It has been said the first rule of Bible study is: Context! Context! Context! It is essential that we take the time to explore the background of a passage in order to understand what we are reading. If we fail to do this, there is no telling what kind of wild and strange conclusions we might reach. In this video we learn to ask good questions and read the text in light of the surrounding chapters.
Have you ever walked into the middle of a conversation and totally misunderstood what was being said?
Imagine hearing someone shout, “We’re going to go out there tonight and murder them!” It sounds terrifying… until you realize it’s just a football coach hyping up his team before a game.
Misunderstandings happen when we miss context. And if that’s true in everyday life, how much more important is it when reading God’s Word?
In this lesson, we’ll look at how reading the Bible in context helps us avoid misinterpretation, and become better students of Scripture.
📖 Why Context Matters
Let’s say you’re at a restaurant and overhear a man say, “She’s so beautiful. It was love at first sight. I can’t wait to see her again.” You assume he’s talking about a woman.
But then you realize he’s describing a red Corvette at a car dealership. Oops.
Just like we can misunderstand conversations, we can misunderstand Scripture when we don’t consider the context.
📜 Exegesis vs. Eisegesis
There are two opposite approaches we might take in our study of the Bible:
- Exegesis = Drawing out the intended meaning from the text
- Eisegesis = Reading your own ideas into the text
Think of it like drawing water from a well. Exegesis uses a clean, empty bucket, pure and fresh. Eisegesis uses a dirty one, and contaminates the result.
If we want to understand the Bible faithfully, we must learn to exegete rather than eisegete.
🙈 A Misused Passage: 2 Chronicles 27:2
A pastor once used this verse to preach about church attendance:
“He did right in the sight of the Lord… however, he did not enter the temple of the Lord.”
He concluded that the king (Jotham) was spiritually lazy for not going to church.
But what’s the context?
Jotham’s father, Uzziah, had been punished with leprosy for entering the temple improperly. Jotham, by not entering, was actually making a wise decision!
See how context changes everything?
🔍 Example: Matthew 16 and the “Leaven” Confusion
In Matthew 16, Jesus tells the disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.”
They panic: “Is He mad we forgot bread?!”
But Jesus wasn’t talking about food. He was warning them about the attitude of unbelief and stubbornness of the Pharisees. The disciples misunderstood because they were focused on their own hunger, not Jesus’ point.
Just like them, we often bring our assumptions and distractions into Bible reading — and miss the message.
🛠️ More Examples of Verses Taken Out of Context
John 14:13
“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do…”
Some interpret this as a blank check from God: “Name it and claim it!” They think if we pray with faith, boldly demanding the storehouses of heaven to open, and God will deliver.
But is that really what Jesus meant?
In context, Jesus is speaking to the disciples about doing the Father’s work. Praying in Jesus’ name doesn’t mean making demands — it means aligning our prayers with His character and will.
📚 Read Scripture Like a Story, Not a Fortune Cookie
The Bible isn’t a collection of one-liners or motivational quotes. It’s a unified story of redemption. If you randomly open a novel to chapter 12, you’ll be confused unless you’ve read chapters 1–11.
The same is true with God’s Word. Read what comes before and after the verse.
💡 Craig Keener puts it this way:
“If you sit in a church service where someone rattles off verse after verse, you need to be able to check each of those verses in context… For your own Bible study, do not even begin with isolated verses; read paragraphs (and preferably books) as a whole.”
❓ Bible Study Tools: Ask the 5 W’s + H
Author Kay Arthur suggests using the same tools journalists use: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
“When you ask these questions of the text, you will be amazed at what you learn. These questions are the building blocks of precise observation which lay a solid foundation for accurate interpretation. However, if you rush into interpretation without laying the vital foundation your understanding becomes colored by your own presuppositions, what you think and what you feel, or what other people have said. And if you do this, you distort the Scriptures…”
These simple questions help us observe carefully before interpreting.
Some sample questions to ask:
- Who is the author?
- What’s the main idea?
- When and where does this take place?
- Why did God include this in Scripture?
- How do people respond?
Asking these questions helps us dig deeper into the meaning of the text and avoid shallow or misleading interpretations. The more questions we ask, the more truth we uncover.
A wise person once said, “A text without a context is a pretext for making the Bible say what you want it to say.” Let’s commit to being faithful readers who accurately handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
✅ Final Takeaways
- Always read the surrounding verses (paragraph and chapter).
- Ask good questions.
- Be aware of your biases and assumptions.
- Don’t rush! Bible study takes time and care.
- Seek to draw meaning from the text, not insert your own ideas.
God’s Word is rich, layered, and alive. Don’t settle for shallow reading — dig deep, ask questions, and let the context guide your understanding.