“Grasping the text in their town” or “Reading in context”
The Bible was written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit in a certain time and place and oftentimes to a certain people. If we want to learn to love God the best we can, it is helpful to learn to read the Bible in it’s context before thinking about “today.” We can start that journey by looking at certain features in the sentences. Here are a few:
Repetition
When the Bible repeats words in a verse, passage or book we should pay special attention. Those words will help us draw out the meaning and purpose of the text. Think of repetition as a flashing sign that draws attention
Example Passages: 1 John 2:15-17, John 15:1-10 and Jonah 1
Questions to ask yourself: What are the repeating words and thoughts in this passage? Who is doing these actions or who are these actions talking about? What is the reason the repetition is present? Does the repetition give you a deeper understanding of what is going on? (hint: afraid and fear)
Helping Your Hermeneutic: Repetition (5 Min Read) — Reformed & Confessional
Compare and Contrast
The Bible uses comparisons and contrasts to highlight different points. Sometimes, the point is more basic like in the Proverbs passage below, and sometimes the point is more nuanced and helps to make a point without spelling it out with many words (see Jonah 1).
Example Passages: Proverbs 14:31, 1 John 1:5-7, and Jonah 1 (hint: repetition to help make contrast)
A Further Look into Jonah 1 :
- Repeated concept: Presence of the Lord- What verses talk about the presence of the Lord? Why is the presence of the Lord talked about in this passage? What is the presence of the Lord? Is the presence of the Lord demonstrated in this passage without using the phrase? What was Jonah’s belief of the presence of the Lord at the beginning of this passage? Do you think Jonah’s belief of the presence of the Lord was different at the end of the passage?
- Repeated word: Hurl- What verses contain the word “hurl”? Who does the “hurling”? Does this repetition help to tell the story? If so, how?
- Repeated concept/word: Afraid/fear- What verses contain variation of the word “fear”? Who is doing the fearing?
- Compare and contrast: Afraid/fear- Again, who is doing the fearing? Compare and contrast the two groups of “fearers”. How are the people doing the fearing different? Are the types of fear different? If the fear is different between the two groups, how so?
Lists
Sometimes we find lists in the Bible that help us to understand the theme of the book or section, help us to apply what we’ve read, and/or help us to see a point of emphasis.
Example Passages: 1 John 2:16 and John 5:22-23
Deeper Dive Into Lists: https://www.reformconfess.com/blog/hyh-lists
Cause and Effect
In the Bible, we sometimes see an action or an attitude, or a state of being that results in some kind of outcome. This is called cause and effect and we should pay attention when we see these.
Example Passages: Proverbs 15:1 and Romans 12:2
Figures of Speech
The Bible isn’t given to us as some boring factbook. God communicates truths to us in Scripture in many ways such as in figures of speech. God uses figures of speech to paint pictures and help us understand a truth on a deeper level.
Example Passages: Psalm 18:2 and Isaiah 40:31
Conjunctions
These are basic grammar but they are obviously important towards understanding any sentence. Sometimes, the meaning is obvious but sometimes if we focus on a specific conjunction or verb tense (Greek has many) we can uncover things we may have missed.
Example Passages: Romans 6:23 (the “but” in this verse in incredibly important!) and Ephesians 4:2-3 (these verbs give a command)
Verbs
What the verb means is obviously important to helping us understand the passage, but so is the tense. Whether or the verb is past, present, future, or something else (Greek verbs can have a unique aspect) matters.
Old Testament Example:
Read Isaiah 53. Notice that vvs 1-9 are in the past tense and some of vvs 10-12 are speaking of what will happen (future). Words and definitions help us to understand the passage but other things like the tense of the verbs help to fill it out.
Question: Why would God (the ultimate author) speak as if Jesus (the Suffering Servant) had done some actions in the past and will do some actions in the future?
Possible Answer: The 1st century Christians would read Isaiah and see Jesus as the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:1-10 and be able to trust the future events in 10-12 were certain as well. God is in control and if He says it, the future is as certain to happen as the past.
New Testament Example:
1 John 3:6: “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.”
The verb “abides” is a present active participle and is a tricky verb in Greek. The “present” tense verb sometimes indicates a continuous action…not just an action that happened one time in the present. This is important because our abiding in Christ isn’t a one time happening, it is an ongoing and continual abiding.
Resources:
“Grasping God's Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible” by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays