Context

And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Luke 4:9-11

We're all familiar with this passage as part of the temptation of Christ. In this temptation, Satan quotes scripture. And as we know in the next verse, he is rebuked by Christ. Satan took scripture, used it out of its context, and in such a manner twisted it from the truth. This is what Peter warns about in II Peter 3:14-18. We must not twist scripture, but use it as it was intended to be used. So let us consider three different contexts each time we go to the Bible:

Immediate
What do the verses right around it say? Does your understanding fit into the immediate context? Do the surrounding verses have further explanation or modifiers that apply to the verse you are looking at? It is easy to take one verse, ignore the verses around it, and make it say whatever you want it to say.

Book
Does your understanding of the verse mesh with the rest of the book? For example, if you are looking at John 3:16, does your understanding of that verse include John 14:15? Remember that the division into chapters and verses was done by men, many years after the scriptures were written. The different books of the Bible were intended to be read as a whole. Keep in mind what the rest of the book says and to whom each was written.

Bible
The Bible does not contradict itself. So we must make sure that the verse being examined, or rather, our understanding of that verse, does not contradict the rest of scripture. If there is an apparent contradiction, then the interpretation of one, or both, verses must be wrong.

If our understanding of a particular passage is in contradiction to any of these contexts, our understanding is flawed, and we must begin again. Using a scripture in a way other than it was intended (II Peter 1:20-21 – God gave it one way, we must use and understand it that one way) is not acceptable. Even if we are using it to show a true teaching, we cannot take the verse out of context. We must correctly handle the word of truth (II Corinthians 4:2, II Timothy 4:15).

The Ten Commandments: 6-10

The ten commandments are often referred to by people. Interestingly enough, they are not named as separate from the rest of the law, or numbered. The majority of people hold them as still binding. Numerous churches list them as official parts of their doctrine. Yet we know today that the laws given through Moses are not binding on us today (Colossians 2:14, Ephesians 2:15). However, nine of these commandments are repeated in the New Testament. And the exception, the Sabbath, has a corollary in the New Testament (and it isn't Sunday). Last week we looked at the first five commandments. This week we look at the sixth through tenth commandments.

Sixth Commandment: Thou shalt not kill. (Exodus 20:13)
Christ takes this commandment and gives us the fullness of it in Matthew 5:21-26. We see that not only are we to avoid physical murder, but that we should not hold in our hearts the unrighteous anger that leads to murder. Our hearts must be as free from murder as our actions are.

Seventh Commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14)
Again we see Christ giving a more full understanding of this in Matthew 5:27-32. We see again that it is not simply the action that is wrong, but the thoughts and intents of the heart as well. Looking at someone to lust after them is, in God's eyes, equal to the act of adultery.

Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not steal. (Exodus 20:15)
In Ephesians 4:8, Paul writes to the church in Ephesus telling them no one should steal, but rather should endeavor to earn an honest wage doing honest work. Not only are we to avoid stealing, but we are to do the opposite action and earn our way honestly.

Ninth Commandment: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. (Exodus 20:16)
The act of giving false testimony against another is abhorrent in the sight of God. Was this not the method chosen by those who sought the crucifixion of Christ (Mark 14:57)? Romans 13:9-10 repeats that we are to love others, and that this commandment is as much a part of what we are to do as Christians as it was a part of the law of Moses. Moreover, as this is a form of lying, and as all lying is condemned (Colossians 3:9), we must put away.

Tenth Commandment: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. (Exodus 20:17)
Covetousness, that consuming desire for what others have, must be avoided. In Colossians 3:5, Paul equates covetousness with idolatry, that is, putting something ahead of God. Again, in Ephesians 5:3-4, covetousness is one of the things which should not even be named among those who are striving to follow Christ.

These commandments we strive to keep. Not because the Lord gave them to the Israelites through Moses, but because the Lord has taught them to us in the New Testament. Let us do so!

The Ten Commandments: 1-5

The ten commandments are often referred to by people. Interestingly enough, they are not named as separate from the rest of the law, or numbered. The majority of people hold them as still binding. Numerous churches list them as official parts of their doctrine. Yet we know today that the laws given through Moses are not binding on us today (Colossians 2:14, Ephesians 2:15). However, nine of these commandments are repeated in the New Testament. And the exception, the Sabbath, has a corollary in the New Testament (and it isn't Sunday). Let us consider each of these commands in turn, and then see what the New Testament has to say for us on these subjects.

First Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3)
We see this same admonition to place God first in our lives in passages such as Matthew 6:24, 6:33, and I Corinthians 8:4-5). There is no other God, nor anything else, that should be of more importance to us than the Lord (Luke 14:26). We obey this commandment not because it was in the Law of Moses, but because it was given by Christ under the New Covenant.

Second Commandment: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: (Exodus 20:4)
Just as the Hebrews were commanded to not have idols, so are we (I Corinthians 10:14 and Galatians 5:19-21). We are given more explanation in passages such as Colossians 3:5 as to what God considers idolatry. Anything that we desire or elevate to a place higher than God, to us, is an idol. Not only are we to not bow before an object as a god, we are not to place anything in our lives in a position of being greater than the Lord.

Third Commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. (Exodus 20:6)
The Israelites were to take care when applying the name of the Lord to anything. We too are warned against improper speech, whether in oaths (Matthew 5:33-37, James 5:12), in purity (James 3:9-12, Ephesians 4:29-32), or in how we approach others (I Peter 3:15).

Fourth Commandment: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:7)
Many refer to the Lord's Day as the Christian sabbath. However, this is not the case. The sabbath rest of the Christian is referred to in Hebrews 4. Our sabbath is heaven. Until then, we must continue to do the work of the Lord. Just as the Hebrews were to work six days, and then the sabbath, we are to work until our sabbath: an eternity of rest with God.

Fifth Commandment: Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. (Exodus 20:12)
Honoring father and mother are as important in the new covenant as in the old. Christ taught this in Matthew 15:1-6. It is repeated in Ephesians 6:1-4. It is important to pay the respect and obedience to parents that we should.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the next five commandments. We remember, once again, that we do not hold to the ten commandments as found in the Old Testament. We instead hold to the teachings of Christ.

Between Malachi and Matthew: Lasting Effects

As we wrap up a very brief look at the time between the testaments, we will look at some of the results that affect the New Testament.

Language
Hebrew - Hebrew was, by this time, largely a dead language, replaced by Aramaic and Greek. Which is why the New Testament is written in Greek, and not Hebrew. Why is this important? The words in a dead language do not change, making translation and understanding more sure.

Koine Greek – Alexander the Great strove to bring about a world culture based on and emulating Greek society. Part of this was in language. As Greek became the common language (koine means “common”), it became that which was often used in writing, thus the New Testament was written in Greek. Shortly after the New Testament was written, it too died as a language.

Sects
Pharisees – The Pharisees were a group that was dedicated to zealously keeping even the “least” part of the law of Moses. Over time, they came to put equal emphasis on traditions that they had come up with. They were regarded by most as the most pure or holy of the Jews, and were generally made up of people of the middle and lower classes. The Pharisees opposed Christ, and the apostle Paul was formerly a Pharisee.

Sadducees – The Saducees were a religious sect made up primarily of the upper classes of Jewish society (the wealthy, priests, etc.) and were generally regarded as the more conservative of the religious sects at the time. One of the major divisions between Pharisees and Saducees is that Saducees did not believe in resurrection. The Sadducees by the time of the New Testament were a small group whose power was felt primarily in the Sanhedrin.

Herodians – The Herodians were not a religious sect. Rather, they were a political party. These were Jews who supported the reign of Herod the Great and his family. These individuals were in favor of hellenization, of Roman involvement in Judea, and of the policies put in place by the Herodian family. The apostle Matthew, as a tax collector, was probably a Herodian.

Zealots – Zealots were the opposite of the Herodians. Early zealots would include the Macabbees we looked at last week. They were fierce nationalists who often held it as a religious duty to remove any influence from outside nations and to gain independence through any means possible, including military insurrection. It was through their efforts that Judea would later revolt, leading to the destruction of the temple in AD70. The apostle Simon (not Simon Peter) was a zealot.

Nations
Greece – The time of Greek control over the area had brought in the Greek language, ideas, and architectures. Their involvement also brought about much of the division among the Jews themselves.

Idumea/Edom – Because the Macabbees had forced the Idumeans to convert to Judaism, the Herodians to gain power. Herod, of course, put his own people in positions of authority, effectively creating a religious society governed by the least religious.

Rome – Rome policed Judea, enforced Roman laws, and their agents made decisions in most significant court cases. Roman involvement governed a great deal of Jewish life in the first century, as well as providing the infrastructure so important to early evangelism throughout the empire.