Context and the Bible

February 16, 2025

In earlier blogs I have pointed out that there is an internal context that must be taken into account when trying to understand Scripture passages - i.e. each passage must be seen in the context of other passages within the New Testament. (“If there are mistakes in the Bible, how can it be the Word of God?”  Nov 12, 2023). Today’s second reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians gives us an opportunity to realise that there is also an external context to each of these writings that must also be taken into account.  What do I mean by that?  

To take an example from today’s world:  If I were to listen to the news today on FOX News in the USA, or REPUBLIC News in India, it would help me to interpret their reports if I understand their external context, namely their political leanings.  Or when CNN reported on the Iraq war some years ago, it would have been important to know that CNN was allowed to embed its reporters with the US armed forces in Iraq under strict conditions regarding what could or could not be shown on TV.  This is not to say that everything these news channels broadcasted was false, but there were certain external conditions that controlled what they said.

So when reading Paul’s numerous letters in the New Testament, we need to remember that during his own time, Paul was a controversial figure. Initially, his sudden conversion to Christianity was not believed to be genuine (Acts 9:13), as many wondered whether it was a ploy to ferret out the  Christians who may have been in hiding. Then his teachings were suspected because Jewish Christians were appalled by his liberal views on important Jewish laws (e.g. circumcision),  while the non-Jewish Christians saw him as too Jewish because, as former Pharisee, a lot of his teaching and references were based on his knowledge of the Jewish scriptures. Furthermore, while his letters were prolific, he himself did not have the credibility that Peter had, because Paul himself had never lived with Jesus, nor was he too impressive in his preaching as compared to Apollos,  partially because he seemed to have some disability that manifested itself when he preached (we don’t really know what it is) and which he himself accepted was a thorn in his flesh (2 Cor.12:7). So the external context is that Paul is often trying to re-assert his authority and establish his credibility within the Christian communities. And this is even more difficult for him because since he was far more educated than the other Apostles, many of whom were virtually illiterate (Acts 4:13), he soon began to think for himself (i.e. theologise), and began to hold opinions that seemed to conflict with the other Apostles, as the latter were primarily missionaries spreading the message of Jesus and not great thinkers in themselves.  

Of course neither Paul nor the others believed that everything they wrote was to be considered the inspired Word of God.  So we have Peter telling the Christians in his letter that what Paul wrote in his letters was “according to the wisdom given him” (2 Peter 3:15-16) and Paul himself, at one point in the same letter from which today’s reading is taken, writes: “To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord)….”  (1 Corinthians 7:12). Furthermore, Paul’s letters hold a variety of literary genres (e.g. friendly greetings, deep theological discussion, practical advice, spiritual poems, attacks on his opponents, claims about his own credibility (Galatians 2:6-9) and so on) - and obviously different genres have to be interpreted differently.   

 

With particular regard to the first letter to the Corinthians, from which our second reading is taken today, we also know that Paul’s teaching was being challenged in Corinth, with each group  claiming each group's respective interpretation of the Christian teachings was more valid as they were followers of Cephas (Peter) or of Apollos or of Paul himself(1 Cor.1:11-13).  

Reflecting on these external contexts to this letter also helps us realise that the early Church itself was struggling to understand and practice their Christian faith, and that there were power struggles at that time too, as different teachers appealed to different groups, and apparently the teachers did not always agree with each other, and so on.  

This should also caution us to find out the background of the other books of the New Testament, in order to interpret them properly for our times.  So, for example, when we find that the ancestors of Jesus listed in the two genealogies of Mathew and Luke do not match, then it might help us to remember that Mathew was writing for the Jews and hence his list goes only up to Abraham, the father of the Jews, while Luke was writing for the Gentile/non-Jewish world and so his genealogy goes up to Adam, the father of all human beings.  And also realise that neither of them had any scientific evidence to defend their respective lists, but based them on whatever they could find in what we call the Old Testament. Or when we read Revelations, the last book of the New Testament, we need to remember that it was written towards the end of the 1st or the beginning of the 2nd century, when the external context was a ‘new’ reality that the Christians had to face - namely that they were still being persecuted and, more importantly, that Jesus’ second coming had not come about as they believed it would during their lifetimes.  Hence this book was written to  assure the Christians that they were still in good hands, despite all evidence to the contrary, and that eventually they would prevail/win, and Jesus’ kingdom would indeed come. And it would explain why the language of this book is so highly symbolic, because it was written at a time of great threat, and the author had to use such language in order to clandestinely denounce the oppressing state powers of that time.

If this kind of understanding of Scripture sounds troubling to many who wonder whether this is what the Catholic Church teaches, it is instructive to note that the ‘Instruction of the Biblical Commission’ (Sancta Mater Ecclesia, 1964, para 244. 9 (3))  spells out briefly how the Gospels came to be written:

The sacred authors took this earliest body of instruction, which had been handed down orally at first and then in writing... and set it down for the benefit of the churches, in the four gospels. In doing so, each of them followed a method suitable to the special purpose which he had in view. They selected certain things out of the many traditions; some they synthesised, some they elaborated in view of the situation of the churches, painstakingly using every means of bringing home to their readers the firm truth in which they had been instructed. For, out of the material which they had received, the sacred authors selected especially those items which were adapted to the various circumstances of the faithful as well as the end which they themselves had in view; these items they recounted in a manner fitting those circumstances and that end .... In handing on the words and deeds of our Saviour they explained them, one Evangelist setting them in one context, another in another. 

Understanding this external context of how the Bible was written, reminds us that the Bible was and is not a document without its baggage and priorities. But in reading the Bible, we can take a lesson from Karl Rahner, a much revered Catholic theologian, when he suggested that even the Council of Chalcedon, one of the pivotal Councils of the Church, needs to be taken as a starting point  rather than as an end point beyond which we cannot explore.  I would suggest that that is exactly what the Church has done over the centuries and what we too are called to do when trying to interpret the New Testament.  

First Reading: Jeremiah 17: 5-8

 

This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who draws strength from mere flesh
and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Gospel: Luke 6: 17, 20-26

He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 

Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, 

for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, 

for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.