06 the context of your text
To think about …
Consider how the four types of context might help you interpret
Isaiah 53
Luke 7:1-10
Acts 5:1-10
Transcript
Hello and welcome back to our masterclass
My name is Ian White and right now we’re going to take our next step towards crafting a sermon.
We’re likening the crafting of a sermon to creating a bridge
(here’s our bridge)
On one side we have between the world of the Bible and on the other we have the world of today
and our aim is to allow the inspiration for God which flowed through the Bible to reach the hearts and minds of people today as we preach to them.
So in this segment we’re going to take a passage from the Bible,
I’m assuming you’ve already read it and prayed through it, and in this film we’re going to be considering how to get an understanding of the context of a passage
and why this is such a valuable thing to do when we’re going to be unpacking God’s word for his children.
Let me illustrate how important context is by telling you about an unfortunate incident that happened to me a few years ago.
I encountered a man with two female accomplices and he was carrying a knife. Before I was really aware of what was happening he cut me across my face.
Did the police catch him? no.
Was there any CCTV to identify him, no.
Is he still out there to do the same again, presumably yes.
Now before we get too indignant about this, let me tell you the context.
This incident took place in a hospital operating theatre and the man wielding the knife was the surgeon.
His two accomplices were theatre nurses and he was removing a growth from my face.
And they did a really good job
Here’s the point
Now you know the context of the incident, your interpretation of the event is rather different!
It’s a very similar story when we’re interpreting the Bible.
Unless we have some idea of the context of the passage we’re working on,
-
we can be in danger of arriving at conclusions that were never intended by the biblical authors.
-
And never intended by our heavenly Father!
In fact one of the really useful things we can do for our people when we preach is help them identify the context of the passage we’re speaking on.
-
Who said it, and what was going on at the time?
Context is vital to our understanding of the Bible.
However, developing understanding is not the only way context helps us
If we use context only to grasp the meaning of the text we miss out on a key aspect of the bible’s power and that is to do its ability to evoke wonder in us.
-
to speak to us today – in our context
-
by the inspiration of God’s spirit.
This is the ring I gave my wife Rosi when we got engaged to be married in November 1978
-
It’s a diamond solitaire –
-
a single stone mounted in a beautiful setting
-
but I expect you can see that diamond is about the size of a grasshopper’s kneecap.
-
At this point size didn’t really matter – we were both students and it was the very best I could afford at the time.
-
She was worth it – and still is!
It’s the context, the setting (in a ring) that makes that diamond special.
-
If I just held that tiny diamond in my hand or saw it on my desk, I could easily brush it away as a chip glass
But when this diamond, albeit a modest one, is mounted in a ring, and given on a special day, immediately it takes on an altogether different perspective.
-
That’s the ring which marked our engagement
-
That’s the ring that signified that our marriage was on the way
-
and that’s the ring we both look back at now as a treasured possession of our early life together.
Its context makes it special.
Its the same with the Bible.
-
There are times when quite modest words take on an altogether different significance because of where they are placed – their context.
Think about the two words ‘but God’. By themselves an insignificant pair of words, but in context their significance and their weight becomes obvious (Romans 5:7)
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
“But God”!
These words, taken by themselves, might easily be disregarded, but because of their setting, their context they become something of wonder and worship.
IN a moment we’ll look at different types of context
Before we do, one really important principle when getting to grips with the Bible .
Before context, establish genre
Genre = The style of writing
Examples:
history –
-
Samuel and Kings. Who did it, what was happening, and why.
poetry –
-
Contains evocative language, vivid images and metaphors. There’s also Hebrew parallelism to appreciate. This is where the same thought is expressed two, or sometimes three, different ways using alternative words. This creates a much more rounded, nuanced, concept than the phrases by themselves.
Letter –
-
like the letters of Paul in the New Testament, The difficulty with a letter, especially Paul’s letters, is we only have one side of the conversation. We have to do our best to infer what was said to Paul which caused him to respond as he did.
gospel –
-
history with a motive!
prophecy –
-
Isaiah 6 & 53 – Hearing God’s word and retelling / preaching compellingly
wisdom –
-
Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes
fiction –
-
parables
Sometimes genre is unknown!
So ask yourself the question (usually quite straightforward to answer) “What kind of writing am I dealing with here?”
-
If, for example, it’s poetry, you’re going to handle it differently from if it’s history.
-
Poetry we take more figuratively, history we take more literally.
So what about context?
