I hope these articles have been a help and a blessing to you. In this series of articles I am attempting to help believers become more solid in the word of God through tips and pointers for reading the Bible more effectively. In the last 2 articles we spoke of paying careful attention to what the Bible actually says and beginning to dig into the meanings of the key words and key phrases in a text. If you just learn how to be a good detective and researcher when reading the Bible, this will go a long way in growing you in the truth and wisdom of God's word.

Today I want to discuss the importance of learning how to pay attention to "the flow" of a passage of scripture. This is known as "the context". A lot of errors are made by taking one phrase or one verse and interpreting it the wrong way and then building entire doctrines and messages on these errors. Many times, these errors could be avoided by just reading the verses that are around that one verse and getting "the context" of the passage. By gaining the other information in the passage and by getting "the flow" of the entire passage, you can often avoid wrong interpretations (such wrong interpretations are known as taking a text "out of context"). Learning to get "the flow" of the passage of scripture can really help in knowing the truth of God's word and not being led astray to silly errors (that can be quite dangerous).

Before we look at a couple of examples, I just want to make an important point when considering context: When the Bible was originally written, there were no chapters and verses. Most of the books of the Bible were written as historical books, or as records of certain men/prophets, or as letters to people/churches. With the exception of the book of Psalms (where each Psalm was an individual song) and the book of Proverbs (that was written/copied out in 5 distinct sections), the books of the Bible had NO chapter or verse markings. While having the chapter and verse markings is very nice and convenient for referencing, for finding passages, and for the mind's sake for memory, sometimes (if we're not careful) these divisions can HINDER us from seeing "the flow" or "context" of a passage or book. Many times the flow of thought flows through chapter markings and the only way you would pick up this flow of thought is if you read multiple chapters at a time. In fact, especially when it comes to the New Testament epistles (or letters), it is VERY important to read and understand the entire letter as a single document and not cut it up into the separate chapters. Often, the themes that are started in the beginning of the letter flow through the entire letter. And so if you are only reading 1 chapter a day in Romans. By the time you get to chapter 15 you have probably forgotten what you read in chapters 1-11 and therefore might miss and/or misunderstand some of what Paul is writing about. (I am not saying that you cannot read or study the Bible by chapters, you can, obviously you can't always sit and read through an entire book at a time; the point I am making though, is that you seek to understand the flow of the entire book or letter; especially when considering a text that you are not sure what it means.)

Some examples:

#1: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." - Proverbs 18:21

Common misinterpretation: You were given power by God to be a Creator like him. You can speak things into existence by just saying the word. All you have to do is say "I speak LIFE" into something and then it or the person SHALL LIVE. You have the power to speak LIFE to anything or anyone you desire to. Or you can say "I speak DEATH" toward something that you deem to be not from God (like a sickness or disease) and then that things shall immediately DIE! It must die because you have the power of death and life in your tongue. Speak it, and watch it come to pass!

Context: Let's look at the rest of the chapter (and even the rest of the book) and see what is the flow of what Solomon is actually teaching. Is there any other verse in the chapter or chapters surrounding it that would give you any similar idea as the interpretation above? And the answer is NO. Remember you can't just isolate one verse in the Bible and ignore every other verse and then make it say whatever sounds good to you. That is NOT how to understand the Bible. You must read this verse in light of the REST of the Bible. And a good start is just to look at the rest of the passage. Let's have a look and see what we can discover about the tongue, and speaking, etc from Proverbs 18:

The first couple of verses are talking about pursuing wisdom and not being a fool who has no delight in understanding. Then in verse 4, it speaks of the words of a man's mouth being like deep waters, and the words of wisdom as a flowing brook. Then in verse 6, Solomon speaks of the fool who uses his lips and his mouth to get into contention (fights, arguments) and his words are calling for a beating. It continues in verse 7 to say that his mouth is what leads to his destruction and his lips are what snares (traps) his soul. Then Solomon goes on to reveal in verse 8 that the words of a talebearer (a gossip who stretches the stories) are like wounds that really cut deep into people. In verse 13 he talks about those who speak rashly before listening to all the story and how it causes folly and shame to come upon them. He then in verse 15 speaks of how the prudent man gets knowledge and the wise man seeks knowledge. Then in verse 19 he speaks of how if you offend a brother it is harder to win him back than conquering a strong city. Then in verse 20 he talks about how a man will be satisfied and filled with the fruit of what comes out of his mouth. And then in verse 23 he speaks of the difference between how a poor man and a rich man speak and how ultimately (in verse 24), in order to have friends we must be friendly.

