Lesson 4: The Contextual Horizon (2)
Using Rich Resources
In Step 3.5, we talked about how to discover the setting of a passage of Scripture—its historical context. We used six questions from Dr. Jason DeRouchie: “Who?” “When?” “Where?” “Why?” “How?” and “What?”
Now we need to talk about how to discuss the text of a passage of Scripture—its textual context.¹ That involves looking closely at both its grammar and logic, as well as what it contributes to the rest of the book in which it occurs—all the while using commentaries as conversation partners. Discussing the text involves answering two questions, the answers to which will complete our study of the Contextual Horizon.
The microscope question
“How does this word or sentence contribute to the point of the passage?”
Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart explain why we must ask this question in their helpful guide to interpretation, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth:
[W]ords only have meaning in sentences, and ... biblical sentences for the most part have full and clear meaning only in relation to preceding and succeeding sentences.
—Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 4th ed., 31.
So when you’re studying a passage, you need to study individual words in light of the sentences they occur in, and you need to study individual sentences in light of the sentences before and after them.
This is vital to understand. God didn’t pin your favorite Bible verse to an empty bulletin board like a divine Post-it® note, free from context of any kind!
Therefore, if you desire to accurately understand a verse or a paragraph, you must dig deeply into the words and grammar of your passage, and you must seek to understand the logic connecting the clauses and sections of your passage. Of course, you will have done that already in the first step of Bible study, but studying the textual context in detail requires even more work.
The image below will guide you toward words or phrases to study closely:
The author of a commentary will comment on some significant words and themes and give you cross references to other places, both in the book and elsewhere, where those words and themes are used. He will discuss different options for logical relationships between clauses and verses and paragraphs. He may confirm your interpretation or offer evidence against it. Either way, no commentary is authoritative, but the wise student will carefully consider what is presented there. After all, each commentary gives the viewpoint of a well-educated scholar who has spent far more time in your passage than you will, and is thus a valuable teacher.
Here’s what that looks like in 2 John. I’ve highlighted some theological words, circled some emphasized words, and underlined some connecting words.
John’s main point seems to be the centrality of truth, which we must believe and obey, and which will result in loving fellow believers. On the other hand, we must reject deceivers, who don’t believe the truth about Christ. This lifestyle brings joy to both teacher and listener alike.
Here is how four commentators view the significance of the theological and emphasized words “love” and “truth” in verses 1–2:
“In these first two verses the elder has introduced topics of central relevance in the body of the letter to follow. The topic of love is developed in vv. 3–6; the topic of truth in vv. 2–4, and the topic of remaining in the truth in v. 9.”
—Karen H. Jobes, 1, 2, & 3 John, 257.
“[W]hat [the elder] is emphasising is the community of love that exists among those who ‘know the truth’; those who are ‘in the truth’. … [T][he community of love is created not simply by believers internalising the truth of the gospel, but also by the indwelling of Christ, who is the embodiment of the gospel message, in each of them.”
—Colin G. Kruse, The Letters of John, 205.
“All Christians form one fellowship, rejoicing in the spiritual prosperity of one another. ‘The communion of love is as wide as the communion of faith’ [Alford].”
—Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible,
vol. 2, 539.
“[T]he presbyter is saying that he loves his readers in a way that accords with the truth of the Christian gospel in which mutual love is an obligation…, and takes its content from the love of God revealed in and exemplified by Jesus himself.”
—Stephen S. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 319.
So to answer the microscope question, we study what words and sentences contribute to the main point of a passage.
The telescope question
“How does the point of the passage impact the rest of Scripture, and vice versa?”
Now, instead of zooming in, we are zooming out. We are seeking to broaden our view from looking at the passage itself to looking at the surrounding context—the textual context. And not just the surrounding context within the book itself, but within the entirety of Scripture.
Visualize a series of concentric circles. Your passage is in the center, located in a paragraph or series of paragraphs, which is located in a book, which is located with other books written by the same author, which is located within a genre, which is located in one of the Testaments, which is located in the Bible.
So to answer the telescope question, you need to examine the context of your passage in the larger literary unit in which it is embedded, then within the entirety of the book, within other books written by the same author, within other books written in the same genre, within the Old or New Testament, and finally within the whole Bible.
(If the massive breadth of the telescope question overwhelms you, be encouraged: you don’t need to use every concentric circle every time you view the Contextual Horizon. Just try to use as many as you can to get a broad view of the textual context of your passage. You might also consult our discussion of this topic in the Discovery! course.)
There are two sub-questions to answer here.
First, using the concentric circles above, you should discover how the textual context impacts your passage by asking, “How does the emphasis of the rest of Scripture help me interpret my passage more accurately?”
Then you should discover how your passage impacts the textual context by asking, “How does the emphasis of my passage help me interpret the rest of Scripture more accurately?”
To start this process, you need to identify the emphasis of the book as a whole.
First, you should read through the book more than once, hopefully several times. As you do so, construct a basic outline (your repeated words from the microscope question will assist you here), and write a summary sentence for the book as a whole, based on the main points of your outline.
Only then should you reach for a good commentary (see Step 3.2)—in fact, more than one good commentary. Turn to their introductory sections, which will often give an outline of the structure of the book and describe its purpose and emphases and theology in detail. Edit your outline as necessary, based on these commentaries.
Thirdly, make a list of major themes in the passage based on these commentaries. Then collect quotations from those commentaries that expand on those themes.
Once your outline and your list of major themes are confirmed or edited based on the commentaries, you will be able to see how your passage contributes to them. And then you will be able to keep widening your view, twisting the lens of your telescope, seeing the broader and broader scope of your passage in the rest of Scripture.
Making an Outline of 2 John
So to answer the telescope question, we study how the passage contributes to the overall argument of the book.
In the next step, we’ll set up our microscope and telescope and look through them at the passage I mentioned in the introduction, Genesis 50:15–21.