Cracker Barrel and Bible Study
I was standing in line waiting to pay my bill at the Cracker Barrel restaurant when I noticed that the store had prominently displayed a Christmas gift, a 2008 desk calendar entitled “A Bible-Verse-A-Day.” I picked it up, flipped through it and thought: “What a dangerous gift to give a person!” “Why so dangerous?” you may be asking. Quite often I hear Scripture misinterpreted because of missed layers of context.
In an ever-increasing biblically illiterate church-culture, I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I have heard passages from Scripture quoted out of context. Again and again I have been reminded that quoting a piece of Scripture out of context means that a verse or two often becomes a proof-text for whatever pre-text we want to support. We can no longer assume that people know the context in which a passage is found. Let me illustrate. In Matthew 2:5-6 we are told that Christ being born in Bethlehem is a fulfillment of a predictive prophecy found in Micah 5:2. If you turn to that section of Micah and read the surrounding verses, you will note that even though it is not quoted, Micah 5:3 would have been recalled by the readers or hearers of Micah. This Messiah that was to be born in Bethlehem would also be a shepherd of God’s flock.
Or consider the book of James. How many times have you heard that James is like Proverbs because it is filled with one verse maxims. To the contrary, except for James 1:1, no verse in James stands by itself. Rather you must look at two or more verses to interpret properly.
Finally, consider an example from Rev. 2:10 where Jesus tells the members of the congregation dwelling in Smyrna that they would suffer persecution for “ten days.” That phrase comes right out of Daniel 1:12 where Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah ask to be tested for ten days. Where are they dwelling? Babylon. What temptation were they faced with? Well in knowing Daniel 1 and the following chapters we know that God’s people are being tempted to give into Babylonian culture. And so Jesus’ followers in Smyrna are living in another “Babylon” and they too will be tested like God’s servants of Old Testament times.
Context counts. And context means taking into account a variety of layers of literary context.
I know that as the new year begins church newsletters will be encouraging people to read a verse day, the editors of these letters even giving the verses (almost always out of context). And I fear that too many of the desk calendars will be sold and even more Scripture will be taken out of context.
I don’t know which is worse . . . for a person not to read the Bible at all or for a person to read a verse and then abuse it by not knowing what it is saying.
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It’s like we can’t sit down and have a meal, we always have to be snacking.
I must say that I’ve never understood the reason for just pulling out verses and sticking them into calendar/devotional form for the encouragement of the church.
It seems to me that people are so quick to make scripture into Hallmark quotes instead of using it with rightly. 2Timothy 3. Even historical quotes are often out of context. (presidents, world leaders, literary giants, etc.)
Excellent analogy, Nathan. We take a nibble here and nibble there and think we have eaten well!
In the morning mail I received a newsletter with an article “50 Reasons Why We are Living in the End Times,” and that is precisely what the author does–a nibble here and a nibble there (Arab threat to Israel in Ezek. 35 and 36 or the revival of David praise in Amos 9:11)–with virtually little or no regard for the historical and literary context.
What we need are more full-course meals! We need to eat entire documents or at least passages!
This is why the “Purpose-Driven” preaching is so dangerous. It’s not only taking verses out of context to apply to my life but even looking for the right paraphrase of scripture to say what I want to say.
I share your frustration. I am irked by the misuse of Scripture. I have set out to tackle the cultural challenge of biblical illiteracy by giving people in my church a 2008 Bible reading program. I have challenged them to read two to five chapters a day, giving them Sundays off to reflect or catch up. The response has been better than expected. They appear to be excited about it.
At times when I preach and teach I will take passages out on context on purpose (making the congregation aware that I am doing so) to demonstrate how dangerous and irresponsible it can be.
As I learned from some professor about a year ago — we must read, study and apply Scripture responsibly. It takes time to change people’s habits. I’ve learned that a consitent and persistent example can make a difference.