Lesson 8 | Explore the Context
Give Heed to the Context
The key text that led to Martin Luther’s conversion was Romans 1:17, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed.” But the break through did not come easy. He had, in the previous few years, already lectured on Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, and was now presenting a series of lectures on Psalms for the second time. But he did not yet have a true understanding of the gospel. It was that simple phrase, “the righteousness of God” that he could not take hold of. To him, it was a terrifying phrase.
I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they call it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner. … I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, “As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!” Thus, I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience.
Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted. At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’” There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.
~Martin Luther
Did you notice what opened the door to a right understanding of the Scripture? “I gave heed to the context”! Luther looked both ways. First back, to see that God’s revealing of his righteousness was in fact the gospel—good news! That truth forced him to press on until he could see how it could be. Then he looked forward, to see that this very righteousness is ours as a gift to be received by faith.
This lesson focuses on rightly understanding the passage at hand by discerning the context in which it stands. As Luther discovered for himself, getting the context right makes all the difference in the world.
Lesson Objectives
- To recognize the significance of rightly understanding the surrounding context
- To gain skills in tracing the connections across chapters
- To learn how to use the Markup module’s Context lens