Bible Study Number Six

 

 

by Brian Knowles

 

t is best not to study Bible verses in isolation. Each is usually a part of a larger unit – typically a paragraph or a pericope relating to the topic. Two critical Greek texts can help you do this. They are: Nestle-Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece and The Greek New Testament, published by the United Bible Societies. If you are being persnickety, you’ll need both since they occasionally disagree with each other.

            Dr. Gordon Fee also recommends that we compare the paragraphs and pericopes in those texts with the units as they are laid out in modern English translations such as the NIV and the NRSV.

            For the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke), I find Gospel Parallels by Burton H. Throckmorton, Jr., extremely helpful. Throckmorton shows all three Gospels on a single page, broken up into the literary units and even fragments as they appear in the text. It is easy to see which verses each Gospel writer has left out, added, embellished, or edited. The Jerusalem School for the Study of the Synoptic Gospels, whose leadership I follow, believes that Luke was written first, then Mark, then Matthew. (Most orthodox scholars believe the opposite order is correct.) By checking Throckmorton, one can see clearly the process of editing that took place with each writer.

            For Old Testament exegesis, the process is essentially the same. Douglas Stuart tells us: “Try to be sure that the passage you have chosen for exegesis is a genuine, self-contained unit (sometimes called a pericope). Avoid cutting a poem in the middle of a stanza, or a narrative in the middle of a paragraph. Your primary ally is common sense. Does your passage have a recognizable beginning and end? Does it have some sort of cohesive, meaningful content that you can observe? Check your decision against both the Hebrew text and modern translations. Do not trust the chapter and verse divisions. They are not original and are often completely wrong” (Old Testament Exegesis by Douglas Stuart, p. 23).

            Proof texters are notorious for ripping verses out of contexts, or even taking fragments of verses to bolster their points. There are times when it is appropriate to do this – if the exegete has first done his homework to ensure that he is using the verse or fragment appropriately. We know of one lady who, many years ago, took a verse out of context and ended up cutting off her hand! After all, doesn’t Scripture say, “If your right hand offends you, cut it off” (Matthew 5:30)? Not only did this poor lady take the verse of out of context, but had she known how to exegete the passage in which it appears, she would have known that this saying was not meant to be taken literally. The price of zeal without knowledge was the tragic loss of her hand.

            Not only is it important to understand passages against their larger background, it is vital that all passages relating to the issue under discussion be viewed with it. For instance, Satan quoted Psalm 91 to Jesus – but he twisted it in order to induce Jesus into “proving his faith” by casting himself down to the rocks below. After all, didn’t Scripture say that God’s angels would “lift you up” (Matthew 4:5-7)? Had Jesus known only Psalm 91, and had he believed the interpretation Satan had put on it, he might have been tempted. But Jesus knew that other verses like Deuteronomy 6:16 qualified what is meant in Psalm 19. To deliberately take a life-threatening risk in order to induce God’s angels to protect one is to “tempt God.” That is, to put God to the test. God will often protect his people when they accidentally get into trouble, but to deliberately test Him is another matter. With this in mind, consider the bizarre faith demonstration known as “snake handling.” Is it demonstrating faith, or testing God?

            Verses and texts must be viewed in their natural contexts, not in isolation. If you wanted to study the incident mentioned above, for example, it would be best to study Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13 and Luke 4:1-13 together. You will then see that Mark omits much of what Matthew includes and Luke’s account is also briefer than Matthews. Each includes details of the story not found in other accounts. In Gospel Parallels you can view all three accounts across the page and compare them with each other.

            When Jesus quotes passages out of Deuteronomy to refute the devil, it is important that we also study them in their contexts. Then we will see how Jesus understood those passages, and how he applied them to his own immediate situation.

            As we learned in earlier articles in this series, it is not necessary to follow this entire exegetical sequence in print with every article, or to go through it orally in a sermon. What is important is that this work be done prior to writing about, or speaking about, a given verse or passage. That will better ensure that the writer or speaking is correctly interpreting and using the verses under scrutiny.