So as we look through this context we see NOTHING like the misinterpretation anywhere to be found (neither is it in the rest of the book of Proverbs). But what we clearly see, is that how we use our words and tongue can have great power to either refresh and feed others wisdom and understanding (and even ourselves) and to gain friends and avoid unnecessary conflict; or our tongue's can lead to foolishness, arguments, fights, and even really wound and hurt others (and ourselves). So based upon "the flow" of what Solomon is teaching his son ("the context"), what do we think that Solomon was actually teaching by the Spirit of God? I think it seems pretty clear that when he says that "death and life are in power of tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof," that he is talking about the effect and impact that what we say can really cause pain, confusion, bring fights and even destroy relationships and really wound people's hearts and souls, or else our words can really bless others and build friendships and relationships and even lead people into the path of wisdom and understanding which can lead them to life in the Lord. He is speaking about the reality of the power of our words in affecting ourselves and others around us. He is not speaking about creating things with our words or speaking things into existence. This is very much in-line with Zen-Buddhism and the mystical new age spirit from the east that has infiltrated many modern "churches". This is not true Biblical Christianity.

(For an analysis of why the misinterpretation above is absolute heresy and such dangerous and corrupt doctrine, feel free to email me and I can send you further thoughts on this topic).

#2: "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Common misinterpretation: Peter is the rock that Jesus built the church upon. And so therefore, the true church, that the gates of hell will never prevail against, is the church that is built upon Peter as the rock. (There is a lot more that certain churches imply from this text that is quite erroneous, but for now we will just deal with this portion.)

Context: The book of Matthew is the gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew. From the beginning of the book until the end of the book the main focus is on JESUS and revealing that he is the prophesied Messiah (Christ) and King of the Jews. The focus is that HE is the son of David (according to the flesh) who will sit on the throne but that he is greater than David, because he is the virgin born Son of God himself! In this passage, Jesus pulls aside his disciples and asks them what the common people are saying who Jesus is. The response is that basically he is a mighty prophet. Jesus seems to not be satisfied with this answer, and then he asks the 12 who they say he is. Simon Peter responds by saying that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah/King) the Son of the living God. In response to this CONFESSION that Peter makes, Jesus says that Simon is blessed because no man revealed this TRUTH to Peter (of who Jesus is), but that the Father himself revealed this truth to HIM. He then goes onto give Simon his new name (Peter), and tell him that upon THIS ROCK he will build HIS CHURCH. So in the context, Peter was not confessing himself as the Messiah and Son of God; he was confessing JESUS as the Messiah and the Son of God. Peter was not blessed because of who HE was, he was blessed because he came to realize who JESUS was. Jesus didn't tell Peter that Peter would build his own church. JESUS told Peter that Jesus would build the church. And he didn't say that it would be Peter's church (with Peter being the ROCK), but rather he said that he would build "MY CHURCH" (it would be Jesus' church). Then after he is done speaking with Peter he charges his disciples to not tell anyone that he is "Jesus the Christ." So clearly in the context, the main focus here is WHO JESUS IS! The confession that Peter made was all about WHO JESUS IS. Jesus blesses him for this confession of the revelation that he received from the Father about Jesus' identity. And then he charges them to not tell anyone else who he is. Then a few verses later we see Peter being filled with Satan himself and opposing the gospel (that Christ would die and rise again 3 days later). We could bring out more of the text, but based on the flow of this passage and the flow of the rest of the book of Matthew, who do we think "this rock" would be? Well clearly, from the rest of this passage, the rest of this book, and the rest of the New Testament, the ROCK is Jesus Christ. The church of Jesus Christ is built upon Jesus Christ himself. He is the foundation and chief cornerstone (according to Paul and Peter in their epistles). The confession of WHO CHRIST is is the foundation of the church. Everyone who comes to the same revelation as Peter will be built (by Jesus) on the Rock (Jesus) in his church.

These are just a couple examples of how important it is to get "the flow" or the "context" of a passage to help understand a verse that you might be unsure of what it means. Usually the text issue can be solved by just looking within that passage or within the book itself. However, there are cases, where sometimes the answer will not be clear without other passages of scripture. However, ultimately, if something fits the flow of the passage, and if it is confirmed by other scriptures, then it is most likely the correct interpretation. (By the way, there is NO other scripture in the entire Bible that would indicate in the slightest that Peter is the rock of the church; but there are many other scriptures that state clearly that GOD is the Rock and that CHRIST is the Rock; which is more proof that CHRIST IS GOD).

Get the flow of the passage, and you will be far less likely to come to a wrong and heretical interpretation of the word of God.

"Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:" - Isaiah 28:9-10

"So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." - Nehemiah 8:8

"A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth." - Proverbs 14:6

"Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge... I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth..." - Proverbs 22:17,19b-21a