I stumbled on this rather interesting conversation between an anonymous inquirer and a supposed sage.
“Anonymous: Hi! I’m a lady aged 26, married with one kid. Last week, my husband was off duty, and I had to drive alone to work. I left my husband with the maid and my baby at home. I drove for just about two miles from home and my car engine started to overheat, so I had to turn back to get the other car. When I got home, I found my husband in bed with our maid. I don’t know what to do now. Please help!
Sage: Dear Anonymous, overheating of engine after such short distance can be caused by problems associated with the carburettor. You need to check your oil and water level in your engine before you start your journey. You must also make sure your car is serviced regularly to avoid problems in future. Hope this helps.”
Also consider this statement that a well-respected man once blurted out “I no longer beat my wife”. Of course the comment was met with raised brows and dropped jaws across the room, not until he concluded by saying, “now that she’s gotten better in our regular game of chess”… Talk of an anti-climax!
I’m not sure if the exchange between the sage and the troubled lady is fictitious, which I hope it is, but both scenarios above aptly illustrate why context matters.
It is often said that the 3 key things in real estate are ‘location, location, location’. If location is that important in real estate investment, then one necessity in understanding the Bible is context – reading the Bible in light of its purpose.
Ignoring the context in any scenario could lead to wrong and dicey conclusions. The saying ‘a text without a context is a pretext for a proof text’ adequately drives home the point.
The Five W’s
In investigative journalism and research, the five Ws – Who, What, When, Where, Why – constitute a formula for getting a fuller story on a subject, where each question is asked in hope of getting factual answers.
When it comes to the Bible, without context, anyone can take a verse to mean just about anything. Yet it is worth remembering that biblical authors had a theme in mind, a purpose for writing, and specific matters they were addressing. Perhaps we could benefit a whole lot from applying this same principle to our Bible reading, asking who wrote it, to whom it was written, when was it written, and why was it written? In addition to gaining background understanding, we should be careful to let the text speak for itself, and not be too quick to assign our own meaning to words in order to get the interpretation we desire.
As with a map, so with the Bible – if we’re going to make sense of it, we’ve got to be getting those bearings. How well are you finding yours?
Thanks for reading!
Sike Osinuga
Ha! I can imagine the lady with the car trouble was furious when she got the answer back.
But seriously, you make a good point. A teacher in a Bible class I was in years ago once said, if you ever fall asleep in a Bible class and wake up to find the teacher asking you a question, and you have no idea what the question was, just say, “Context!” Context is always the right answer.
haha, that’s so funny! I’ll keep that tip in my back pocket :-). Thanks Ibukun
I seriously like how you write and marry your opening story to your message!
Wow. The lady and the sage, what a story.
A lot of us are usually very quick to give our own meaning when we study the bible. I have come to learn that what meaning or understanding is gotten from one or two bible verses, can have a shift if you keep reading on.
But like you rightfully said, we can be quick to just take that interpretation we desire.
Thanks Uzezi. I agree with you, reading beyond one or two verses does help. Although I’m worried that you might have spied the next post draft!