Four different types of context
That personally I find useful to inform me when it comes to doing exegesis
The surrounding passage
-
Verses – e.g. 2Cor 12:9 – compare 12:1 – the thorn in the flesh was given to Paul to stop him becoming conceited!
-
paragraph – e.g. Matt 5-7. Sermon on the mount. Sections. Summary?
-
section (e.g. chapter – 1 Corinthians 13 – between 12 and 14)
-
so Paul’s primary application was to do with Spiritual gifts and how, regardless of how impressive my gifts might be, we’re always to use them with love, consideration and empathy.
-
I might have the voice of an angel, but if I don’t use it with love, it’s no more than a foghorn!
-
There’s not a wedding in sight!
-
Don’t get me wrong – 1 Corinthians 13 is a great passage with soaring principles for healthy marriages (and workplaces) – but that wasn’t the original intention!
The position in the book
Where this passage fits into the book e.g. Job & conversation with 3 friends
How far along the story are we when we read these verses or this chapter?
The surrounding society
For this we need to dig into the history of the time.
Really vital for using bridge method well!
We’ve already considered how markedly different their society was from ours
E.g. Nathaniel asks “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
-
In their society, Nazareth was known as a bit of a sink estate
-
So that’s a rhetorical question.
-
Actually something really good and honourable is coming out of Nazareth – that’s Jesus himself!
E.g. Paul at the end of a Roman general’s victory parade 1 Cor 4:9
-
Paul being displayed like one of the spoils of war.
The salvation story
The salvation story is God’s mega-narrative that runs right through the Bible.
It describes God’s eternal plan to deal with the problem of human sin.
It’s set amongst the history of God’s people and reaches its climax in the person and work of Christ.
And still continues to this day.
Began with
Creation – God made us
>>>
Fall – we rebelled
>>>
Covenant – God promised
>>>
Exile – We rejected
>>>
Jesus & cross -resurrection ascension – God came
>>>
Church – we received (although not everyone
>>>
return – God will come again.
>>>
E.g. is Jesus ahead of us or behind us?
Take Isaiah 53, for example
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Who is the ‘him’?
It’s position in the salvation story tells us that Jesus hadn’t yet arrived.
Of course, we can see Jesus written all over it, but Isaiah couldn’t – so who was he talking about?
-
And what did his first hearers understand by it?
Psalm 22 – similar. Why was David feeling so intensely that God had abandoned him?
Romans 8 – after the emergence of the church
-
where we are today, so the principles apply more directly.
I find it rather sobering to realise that many of the Bible character I look up to had so little of the story
-
yet they still knew so much about God and his work.
What did the people know so far? (Genesis diff from Revelation!)
-
Moses – only had the law + Job
-
Jesus – only had the OT
-
Paul had Jesus + some writings
-
We have the whole lot!
Usually I find all of these tell me something about the passage I’m studying and I encourage you to make a few notes about each of them as you prepare.
Out of context – the problems that occur
Simple example “money is the root of all evil” >>>
E.g phrase “God is love” (1 John 4:7-16)
Out of its context, we might come away thinking that our God loves everything and everyone at all times with a gushing, romantic love.
… and I have heard that preached – you might have done too!
But “love” here refers to agape love, sacrificial love,
-
costly sacrifice for the benefit of another, not a sentimental, romance.
Textual context is what gives the game away – John not teaching about God’s love here.
-
he’s teaching about how to distinguish true believers from false believers.
His answer? True, sacrificial love is the mark of the true believer (v. 7),
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves (sacrificially and at a cost to themselves) has been born of God and knows God.
And the converse is also the case
8 Whoever does not love (like this) does not know God, because God is love. (that’s what he’s like!)
God loved us before we loved Him (vv. 9-10), and all of this is why we should love one another and thereby prove that we are His (v. 11-12).
Furthermore, considering the phrase “God is love” in the context of all of Scripture will keep us from coming to the false (and common), conclusion that
-
God is only love or that or
-
His love trumps all His other attributes
We know from other passages that God is
-
holy and righteous,
-
faithful and trustworthy,
-
gracious and merciful, kind and compassionate,
-
omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient,
-
and many, many other things. We also know from other passages that God not only loves, but He also hates.
So to sum this up
When you’re considering your passage of scripture give some weight to it’s context.
And different types of context will reveal different insights for you to preach from.
Some examples
Use well-known passages to experiment
-
John 3:16
-
Psalm 23:4
-
Philippians 2:1-7