https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/ConsideringTheContext.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: II Timothy 2:14-18<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. My wife and I have done it numerous times and I’m sure it has happened to you as well.\nWe’ll be talking about someone we know and then a comment is made that leaves you\ntotally puzzled. So-and-so doesn’t have a relative by that name; at least, not that I\nremember. Or, when did so-and-so end up in the hospital, last I knew they were doing\nfine.\n A. That is when you realize the context shifted. One of you moved on to a new topic\nbut the other was still on the old one.\n B. Old time comedy acts used to play games with this, one person speaking about one\nthing while another speaking about something entirely different, and yet both\nspeakers words make perfectly good sense in each context.\n
1. Anyone remember the old gag of “Who’s on first?”<\/p>\n
C. Context is absolutely vital to the understanding of any conversation.<\/p>\n
D. And it is vital to our understanding of the Bible.<\/p>\n
II. God is not the author of confusion – I Corinthians 14:33<\/p>\n
A. Paul uses this argument as to why prophets must speak one at a time.<\/p>\n
1. Imagine trying to follow five conversations going on at once. <\/p>\n a. It is difficult to do because there is no flow when you hear a bit at a\ntime, first from one person then from another.\n b. The difficult comes from not being able to keep the context\nstraight.\n 2. Paul’s point is that God doesn’t produce confusion. There is a consistency\nthat marks His teachings.\n B. When we run into a teaching, we should always consider the context in which it\nwas said.\n 1. It is amazing how often a question can be asked and if you just go back to\nthe original passage and perhaps look at the passages immediately before\nand after the statement, things suddenly becomes clear.\n 2. Let’s take an extreme example. Did you know the Bible says there is no\nGod? It’s true! It says it eleven times!\n a. But turning to Psalm 14:1 we learn that we have to consider who is\nsaying it.\n b. Turning to Deuteronomy 32:39 we see that we must consider how\nthe phrase is being used.\n 3. Example, “Christians are not supposed to judge, only your God is\nsupposed to. In the constitution it states "Freedom of Religion". I guess\npeople that believe in Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. are going to hell I\nsuppose, right? If you’re a real "Christian" then you don’t judge people by\ntheir religion, sexuality, etc. It says so in your Bible that only God is to\njudge when the day comes.”\n
a. The answer is to go back to the passages that speak about judging<\/p>\n b. John 7:24 – Judge righteous judgement. If judgments are only made\nby God, then this command would not be possible to follow.\n c. Matthew 7:1-2 – Judge consistently. This is a warning concerning\nhow judgment is made.\n C. Sometimes when you look at the immediate context you find that a person made\nan assumption that is not supported by what is said. \n 1. Example: “There is one verse in particular which I have a hard time\nreconciling with the rest of Scripture. I know that you can’t lose your\nsalvation (John 10:27-29), but how is it possible to "fall" from Grace?\nThere are some questions I just can’t find the answer to. And if one can not\nlose their salvation, then wouldn’t that mean that no shift in doctrine of\nlifestyle would be damning to them if they are already saved? (Galatians\n5:4).”\n 2. If we go back to John 10:27-29 we find that Jesus is stating that no one can\nforce a follower of God away from God.\n 3. But now that we see the passage, where does it say that a person, of their\nown volition, will not ever walk away?\n 4. Thus we realize that the misunderstanding came not from what was said,\nbut assuming what was not said.\n D. These type of discussions can be held because we know God is consistent in His\nmessage.\n
III. Rightly dividing – II Timothy 2:15<\/p>\n
A. Consider the immediate topic at hand<\/p>\n 1. It is those old questions we were told to ask: who, what, where, when,\nwhy, and how.\n 2. Example: One false teacher made the following claim: “Jesus came to ‘seek\nand save’ only ‘the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Matthew 1:21; 2:6;\n15:24; Luke 19:10).”\n a. The phrase “seek and save” comes from Luke 19:10 where Jesus\nstate he came to seek and save that which was lost. \n (1) However, there is no limit in Luke 19:10 which indicates\nthat the lost is only the lost in Israel.\n b. The phrase “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” comes form\nMatthew 15:24 where Jesus tells a Gentile woman, who was asking\nJesus to heal her daughter, that he was only sent to the lost sheep of\nthe house of Israel.\n (1) Even in this context, Jesus did not mean that he could not\ndo miracles for the Gentiles because he proceeds to heal this\nwoman’s daughter.\n (2) We realize that Jesus is simply explaining that the focus of\nhis mission was toward Israel.\n c. The false doctrine is created by taking two passages dealing with\ndifferent topics and combining them as if they were one.\n 3. What would you think about a conversation where someone objected to\nsomething you said. You discuss the matter and realize the person\nmisunderstood because they had the wrong context. Still, they stubbornly\nclaim they are right because ten minutes ago you were talking about that\nsubject.\n a. In any conversation, the subject at hand shifts as the conversation\nprogresses.\n b. Is it proper to go back something said a while ago and claim that is\nthe context for what you just said?\n
c. Yet we have people doing this with the Scriptures.<\/p>\n (1) There are people who claim that because Galatians is\naddressed to the churches in Galatia (Galatians 1:2),\ntherefore Galatians 6:9-10 is justification for churches to do\nsocial work.\n
