Christians, Explain to me what Out of Context Means?

Question

If one reads a verse and the surrounding verses then it cannot be taken out context. It sometimes seems to me that this is a convieniant excuse for when you don't know how else to answer. By the way many of you quote verses all the time and those could be out of context as well.

Someone accused me of giving thumbs up only to Atheist's, that is not the case if you answer the question honestyly I will give thumbs up to anyone

Answer 1

Well, I think you're right to an extent. Some of my fellow Christians have a real problem with ripping things out of context.

What's important to remember with the Bible is that there's more to it than Scriptural context. There's historical context, cultural context, and most importantly, SPIRITUAL context.

An atheist may be able to understand Scriptural, historical, and cultural contexts, but will NEVER get the spiritual context. I'm not saying this to be mean, and it's not intended to be a cop-out, though it might seem that way.

I think many of my fellow Christians forget all the different contexts that are necessary in understanding the Bible, though. I do it, too.

Answer 2

Proper contextual evaluation of any text, Biblical or otherwise, is a multi-layer process. You have the words themselves. That's the lexical level. Building a good lexicon is essentially just doing what the dictionary does, surveying the use of individual words in the full corpus of the language to develop an accurate sense of their uses and meaning. Then there’s the syntactical level, which entails relating the words to each other according to the rules of grammar. Note that syntactic level broadens the context to take in the surrounding words.

Then there’s the semantic level. This becomes more difficult, because a well-nuanced understanding of the language is required just to lay out the possibilities for a given expression. At this level many, but not all, questions of interpretation can be answered. But many things affect semantic choices, such as the history and culture of the writer and the circumstances or ideas the writer is expressing. Therefore, a much broader contextual sweep is necessary for the more controversial passages. You must look not only at the entire writing of the author, but also the larger body of writing into which this writing is being inserted. With the Bible, this means that every verse relies to some extent on the content of every other verse in the entire Bible. Then you must also account for historical and cultural influences that would have affected semantic choices. Only then can you reach a level of certainty that allows you to affirm that the author meant A instead of B in a given passage.

Happily, most good translations have done their homework on these issues and have produced creditable work that renders most passages relatively easy to understand at the lexical, syntactic, and semantic level, and many have footnotes also explaining various historical and cultural factors. However, it is still incumbent upon the reader to compare Scripture with Scripture to verify meanings for more difficult or controversial passages. This is not an escape hatch for unwanted meanings. More often than not, it is a perfectly valid defense against abuse of the text by those who are too careless to study it seriously. I can make the words of the Bible say whatever I want, much as I can cut and paste words from the newspaper to compose virtually any message I can conceive. Contextual analysis robs the abuser of his or her scissors and paste, and forces the reader to be honest with the text as it really is. I think that is a good thing.

Answer 3

Out of context means taking a verse of two from a passage, ignoring the supporting or relevant statement surrounding it, and using it to mean something other than the original intended meaning.

Matthew 16:28 is one ofter taken out of context. Some attempt to interpret this to say that Jesus is saying that his disciples will be alive when He returns for his second coming. But if you continue to read the next few verses it is clear that Jesus is talking about His transfiguration, not the second coming..

Answer 4

There's more to it than just reading the surrounding verses or chapters. Other things to take into consideration are: what person or group it's being written to; the circumstances for the writing; who wrote it; etc. And you're right about many Christians quoting out of context. They should be more careful. Unfortunately, this is how many are taught, and don't bother to read/study the Bible for themselves.
Is everyone answering this question a Christian? That's who it was directed to.

Answer 5

It can be misunderstanding the verses around it, or misunderstanding the circumstances.

Reading the entire verse helps us understand more than if we just read half.
For example;
1. Luke 20:25- He said to them: “By all means, then, pay back Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.”

Half of that verse means we should do EVERYTHING the governmental authorities tell us to do. But the second half shows that we should obey the governmental authorities up until what they command goes against God's laws (Acts 5:29)

2. Luke 10:4- Do not carry a purse, nor a food pouch, nor sandals, and do not embrace anybody in greeting along the road.

We might think Jesus said that his disciples were to be cold or impolite to people they met on their way to preach, but really in their culture, the "embracing in greeting" was not just a simple hug.
This is what certain Bible Dictionary had to say (I'm translating it into English, so it might not come out just right)

"Greetings among the inhabitants of the East were not just slight bows or handshakes like we do, it required a lot of hugging, bows and even lying down on the ground. This took A LOT of time"

So, understanding the context of the circumstances helps as well.

Answer 6

Taking a quote out of context means taking a quote that appears like it means one thing that supports your argument, when the containing passage as a whole means something quite different.

e.g

"To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree."

This appears to say that Darwin didn't actually 'believe' in evolution, and is frequently used by the Christian community as such. However the passage continues:

"Yet reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its possessor, can be shown to exist; if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if any variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real. How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself first originated; but I may remark that several facts make me suspect that any sensitive nerve may be rendered sensitive to light, and likewise to those coarser vibrations of the air which produce sound."

Which shows the TRUE meaning of what Darwin was saying. So the first passage, on its own, is out of context.

Answer 7

Out of context means to use a text of any sort in a manner in which it was not intended. For example, the Bible does say, "There is no God." To use that to claim that the Bible contradicts itself is taking the text out of context, because what that verse says in full is (if you didn't know already...): "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'"

Answer 8

The "out of context" is pulled on me quite often when I quote something that contradicts some Christian dogma! In the good old days when the Church ruled in the affairs of man you never hear "out of context" all you hear is "doctrines of demons!" and you contradict the official Church standing on anything. You would be hanging from a tree after receiving a godly number of lashes!

Answer 9

Sometimes you also need to know the context in which the passage was given. That is History of it. Sometimes passages seemo contradict each other. However if you have studied the background as well you will understand that seeming contradictions are not so.

Answer 10

Well this is out of context.surrender my body to the flames, but have not love
This is the line in context.
1 Corinthians 13
Love
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,but have not love, I gain nothing.