Did you know that it says in the Bible there’s no God? It’s right there in Psalm 14: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”
I know; it’s a silly point. The psalmist obviously isn’t saying God doesn’t exist, he’s quoting a fool who thinks that. But this example illustrates something very important: everything we read in Scripture, and in fact everything we read anywhere, has a context. More than that, the meaning of what we read is controlled by, and to a large degree even determined by, its context.
Context has multiple levels, three of which are considered by Biblical scholars to be the most important; the literary context, the canonical context, and the historical/cultural context. Literary context refers to the role of the text in question within its surroundings; a word within a sentence, a sentence within a paragraph, and so forth. This includes understanding what genre, or kind of literature, we are dealing with. Canonical context extends this to the entirety of Scripture. And historical/cultural context deals with the expectations and ways of understanding that the original readers would have had.
Literary Context
The example I started with illustrates literary context; the words, sentences, paragraphs, etc. that come before and after the phrase in question tell us what is actually meant. This is the first kind of context most people think of. I don’t think I need to say very much about this kind of context, because most of us learned about it in school.
And yet, I do see this kind of context being ignored much too frequently. To give just one example, I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard or read somebody quoting from the book of Job without taking into account which speaker in that book is being quoted. Direct quotes in the Bible are accurate, in the sense that the person quoted really did say what the Bible records, but we can not assume in every case that what that person said was necessarily the truth. In several places the Bible quotes Satan, after all! In the case of Job, there are six major characters (Job himself, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, Elihu son of Barakel and God), only one of whom is presented as being entirely correct.
Paying attention to the literary context also means understanding the different types of literature found in the Bible, and how each of them is intended to be understood. It’s hardly surprising if, for instance, a passage that’s structured as a poem also uses poetic, rather than literal, language. And it also means recognizing what topic a particular passage is dealing with. Even if the passage includes universal language (always, never, all, etc.), it might still have been intended to only be universal within that topic. A classic example of this is Philippians 4:13, in which Paul is talking specifically about getting along with or without the financial support of his partners.
Canonical Context
The canonical context of a passage in the Bible is the role that it plays within the totality of Scripture. As Christians, we recognize that the Bible is not just a random collection of ancient writings, but the revelation of God’s own self to humanity. It had many different human authors, but all of them were inspired by the same Holy Spirit. God did not reveal himself all at once, however, but gradually, over the course of many generations. The result of this is that later passages often extend, comment on, or help to explain earlier parts of the Bible. To correctly understand what a particular passage is saying, we need to understand how it fits together with the rest of the Bible.
For a good illustration of this, consider prophecy. I’ve had quite a few people tell me that true prophets must be 100% accurate. If they ever prophesy something that doesn’t happen, they are false prophets. This is based on Deuteronomy 18:22; “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.” That does sound like it’s saying a true prophet will never proclaim something that doesn’t happen. But if that’s the case, what do we do with the prophecy, “forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown?” (Jonah 3:4). The people of that city repented, and we’re told just a few verses later that God did not overthrow the city. Nineveh was not sacked until more than a century afterward. Yet Jonah is not considered a false prophet.
Or consider David. In 1 Samuel 23:7-13 we read that he went to the town of Keilah to escape from Saul. He asked the Lord whether Saul would follow him, and whether the people of Keilah would give him up. God answered yes to both questions, so David left. Then, in 1 Samuel 23:13, it says, “when Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.” So what God said would happen did not happen.
In both cases, it should be obvious that God’s intent was that the people he was speaking to would take warning from the prophecy and behave accordingly. David’s questions, although phrased in terms of the actions of others, were pretty clearly intended to guide his own actions. And God always wants people to repent rather than having to destroy them. (Ezekiel 18:23, 33:11) In fact, God revealed through Jeremiah that prophecies about the future of nations are, by default, dependent upon their actions. (Jeremiah 18:7-10)
God’s word will always accomplish God’s purpose (Isaiah 55:10-11), but not necessarily in the way we expect. The lesson from this example is that we must consider everything that the Scriptures teach, not take individual passages by themselves.
Historical and Cultural Context
If you study Biblical interpretation, you’ll very quickly run into the saying that the Bible was written for us, but it wasn’t written to us. This saying serves as a reminder that every passage of Scripture was written for an audience; a specific person or group of people that God and the human author of that passage were trying to communicate with. That person or those people lived at a particular time and place. They had specific problems. They knew their own history, especially their recent history. They were concerned about, and sometimes were participating in, important current events. And they made certain assumptions, based on their culture. All of those things affected the way that original audience understood that Scripture. And since the Holy Spirit is competent, we have to believe that the way the original audience understood the passage is exactly the way God intended them to understand it. Unless the meaning of God’s word changes over time, that’s also the way he intends us to understand it.
Of the three levels of context we’re discussing, this one is the hardest to deal with. Literary context in the Bible works exactly the way it does in any other book. Most of us learned that in school, although a good commentary can provide insights we might otherwise miss.
Understanding the canonical context of a passage requires knowledge of the Scriptures. That only comes with time and effort, but it doesn’t require specialized knowledge of ancient languages or cultures. A good commentary is a great help with this kind of context too, as is a topical chain reference.
A certain amount of historical and cultural context can be obtained from a close study of the Scriptures themselves. We can learn from 2 Kings 14:23, for example, that Jonah lived during the reign of King Jeroboam II in Israel. And in Mark 7 we read that at the time of Jesus there was a Jewish tradition of washing before eating. But there’s a limited amount of information that can be gained this way. So for this context, a good commentary or study Bible isn’t just helpful, it’s essential if you want to do an in-depth study.
Now, I know that a few people out there, if they’ve read this far, are screaming at their screens because they object to the idea that expert knowledge is needed to fully understand the Bible. Unfortunately, if your native language is anything other than Ancient Hebrew, Aramaic or Koine Greek, that ship has already sailed. The Bible you’re reading has been filtered through language experts, and you are completely dependent on their understanding of what the text actually says. What’s more, the very existence of a gift of teaching (Romans 12:7) suggests pretty strongly that God didn’t create everybody to be equally good at reading and understanding the Scriptures. And, in fact, we see exactly that in Acts 8. The Ethiopian eunuch did not understand what the prophet Isaiah had written until Philip explained it to him. We were designed with different gifts so that we would have to work together to build the kingdom.
If you’re only reading the Bible for your own spiritual growth; if God hasn’t called you to be a pastor, a teacher, a writer, or a scholar, you probably don’t need to worry too much about figuring out this kind of context. Most Christians throughout history haven’t even had their own copy of the Bible to read, let alone any commentaries. But you should still be aware that it exists and is important, even if you trust your pastor or other teacher to do the research.
Why This Matters
The meaning of every sentence in every human language is determined as much by its context as by the words themselves. The Bible is written in human language, and reflects human cultures. It had to be written that way because God intended humans to understand it. More than that, he intended that humans would understand it well enough to explain his revelation to others. And because it was written to specific people in specific places and times, every passage of Scripture should be understood in the same way you’d understand any other book that was written in the same era and the same culture.
I know that’s not what everyone wants to hear. And I understand that. It would be awesome if anyone could simply pick up a Bible and effortlessly understand everything in it. But that’s not how any part of the Christian life works. Everything we do requires diligence and practice to do well. Why should we expect learning to understand God’s word to be any different?
The Bible is God’s revelation of himself. Through its lens, we see who he is. But only if we understand what we read. Reading in context is not just a key, it is the key to opening up anything we read, whether it’s in the Bible or anywhere else.