Top 6 Bible Verses Often Taken Out of Context
What Bible verses do you see most often taken
out of context?
How
does proper context change what people perceive verses to mean? What is one
that you could add to this list?
Context is Everything
Maybe you have heard it said that text taken out of context makes it a pretext and usually a false one at that. This is true.
Maybe you have heard it said that text taken out of context makes it a pretext and usually a false one at that. This is true.
That is how cults are started.
When we
take text out of their context we are stripping the meaning of the verses and
give them a different, and usually a wrong meaning.
Far too
many people try and find one Bible verse and come up with a doctrine but that’s
not the way to read the Bible.
When we
want to take out or interpret Scripture properly, we need to read the entire
paragraph, the entire chapter, and sometimes the entire book.
To take
one verse and use it to build a belief system is highly fraught with
error. The result is that Bible verses are taken out of context and
misapplied.
Here are my top picks for the 6 Bible verses that I
believe are most frequently taken out of context.
1. Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.”
After
Jesus says “Judge not, that you be not judged” He goes on to say “For with the same judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with
the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that
is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or
how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when
there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s
eye.”
Jesus is not telling the listeners not to judge
but to judge others after they have repented of their own faults and
sins.
It is
like a hypocrite whose having an adulterous affair judges someone who just told
a lie. The hypocrite is right that telling a lie is sin but how can he or
she judge someone else while he is committing adultery? It would be
ridiculous!
Notice
that Jesus is saying that the person should first judge himself to make sure
that he is not committing the same or a worse sin. Only when he takes the
speck out of his own eye does he have any right to correct a brother or
sister.
Clearly
Jesus is saying “take it out” of your
own eye first and get your own house in order.
The
word “judge” in its context is more like condemn. And we are not to condemn
others. But if a person in the church is openly sinning, then that person must
be put out of the church. So you must make a judgment on this.
Judging
sin in the church is a command when the sin hurts the church (1 Corinthians 5; Matthew 18:15-20).
2. Matthew 5:39 “if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
Jesus
is not saying that we should not defend ourselves but He is using hyperbole or
exaggeration.
What
He means is that when others insult you, do not retaliate. Just turn the other
cheek, not to have them slap you there … but to turn the other way and to leave
vengeance to God (Romans 12:19).
Even
Jesus “When he was reviled, he did not revile in
return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself
to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).
3. Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among
them.”
This
verse is taken out of context and ripped out of a paragraph.
This
is about what to do when a brother or sister in your church sins against you.
This
paragraph begins in Matthew 18:15-19 “If your brother sins against you, go and
tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have
gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along
with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three
witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he
refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax
collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say
to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done
for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my
name, there am I among them.”
Notice
that this is about church discipline and
that if two or three of the witnesses (v.
16) agree on
the matter, then Jesus is also in agreement with them.
This
verse has been misquoted to mean that you do not need church but if there are
“two or three … gathered in [Jesus’] name, there [He] is.”
The
reason that is wrong is, if you are born again, Jesus is already with you and
you do not need two or three others to join you in order for Him to be with
you.
Matthew
18:20 is also taken out of context when people claim that if two or three are
gathered then whatever they ask “it will
be done for them by [the] Father.”
God
may or may not answer that prayer the way you want Him to depending upon
whether it is the will of God or not. But it is not a hard, fast rule that just
by having 2 or 3 people getting together, only then will Jesus be there or
whatever we ask for God will grant.
4.Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who
strengthens me.”
Paul
is not telling the church at Philippi that they can do anything they want or
can do all things that they want to do.
He
is saying that we can do anything “through Christ” or “in Christ.”
The
context is saying that we can do anything that is in the will of Jesus Christ
because He is the One who will strengthen (enable) you do to it.
Paul
is not saying that we can do anything we want or anything in Christ that is not
His will.
But
he is saying that we can endure all sufferings if we are in Christ because just
before 4:13 Paul writes “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I
have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased,
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to
be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need” (Philippians 4:11-12).
