Context and Prooftext

I’ve written before on context and prooftext, and have quoted the adage, “A text out of context becomes a pretext for a prooftext.”

And as a reminder, a prooftext is when we misread or misinterpret a text so as to take away the wrong meaning.  

I come across these on occasion when transitioning from reading a particular text to then studying the same text.  Oftentimes the initial takeaway is influenced more by my (or someone else’s) previous understanding of a passage or a broader perspective, and less by the text itself, and while this can sometimes produce a useful insight, it always fails to capture the fullness of the text.

It may come as a consolation, however, to learn that we in the modern world are not the only prooftexters, neither is this a new or novel concept.

Jesus often had to point out and rebel against the prooftexting mindset of many of his contemporaries.  Even the Pharisees, with all the good they were inspiring, and the revival movements they were pioneering – encouraging the Israelites to return to faithful covenantal relationship with God, and the practical, regular, ongoing observance of the Law and the Prophets – even these were not immune to the proclivity to prooftext.

In Luke 16:16, Jesus makes a significant observation which is easy to miss.  “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.” (NASB)

Did you catch it?

The Law and the Prophets were the central message(s) to the Israelites – and was supposed to be the central message for the whole world, had Israel ever chosen to honor the Abrahamic covenant – and was the central message for centuries.  In more recent years, John the Baptist had gone about preaching the gospel/good-news message of the kingdom of God.  “Repent (turn from the destructive habits and patterns of sin), for the kingdom of God is near/at hand.”  

Jesus continued this message as well, and we could even go so far as to say that this was the central message of his ministry and missionary journeys.  The good news is that the kingdom of God is here and now, not somewhere else in some far off time.  This good news reality means we have access to the ability to live a life free from the power and bondage and destruction of sin – we don’t have to struggle through life and be slightly pacified by the idea of an afterlife where things are better.  And Jesus taught this message, sure enough, but He also lived in the reality of the message.  And perhaps even more astonishing is that Jesus proved that this gospel message was actually the real-life display of the Law and the Prophets in action.  This is the fulfillment of the Law – the flesh and blood reality and example of the Old Covenant.  This is the explanation of the Law and the Prophets.

But….

“Everyone is forcing his way into it.”  

Everyone is forcing his way, will, interpretation, perspective, opinion, theology, world view, etc. into it.

Prooftexting has been a problem and challenge for a very long time – perhaps for all of human history.

And this explains why so many of God’s people have so horribly misinterpreted His Word and will through the millennia – they and we have often failed to read and hear and comprehend the messages God has been speaking to us in favor of promoting our own agenda or world view.  This is how we can find Old Testament passages that SEEM to portray God’s nature as different than that of Jesus.  This is how liberty can SEEM to be portrayed as legalism.  And this is how a most clear and logical revelatory text (the Bible) can SEEM confusing or logically inconsistent at times.

Fortunately, Jesus follows up this observation with a wonderfully hope-filled promise: “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.” (Luke 16:17).

So this then can be our litmus test.  Are we finding the text of Scripture to be more and more insightful, clear and logically consistent the more we read and study it, or are we finding the opposite to be true?

The closer we get to God and the more we learn to read and study His Word, the closer  we get to the truth.  But the more we rely on prooftexts and the more we try to force our way into it, the further we get from the truth.

May you choose the difficult, wonder-filled path that leads to truth, and that leads to life abundant – life with Christ!  Amen.