Bible Study
Context Question: Who Wrote/Spoke the Passage and to Whom Was It Addressed?
Pretty self explanatory. Who is speaking, and who is the audience.
Context Question: What Does the Passage Say? What doesn't it say?
Here we attempt to paraphrase what the passage is saying and identify what cannot be ascertained from the passage.For example:
Isaiah 19:4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
This verse says that God will cause or allow the Egyptians to fall into the hands of a cruel lord, and they will be ruled by a fierce King.
It does not say whether the "cruel lord" and "fierce king" are the same person, two different people, whether these events happen concurrently or at separate times or when these events will take place.
Context Question: Are There Any Words or Phrases That Need To Be Examined?
Identify any words or phrases that seem to merit further investigation for definition and proper understanding, or any words and phrases that you cannot easily define.My suggestion would be to use a Greek/Hebrew dictionary such as Strong's Concordance to identify the meaning of the word or phrase in the original language, as well as a good subject or topical dictionary such as The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia to help identify further contextual meaning of the word or phrase, any symbolic or metaphorical meanings used, etc.
When the word or phrase has multiple meanings the context must be referred to in order to identify its usage. It is also useful to use cross-references and a concordance to identify the term's usage in other passages, although you can get into trouble by inserting the meaning of a word or phrase from one context into another.
For example, 1. He will lie down 2. To tell a lie is sin. The underlined word "lie" has different meanings for each of these two examples.
Context Question: What is the Immediate and Broader Textual Context of the Passage or Verse?
In Biblical interpretation this means to identify the immediately surrounding verses before and after the passage or verse in question, and then to identify the broader context of chapter and book.In the immediate context, one should identify the first and last verse that is dealing with the specific subject or thought of the verse in question. For example:
Jer 5:25 Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you.
Jer 5:26 For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men.
Jer 5:27 Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich;
Jer 5:28 they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
Jer 5:29 Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?"
In the above verse in bold, the text is describing people. The immediate context of the verse would begin in verse 26, which we find the people being described are wicked men, and ends with verse 28, the last verse in the immediate context that deals with describing those wicked men.
Verse 25 is dealing with a previous thought and verse 29 begins a new thought.
From the broader context of chapter and book we can discover the time and place of the subject and identify the type of literature that is being used (prophetic, historic, etc.)
It is also often necessary to refer to the broader context of a passage or verse to identify to whom it was addressed.
Context Question: What are the related verses and passages that deal with the same subject?
Here's where you need a good subject concordance and cross references. It often occurs that a specific event is recorded in multiple places in the Bible, and also the verses and passages that deal with the subject matter should be referred to in order to properly exegete the intended meaning.