Back in 2012, I wrote about the necessity of context to understand the Bible. The easiest way to be fleeced by bad teaching is when someone uses a part of a verse, or even a few Bible verses without regard for what the purpose of the passage is, its audience and proper application.
Context is key in everything. It can be awkward to join a conversation in the middle. Often things are confusing, hilarious or even inappropriate sounding when you’re missing the rest of the information.
Reading the Bible is no exception. In fact, given the great importance of rightly understanding and teaching the word of God context is even more crucial!
A verse I hear commonly misused is a part of Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.” I think many believers have heard or been taught an improper meaning of this verse. This concerns me because it is often used by advocates of contemplative spirituality to support their promotion of the “discipline of silence.” A DVD program promoting this concept was even named “Be Still” after the supposed proof text. You can read Marcia Montenegro’s review of the DVD.
Keep reading my original post “Context, Context, Context” which examines the entire Psalm 46 and compares it to the way it is used to justify so-called spiritual disciplines which are in fact mysticism.
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