(2) But the immediate context is individual Christians<\/p>\n (a) Brethren, a man, you (Galatians 6:1) and it\ncontinues down to verse 8.\n (b) Yes, there is a shift in pronouns from you to we, but\nthat means Paul is including himself in these\nreminders.\n (c) The context does not show a collection of churches\nin action, but a collection of Christians.\n d. We understand this, but I’ve seen brethren here, eager to make a\npoint, forget such a basic concept and do the very same thing.\n (1) I’ve seen people argue that I Timothy 2:11 only applies to\nthe worship because I Timothy 3:15 mentions the church.\n (a) The problem is that the context shifted from the\nbehavior of women to qualifications of elders,\nqualifications of deacons, qualifications of their\nwives, and why Paul is writing to Timothy.\n (b) When asked if the instructions on modest dress\napplies only to the worship in I Timothy 2:9, which\nis in the immediate context, well, that was ignored.\n (2) There was a discussion on Matthew 18:18-19 and the\nstatement was that it only applied to the apostles.\n (a) The question was asked, are the other verses in that\nimmediate context also only to the apostles, such as\nsettling disputes in Matthew 18:15-17 or forgiving a\nrepeated sinner in Matthew 18:21-35?\n (b) If the passages in the immediate context indicate it is\nfor all disciples, then what indicates in these two\nverses in between take place in a totally different\ncontext?\n
B. We also must consider the broader context<\/p>\n 1. Premillennialism is built on assigning futuristic meaning to the book of\nRevelation. But the book says it written for the near term – Revelation 1:1,\n3; 22:6\n a. While the distant future may be mentioned, the overall\nunderstanding of the book must deal with things close to the time\nof the first century.\n
2. Sabbatarians build their arguments by pulling things from the old law<\/p>\n a. Ignoring that the Mosaical covenant was for Israel exclusively –\nDeuteronomy 5:2-3; 4:7-8\n b. Ignoring that God said the covenant would change – Jeremiah\n31:31-32\n c. Ignoring that the New Covenant said not to justify things by the old\n– Galatians 5:4\n d. Ignoring that most of the book of Hebrews is on the topic of why\nthe covenants had to change.\n
IV. Context is important to the understanding of any writing or conversation.<\/p>\n A. Yet people will break simple rule for understanding a person’s words when they\nhave an agenda\n 1. We see this in politics as each side “quotes” the other side, yet somehow\nmanages to lose the context and suddenly things sound different from when\nthey originally were presented.\n 2. It has become so common that politicians will ignore the context of their\nown words so they can deny decisions they made in the past.\n
B. But we see this frequently in religion<\/p>\n 1. Instead of looking to see what God says on a particular matter; that is,\nstriving to understand what was written\n 2. People decide what they want to believe and then turn to the Scriptures to\nfind verses which justify that belief.\n
C. Let us realize that the Bible was given to teach us<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Timothy 2:14-18 I. My wife and I have done it numerous times and I’m sure it has happened to you as well. We’ll be talking about someone we know and then a comment is made that leaves you totally puzzled. So-and-so doesn’t have a relative by that name; at least,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[78,529,964],"class_list":["post-10814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-authority","tag-hermeneutics","tag-understanding-the-bible"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15664,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/first-the-book-chapter-and-then-verse\/","url_meta":{"origin":10814,"position":0},"title":"First the Book, Chapter, and Then Verse","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Alan Feaster","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67275,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/one-or-two-chapter-lessons\/","url_meta":{"origin":10814,"position":1},"title":"One (or Two) Chapter Lessons","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Don Bunting April 7-10, 2024 Simple topics presented in a single context Reasons to Believe in Jesus (Matthew 1-2) What Christianity Is All About (Ephesians 1) Perilous Times in the Last Days (II Timothy 3) Two Reasons to Follow Jesus (Hebrews 1-2) Understanding Bible Faith (Hebrews 11) God's People\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49808,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/misquoting-the-scriptures\/","url_meta":{"origin":10814,"position":2},"title":"Misquoting the Scriptures","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Timothy 2:14-19 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Atheists will often use short quotes from the Bible to make it appear that the Bible is contradictory or teaches something that people would find repulsive \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But then, when you lift words from their context, you can make almost any point\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53559,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/context\/","url_meta":{"origin":10814,"position":3},"title":"Context","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The apostles of Jesus were the eyewitnesses and we are the jurors. Promises made to the apostles in John 13-17 are not made to all of us. The context is about a long discussion Jesus had with His twelve witnesses. Jesus said to them \"And you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":46755,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-144000\/","url_meta":{"origin":10814,"position":4},"title":"The 144,000","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Revelation 14:1-5 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses teach that the kingdom of heaven will be established after the \u201cend times\u201d with 144,000 faithful saints chosen by God to becomes spirits and to rule with Christ for the millennium. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0These rulers, they say, will govern the earth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88170,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-taking-it-out-of-context\/","url_meta":{"origin":10814,"position":5},"title":"Is It \u201cTaking It Out Of Context\u201d?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Jackson A few days ago, some publicity was given to a gentleman in our area who was posting religious messages on a well-traveled highway, but on property owned by his religious group, and with their consent. The point of the article was that his messages were resented by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10814\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}