CONTEXT MATTERS

About a year or two after I got saved, the Lord used the testimony of a sister in the faith, Ayanna Mathis, to convict me about rightly handling the Word. This was all new to me and to be honest, I didn’t know where to start. Up until that point I had never heard of rightly dividing the Word or using Scripture in its proper context. What I always heard was: What does the Scripture mean to you? What “revelation” did you get?

Once I started diving into the Word for what it was, I was shocked at how poorly I was handling it and I had to repent. Soon after I started this journey, I decided to talk to a leader about context. They told me that context doesn’t matter because it didn’t matter to Jesus. At that moment I was shocked. I felt dumb. I felt like what I was doing was a waste of my time. I didn’t feel like this before. Going into the Word to focus on me and some special revelation was easier than digging through the text like a crime scene investigator.

SATAN KNOWS THE WORD TOO

If I can be honest with you, the statement that was made by that leader was stuck in my mind for a couple of years. I would think that maybe they were right and I was just taking things too serious. Then a few months ago I was in the shower and thought, “If context didn’t matter to Jesus, why didn’t He give into Satan when he was tempting Him?” If you go in your Bible to Matthew 4:1-11, you will read the story about how Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry. Then Satan proceeded to tempt Him in three different ways. But the second time, he used Scripture. Let’s dive in: 

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give his angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” 7 Jesus told him, “It is also written: Do not test the Lord your God.”

Satan knows Scripture too. And the Scripture he used to try to get Jesus to follow through with the temptation presented to Him actually isn’t wrong. God can and will protect His children, but we must remember that we should not test the Lord as he was encouraging Jesus to do. That is why it is extremely important for us to know the Word for what it is.

MOVING FORWARD

Maybe you are where I was a few years ago. Maybe you have never heard of reading the Word in its proper context. Or maybe you have, but you neglect doing the work in the Word because you’re intimated. Maybe you think that’s only for pastors and Bible teachers. I’m here to tell you that you it isn’t. As a believer, you should be a student of the Word. You don’t have to have a “title” per se. In 2 Timothy 2:15, this is what Paul says to Timothy: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” In contrast to the false teachers that were around, Timothy was encouraged to handle the Word correctly. And I believe we are called to do the same today.

*There’s so much more to the Scripture provided, so I would encourage you to take some time to study it on your own. But I did want to include that just in case you were wondering why I am continually saying we should rightly divide the Word.*

We have access to so many sermons, podcasts, and blog posts. If we are being lazy, as I once was, and we take those messages as they are, we could be in a lot of trouble. I strongly believe that after we hear a message or read a blog post, we should go back to the Word to ensure that it was taught in its proper context. Almost all of the messages I came into the faith consuming included lies, false teaching, and an improper use of Scripture. At the time, I was unaware because I didn’t know the Word for myself and I wasn’t going back to see if it was being taught correctly. This caused a lot of confusion for me. The way I viewed God was absolutely terrible and a lot of what I believed was a hot mess. The sad part is, I would post blogs and YouTube videos teaching pretty much the same thing. That is part of why I had to repent. Now does this mean that I have arrived and I know everything now? No. I will always be learning. But I have learned the importance of studying the Word, rightly.

I want to conclude by saying yes, it will be challenging. But don’t worry, if you are a believer then you have the Spirit of God dwelling within you. That is the most important thing to remember. Throughout this journey, you will not be alone because the Spirit of God will not forsake you. And the Word says that if you lack wisdom you can ask God and He will not rebuke you (James 1:5). You also have God’s people - the Church. If you are plugged into a biblically sound church, great. You can wrestle with the text, in person, with your brothers and sisters in the faith and you guys can help one another. Don’t grow weary in staying faithful to the text! I hope you are encouraged. 

If you don’t know where to start with Bible study, read this article I wrote.

RESOURCES

Books: Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin, How to Read the Bible Book by Book by Douglas Stuart and Gordon Fee

Bibles: ESV Study Bible by Crossway, She Reads Truth Bible

Blogs: Whole Magazine, The Biblically Sound Woman, Well-Watered Women

This post was originally published on May 26, 2019.