Yesterday we starting talking about looking at particular sentences of the Bible in four contexts.

First, look at the sentence in the context of the book it’s in. In the class I was teaching Sunday, we were looking at a sentence from Colossians. I suggested that we needed to look at the whole letter, not just one sentence. Is this sentence the start of a new section or a continuation of a thought? Is this part of a set of bullet points or a transition in a longer explanation? How does the end of the letter illustrate a principle that is given earlier in the letter?

This is assuming that a person is actually writing a letter to some other person or people. Which means that the communication tools that you and I use every day may be part of the letter from the Bible that we are reading (tools such as exaggeration, illustration, metaphor, explanation, simplification, backtracking, repetition).

One caution. The headings and the verse numbers and the chapter numbers are on the page we may be looking at, but they were not on the parchment when the original letter was written. The heading inserted by an editor to help us find particular stories may create a division of thought where the writer didn’t intend one.

Second, look at the sentence in the context of other books attributed to the same writer. Because Paul is listed as the author of several letters, it makes sense to look at all of them in deciding what he might mean in one sentence of one of them. (Same is true of John, Luke, and Peter.) How is this subject addressed to other audiences? Is something emphasized here and not there? Is this about a problem in one town or in many towns?

Tomorrow: the other two contexts.