Don’t Read a Single Bible Verse!

“Don’t read a single Bible verse.”

I believe it was Greg Koukl who coined a very similar statement. It might sound like what he was saying was, “Don’t read your Bible.” But that’s not what it means at all!

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Don’t Read a Single Bible Verse

Here’s why I believe we should never read a single Bible verse…

It is SO easy for us to take a single verse of Scripture and make it say anything we want it to say. I can support almost any stance I want to take when I remove Scripture from its context and twist it to say what I want it to say.

In other words, “I can do all things through a Scripture verse taken out of context.” {This is adapted from Philippians 4:13, of course.} It’s sad, yet very true.

Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness {found in Matthew 4 and Luke 4} quickly comes to mind. Each time Satan tempts Jesus, he quotes Scripture OUT OF CONTEXT. Of course, Jesus recognizes this and immediately corrects and rebukes him. But could I do the same?

But we see the same thing today. I once had a person living a lifestyle of disobedience to God say to me, “At my church, we have a banner on the wall. It says, ‘God is love.’ I know God would never condemn me or what I’m doing because He is love.”

Wow. That’s taking 1 John 4 completely out of context.

 

We are So Quick to Justify Sin

Myself included. For example, I have said on more than one occasion to my kids, “You made me so angry. That’s why I yelled at you.”

Um. Is that really true? Nope. As a believer, I am no longer a slave to sin. My child didn’t make me angry. I CHOSE to become angry in that situation.

We are often prone to justifying our sin instead of calling it for what it really is. Just picking a verse or two out of its context can further fuel that dangerous flame.

 

How Should we Read the Bible, Then?

1. In the Context of the Passage

This means instead of handpicking a verse like, “God is love,” which isn’t even the entire verse, read the entire chapter with the verse in its context. You can even take the time to study what happened before and what happened after the verse.

Or if you’re reading one of Paul’s letters, study what was happening in that church’s history at that time. Studying verses in the context of the passage can prevent you or I from creating our own “theologies” that don’t really line up with God’s Word.

 

2. In the Context of the Bible

The Bible does not contradict itself. That’s because God is the Author, and God never contradicts Himself. Period.

When we pull verses out of their context to make them say what we want, we often come up with an idea that will contradict God or another Scripture in the Bible.

I love what Jack Hibbs said one time: “The Bible is to interpret the Bible. It’s up to us to agree with it.” Amen! If we think we have a correct interpretation of something in the Bible, we should search the whole of the Bible to see what it says. The Bible will always compliment itself.

 

Resources for Verse-by-Verse Teaching

To study Scripture in the context of the passage and of the Bible, I like to listen to Verse-by-Verse teaching. Maybe you’re blessed to have a pastor who does this kind of teaching every Sunday. If you’re not {and even if you are}, here are some online resources I’ve found for this kind of teaching:

1. Verse by Verse Ministries – Originally started by Stephen Armstrong; now carried on by Wesley Livingston. Find the website HERE. {They also have an app.}

2. Chuck Missler – Mr. Missler is no longer alive, but many of his sermons can be found on YouTube.

3. Skip Heitzig – Trained by Chuck Smith himself. Author of the book, How to Study the Bible and Enjoy it.

 

As Colossians 2:6-8 says, let’s raise rooted disciples for Him!
~Becky