Lesson 2 | The Context of Cfs
Danger: Getting Things Wrong
Without context, it is easy to misunderstand a cross-reference. But perhaps a greater danger still is to check the context—though not well—and then interpret your passage of study based on what you think the cross-reference says. This is a greater danger because you will put more weight upon this cross-reference since you “checked” it.
Do NOT bank on a cross-reference whose context is unfamiliar to you.
One example where this might happen is in your study of Revelation 9.
1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke… 3 Then from the smoke came locusts… 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. … 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. —Revelation 9:1-4, 11
The ESV includes the following cross-reference:
For most folks, this verse from Job is not a familiar one. So, as you will learn this lesson, you would be wise to check its context. In doing so, you would find that this chapter is dedicated to describing all the troubles that befall the wicked (Job 18:5), ending in him being “thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world” in death (Job 18:18).
Thus, you might conclude that the tormenting “locusts” spoken of in Revelation 9 are actually people (or at least they were people) who have been turned over to Abaddon/Apollyon as their new king.
What’s the problem? The issue is the Bible never says that the wicked person is brought to the king of terrors. Rather, the Bible records Bildad, one of Job’s friends, making this claim. Is Bildad right about this? That is not clear as we know that at least some of what he said was definitely wrong (Job 42:7).
The point is this: Cross-references are an incredibly powerful tool in understanding the Bible if and only if we rightly understand their contexts. So let’s be careful.