Controlled by Context
Devotions for Growing Christians
Controlled by Context
Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
If you quote people by taking a single sentence out of the context of a speech or a conversation, you can make them say just about anything you want. Politicians are expert at that - especially in political ads around election time! We’ve all seen it - a random sentence is removed from a speech to give a false meaning that the speaker certainly never intended.
Unfortunately, some people do exactly that with the Bible. It's amazing what they can make the Bible say if a single verse quoted without its context of surrounding verses and chapter. In fact, it has been said that “a biblical text out of context becomes a pretext.” In other words, it can be used to present ideas that are more in line with the mind of the speaker than with mind of God.
Disregarding Context
Now most Christians do not deliberately pull Scripture verses out of their context. We all have our own ideas, but let's hope that we don't willfully twist and distort Scripture to serve our own purposes. However, many Christians take Bible verses out of context by simply ignoring the context. In fact, most Christians habitually risk pulling Scripture out of context because they don’t give enough attention to the surrounding context.
Let’s use Philippians 4:13 as an example of what it means to be controlled by context. What does the Bible mean when it says, "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me"? Does it mean that I can lift 500 pounds if I have enough faith, or jump off a ten-story building and not break a bone because I have Christ’s strength? Does it mean that I can walk on water, as Jesus did on the Sea of Galilee? Certainly no Christian in his right mind would take Philippians 4:13 that far out of context. But what about other cases?
Consider Christian students who take on too great a work load - academics, athletics, action groups, and other wholesome activities. They go without proper rest and constantly push themselves to do more. Is it right for these students to claim Philippians 4:13 for "success" in all of these areas? Does the context of this verse allow such a claim? Should they feel they don’t have enough faith, or that the strength of Christ has failed, if they end up on the verge of burn-out? Was promise of Philippians 4:13 false? Or - was the verse cut out from the context of its surrounding verses?
Or consider a Christian who launches into a new career or a new ministry for the Lord without doing some serious preparation and wise planning. Does Philippians 4:13 predict prosperity, as long as the strength of Christ is claimed? Suppose the new career doesn't work out, or the ministry folds. Is it right for the Christian to be frustrated with the Lord because Philippians 4:13 “didn't work”? Is the strength of Christ really good for "all things"? Or - has Philippians 4:13 been twisted out of context?
Contributing even further to the confusion are those Christians who use Philippians 4:13 to explain why they are so successful in various endeavors. What about the Christian businessman who quotes Philippians 4:13 in a speech, crediting it for his financial success? Or the record-setting Christian athlete who humbly quotes Philippians 4:13 to explain his or her triumph? This sounds good at first - but wait! What about the struggling Christian business men and women in the audience who are not doing so well financially, or the Christian athlete who sat on the bench all season? Isn't the strength of Christ good for them too?
Using this verse sounds great, and it certainly comes from an attitude of giving praise to God, but using this verse as an explanation for business success or athletic accomplishments a serious question is raised. What about the Christian athletes who are not so talented and did not win any medals? They also trained and tried their hardest but they either lost or never even qualified. Or the business people who did their best, but their business folded - and it wasn’t their fault? Where was the strength of Christ for them? Certainly many of them had as much faith in the promise of Philippians 4:13.
Context is Required for Correct Interpretation
The problem in all these examples is that the context of Philippians 4:13 was ignored. The use of this verse by all those well-meaning Christians was not controlled by the context - and thus the verse was made to say things that were never intended by the Holy Spirit.
Context is very important for appreciating and applying Scripture. Studying the context is not just helpful - it’s mandatory for the proper interpretation of any passage of Scripture. Checking out the context safeguards us from coming up with far-out interpretations that God never had in mind when He inspired the text. A good understanding of the context acts as a control over our ideas of what a particular verse means. Knowing the context eliminates the need for guesswork and imagination! There is a lot less of the "I think it means..." and "I feel it means..." kind of interpretation when the context of a passage of Scripture is comprehended.
What exactly do we mean by "context"? Context is the surrounding verses of any text of Scripture, but it’s even more than that. Context is the surrounding paragraphs and chapters and ultimately the whole book of the Bible in which the text is located. The more we come to know when and why it was written - the historical background, the original occasion, and the intended purpose of that book, and the theme and the structure and the argument of that book - the more we will be helped and controlled in our interpretation of any text in that book of the Bible.
By the way, this is why one of the best ways of studying Scripture is the "book by book" method. God did not compose the Bible by putting together isolated verses here and there! He gave His Word in books and letters. Why not study it the way God gave it? Topical studies or meditations on favorite passages or even "just-open-and-read-anywhere" can be profitable, but studying the Bible by books has the added advantage of getting to know what is vital for proper interpretation - the overall context of any verse in that book!
The basic and obvious reason why understanding context is so important is that God did not write a single verse of Scripture without a context! There is always an historical context and a literary context for any verse in the Bible. So before we ask "What does this verse mean to us today?" we should always ask “What did this verse mean when it was written?” What was the historical situation? Who wrote it, and to whom was it written? When, where and why was it written? What type of literature is it? Is it prophecy, parable, poem, letter, historical narrative or some other form of literature? Answering these questions is part of knowing the context of the verse. Once we have this knowledge we can properly proceed from "What did it mean then?" to "What does it mean now?" Our applications for today will be less speculative. They will be more sound, because they are based squarely on God's original intention of the text.
Correctly Interpreting Philippians 4:13
Now let’s look briefly at the context of Philippians 4:13 and see how even a quick look can help us with correctly interpreting this verse. The church at Philippi was founded on th apostle Paul's second missionary journey (Acts 16). Now, about 10 years later, Paul was a prisoner in Rome (Acts 28). A Christian brother, Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25, 4:18), had come to Rome from Philippi, bringing a financial gift from the Christians to help supply Paul’s needs. One of the purposes for Paul’s letter to the Philippians was to thank the believers for their gift, and to explain Paul's situation in Rome.
Now notice the verses immediately surrounding Philippians 4:13. Paul was very thankful for the gift, and thankful that the Philippians were concerned about him (4:10, 14-19). The apostle also stressed (4:11-12) that regardless of his circumstances, he was content. Why? Because he had learned to depend on the Lord to meet his needs. This is the context for the confident statement of verse 13! In times of need and hardship Paul was not worried because he had learned from experience that he could depend completely on Christ for strength. And that is the wonderful promise of Philippians 4:13 for us today - in its context!
Guided by context control, we see that we shouldn't claim Philippians 4:13 for financial success or good grades or gold medals - but we can certainly claim it for strength in time of need! Remember also, from the overall context, that the needs that Paul faced were not the result of irresponsibility or negligence or selfish ambition. No! These needs came about because of his service for Christ!
This knowledge should further control our interpretation and application of this promise for today. Are you facing any needs, difficulties or hard times right now because of your decision to take a stand for Christ? Then you, like Paul, can claim with all confidence, "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me."
- Dave Reid