life, prosperity and wellness from that lone verse, Jer 29:11. But it might be good to consider an even more helpful verse, which comes just a few chapters earlier, and therefore clearly applies in the same sort of situation (life advice for young people experiencing a momentous milestone). Jeremiah must have intended this verse for 21st century graduates of Christian high schools. And if I ever have the privilege of speaking at such a school’s commencement ceremony, I will make sure to cover this crucial verse.

Here is the verse:

Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more.’ (Jer 25:27)

Daniel Filho (2006), Creative Commons

Let’s Not Be Merely Hearers of the Word, but also Doers

Here is the word of the Lord! I am prepared to obey God by saying this to them. I hope they are prepared to obey God by living according to it. It doesn’t matter how scared or confused they are about the future; God has spoken his will with utmost clarity. May they not be like the foolish builder, who built his house on the sand. Such is the person who hears the word of God and fails to do it.

If they won’t listen to me, the next verse tells me just what to do:

And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: You must drink!’ (Jer 25:28)

All we have to do is read a single verse, on its own, as though it had been addressed directly to us, and we, too, can enter the third heaven. We don’t even have to wait for our next major milestone. We can put it into practice, and have the time of our lives, this very weekend.

Context matters.