Understanding the context of a passage places God’s truth in a human time and place. The English word “context” comes from the Latin “contextus” which means “a joining together.” The word originally meant “to weave together” in such a way that taking one thread from the others would destroy the fabric.
How does our passage of Scripture fit into the tapestry of God’s entire message to humanity?
The Bible encourages us to be together.
The author of the book of Hebrews – possibly the Apostle Paul – challenges Christians toward “not forsaking our own assembling together” (Hebrews 10:25 NASB). Holman Standard translates the phrase, “not staying away from our worship meetings” (Hebrews 10:25 HCSB). The Contemporary English Version proposes, “Some people have gotten out of the habit of meeting for worship” (Hebrews 10:25 CEV).
Being Together Means More than Being in the Building at the Same Time
At face value, preachers and teachers today have used the verse to challenge us to be in church, to attend worship and to participate in Sunday school. And Wednesday prayer meeting. And Sunday evening church. And now small groups. And now online community.
Making these applications are not wrong – but are relatively shallow. You have heard preachers and teachers admonishing you to examine the context of a verse of Scripture. Often we teach context means what comes before and what comes after the passage. It does, but context means so much more. For a more thorough understanding of context, see our helpful article on context.
Mediterranean Context
This section of our studies in called “Mediterranean Moments” to help us understand that context is a picture as big as the Mediterranean Sea and the culture it contains. Context included the historical setting – what was going on in the communities around the Mediterranean at the time the book was written. Context also includes the literary background of the passage – is the passage a record of history, is it poetry (remember Hebrew poetry is different than American poetry), or is it anyone of a number of other literary conventions?
A third area of context is theology. Many passages of Scripture teach us about God and about what is involved in having a relationship with Him. Doctrine falls into a category all itself. It is a jargon – technical talk that is only used and understood by a select group of people. There is nothing wrong with jargon. Most of us have those kind of words in our vocabulary that not everyone else understands. Medical professionals have a jargon. Attorneys have a jargon. There is even a jargon for the members of your family. Christians have a jargon.
Context and You
Finally, the context of the Bible involves you. The meaning of a passage of Scripture is critically tied to how it applies to you today. The context of the Bible involves the culture of the time in which it was written, but it involves the culture today because it speaks to the times today. Paul was unaware of the COVID pandemic when he penned the book of Philippians. If Jesus is the same “yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), then the context must include how it applies to the COVID crisis.
The danger in my writing those words and you reading them is that it seems very subjective. The meaning of the Bible cannot be totally dependent upon what it means to you. The absolute nature of an unchanging God prohibits that. But the context of a passage of the Bible must blend the other three things. To focus only on one of these four critical areas of context and ignore the others does the Bible a disservice.
Fellowship and Together
The historical context of fellowship and assembling together does not include “going to church.” Church buildings were non-existent for the first century church. The first Christian church building recorded was a house church founded sometime between 233 and 256. But it wasn’t until the 11th through the 14th centuries when Western Europe saw a mass emphasis toward church construction.
How did Paul stay connected with all the churches he started throughout the Mediterranean world? Can we learn lessons from Paul’s methods that would help us in today’s culture?