Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.
Numbers 21:6
You’ve probably never considered plastering the above verse on your living room wall no matter how pretty a frame you could find for it. But why not? It’s in the Bible! The truth is, this verse comes from a rather disturbing passage of Scripture when the Israelites doubted God (not their first go-round with this), so God sent snakes to His people. (And in case you’re wondering, this is actually one of the less disturbing stories in the Old Testament.)
While verses like this one are often ignored entirely, pulling Bible verses out of context has become common practice, and in doing so, Biblical messages are sometimes misconstrued. Before I go on, let me note two things.
- I’m not suggesting that I hope to start seeing more verses like Number 21:6 on my Instagram feed, but rather that we understand why looking at all Scripture is important.
- I am not proposing we stop using Bible verses as support and encouragement, but rather that we be very careful not to make a teaching what we want it to be instead of what God intended it to be.
The Bible is one book. It’s an interweaving of stories, lessons, and teachings which should be considered both holistically (as a whole) and thematically (with central ideas).
Galatians chapter 2 gives us a clear example of why context is so very important. Verse 16 says, “[K]now that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.” If taken out of context, this verse could be presented as a free pass: “Don’t worry about the rules; just have faith!”
But look at the context.
The verse right before this makes it clear who Paul was addressing: “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles” (v. 15). Paul was writing to the church in Galatia because these Jews had not accepted Christ at the Savior. His audience was living by the law alone, not in Christ.
But do you see how reading only Galatians 2:16, the meaning could seem quite different than reading it in context?
Here’s a very similar example.
The book of Romans was written as one letter. Paul (the writer of this epistle) says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (3:23), that it is by God’s grace He sent humanity His son (5:2), and that it is only Christ who can save us by His death on the cross which covers our sins (5:1). And yes! Christ is our only saving grace.
And then…
Paul reminds us that intentional sinning isn’t part of the deal. In the next part of the letter (remember, it’s all one), Paul says, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!” (Romans 6:1-2b)
Paul makes a point to say that though we receive God’s grace, we shouldn’t choose to go on living in sin as Christians. (As a side note, James actually has a lot to say about genuine faith.) Context always proves crucial.
Does this mean we should never pull a verse to use as encouragement or to support a point or to post on Instagram? Of course not. I’m sure you have seen and will continue to see me do these things. But we should be mindful of Scriptural context and also of our audience. We certainly do not want to do a disservice to our readers, listeners, or watchers by presenting only half-truths. If we present only a message of grace or only a message of sin, we share only part of the message. That seems unfair to us and our audience.
To return to the Numbers story, the Israelites cry out to God, Moses prays for them, and God responds. He tells Moses to make a snake on a pole, and anyone who is bitten can look at it and live. Thus the people lived.
It’s nice to know the full story, isn’t it?