Paul
was writing this in prison and he was likely cold, hungry, and alone, yet he
learned to be content in whatever state he was in … but only “in Christ.”
It
might be better to think of this as saying “We
can endure all things in Christ.”
5. Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth.’”
Anytime
you hear Jesus say “You have heard it
said” it indicates that He is referencing the Old Testament Laws.
You
will notice this in the Beatitudes where He lays out the Old Covenant (“You have heard it said”) against the
New Covenant (“But I say to you”).
Jesus
was quoting from the Mosaic Law which was found in Exodus 21:22-25 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children
come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as
the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges
determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life,
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn
for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”
What
the “eye for an eye” meant was not
that we should do to others what was done to us.
This
paragraph (vv 22-25) dealt with if a pregnant woman was hit during
a fight between two men and the child was injured, then they should pay for
their crime.
If a
child loses his life over this, then they should lose their lives.
What
is interesting is that this proves that a child is called a child even when in
the mother’s womb, indicating that God considers the unborn as a living,
breathing human being and whose life should not be aborted.
6. First John 4:16b “God is love.”
Yes,
God is love, but that is only one tiny fraction of the manifold attributes of God.
This
is like someone saying something about me to another person; “Jack is a cousin.”
Yes,
I am a cousin, but I am also a husband, a father, a grandfather, a son, an
uncle, and so on.
You
cannot elevate one attribute of God to the exclusion of His other
attributes.
Many
say that a loving God would not send someone to hell because “God is love.” Yes, God is love but love
and discipline go together.
First
and foremost, God is holy. He cannot even look upon sin and that is why He
turned away from Jesus, His only Son, at the cross.
I
love my children and my grandchildren and I would discipline them if they ran
out into the street to play because they could get hurt, or worse,
killed.
My
love comes with my discipline. It is exactly because I love them that I do
discipline them, just as God disciplines every one of His own children (Hebrews 12:5-7).
Conclusion
What
is a verse that you see taken out of context frequently?
One
verse we know that is in context says it all for those who have repented and
trusted in Christ.
Second
Corinthians 5:21 says “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew
no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
If
you have not trusted in Christ, then God sees you as having filthy rags and if
you stand in your own righteousness before God someday, then you will die in
your sins.
No
one is ever going to be good enough to save himself.
Trust
God, repent from your sins, confess them to God, and then trust in the only
name that can save you from the wrath of God … Jesus Christ. He is the
one and only way to the Father (John
6:44).
There
is no other way than through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).
Would you want God to change your life?
God has made it possible
for you to know Him and experience
an amazing change in your own life through
a relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, and have eternal life.
Say the following prayer:
“Father God, I confess I
am a sinner and my sins have separated me from You.
I am truly sorry. I now
want to turn away from my past sinful life and live a new life pleasing to You.
Please forgive me, and
help me avoid sinning again.
I believe that Your son,
Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and
hears my prayer.
I invite Jesus to become
the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Thank
You that according to Your Word, I am now born again.
Please send your Holy
Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of my life. I
promise to study Your Word – the Bible.
Use me for Your glory.
In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.”
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.
“Thy Word”
.
“Thy Word”
Amy
Grant
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lyrics
Thy
word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
When
I feel afraid,
And think I've lost my way.
Still, you're there right beside me.
Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near;
Please be near me to the end.
And think I've lost my way.
Still, you're there right beside me.
Nothing will I fear
As long as you are near;
Please be near me to the end.
Thy
word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
I
will not forget
Your love for me and yet,
My heart forever is wandering.
Jesus by my guide,
And hold me to your side,
And I will love you to the end.
Your love for me and yet,
My heart forever is wandering.
Jesus by my guide,
And hold me to your side,
And I will love you to the end.
Nothing
will I fear
As long as you are near;
Please be near me to the end.
As long as you are near;
Please be near me to the end.
Thy
word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
And a light unto my path.
You're the light unto my path.
And a light unto my path.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
And a light unto my path.
And a light unto my path.
You're the light unto my path.
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