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Text without context is pretext for proof-text
Greg Hershberg
If it seems like I’m a bit of a Greg Hershberg fan, it’s because I am. He has a way of cutting through the dross and striking right to the heart of a matter… and that is a skill one only hones in dogged pursuit of real, actual truth. Let’s break this witty saying down a bit to glean the real meaning – if we take scripture out of its context, we can co-opt its real meaning (particularly among the scripturally ignorant) and present the text as teaching virtually anything we want; even when it runs completely contrary to its actual meaning.
Can you think of any examples of this? I certainly can, because the teachers of such fallacious theologies are rampant today. Word of Faith or Prosperity Gospel, Universalism (all roads lead to the same God), and the list goes on. Generally, such ideas contain a kernel of truth, but on close inspections we find that such truth has been so horribly twisted as to make the core truth contained, veritably unrecognizable.
Peter, disciple to the Messiah himself, warned us about this very thing two-thousand years ago:
But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves. And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep.
2 Peter 2:1 – 5
The King James translation renders the portion cited above “exploit you” as “make merchandise of you“. Does it strike you that a considerable portion of modern believers have been exploited or made merchandise of? If not – just turn on your TV.
I mean, every one of these preachers will tell you that God wants you to be wealthy. They’ll also tell you that you get there by “sowing seed” – most specifically into their ministries. It seems to me is that the result is that the “Prosperity Gospel” does work… for them.
Seriously, the list of these teachers is long and sordid. It even includes teachers I’ve listened to myself over the years. In fact, not everything I’ve heard from the mouths of such teachers is false – there absolutely have been truths relayed, but the only way to know the truth from falsehood is to actually know the scriptures yourself. Even then, you’re going to find that if someone consistently mixes error with truth in teaching, it’s far better to simply walk away and pursue plain actual truth – extricating truth from liars is simply exhausting.
Jesus answered them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many.
Matthew 24:4 – 5
Now, I’d like you stop and consider that the above quote can infer more than one idea – and both inferences are completely valid and legitimate…
On one hand, the passage points to those who would claim that they are the messiah; something we’ve seen in the past and know is coming again in the form of the anti-Messiah. On the other hand, it also points to those who will point to Jesus / Yeshua as being the Messiah, and yet lead many astray.
My purpose in highlighting this is to point out that you don’t have to be following a Jim Jones in order to find yourself being led down the path to destruction. Moreover, if you don’t know the scriptures – then you’ll not understand much of what the Messiah said, did and taught – and if you’re not armed with such information, you’re going to find yourself at a severe disadvantage in such matters.
Here’s the thing – you don’t have to have the bible memorized to know true from false… that’s why God went about the business of having these things written down. I mean, if you have a question or concern, our FIRST resort should be to crack our bibles and look… but the value in that is only going to take us as far as we understand – and treat as authoritative – the information relayed therein.
If you count yourself among those who deem the scriptures to be “antiquated” or “irrelevant” in modernity, then the exercise would be pointless. Then again, if that’s you – what are you even doing here?
Now let’s circle back for a moment. If it is true that “text without context is pretext for proof-text“, how then are we to approach scripture without violating the context? Once again, by understanding the context in which it is presented to us in scripture… and that requires us, once again, to understand the “front of the book”.
The brass tacks here is that of a simple truth made plain in scripture; God does NOT change. His word does NOT change. Messiah does NOT change – He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Two-thousand years ago, believers were awaiting a conquering King, but received a suffering Servant. Now, I see plainly that at the end of the age, far too many believers await a suffering Servant, but what’s coming is the conquering King. If we do not ply our minds to understanding the truth revealed in the scriptures, we will not know what is really coming and we may find ourselves looking for the wrong thing…
Good doctrine and solid theology is not predicated on a handful of isolated passages – the scriptures as a whole are the foundation for such. I’ve said many times that “there’s one Gospel,” (Gospel meaning “Good News”), “it begins in Genesis and ends in the Revelation” and I stand by this. The scriptures are a continuous, cohesive narrative relating not only the nature of our creator, but “the end from the beginning” – and that, is very good news indeed!
Until next time,
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You