Why reading scripture in context is important!

It is my opinion that scripture must be read in context. You find the meaning in scripture by reading other scripture. This post is sparked by another blog I was directed to (by that blog's author) in which the author of that blog states that reading scripture in context is wrong and scripture is meant to be read out of context. The exact quote from the site is: " you must read the Bible HIS way Isa 28:9-10, 2 Tim 2:15 (OUT of context). The whole world is deceived Rev 12:9 because they read the Bible Satan's way (IN context)."

Lets look at the verses sited:

Isaiah 28:9 Who is he trying to teach?
Who is he trying to instruct?
Infants just weaned from milk?
Babies removed from the breast?
10 For he says: “Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.” 

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.

Revelations 12:9 So the great dragon was thrown out—the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth, and his angels with him.

Using these scriptures, she tries to claim that each line should be taken by itself on its own.  In doing this, you can make scripture mean ANYTHING you want.  (The verse in Isaiah is actually talking about drunk priest, if you read the verses before it.  The priest were teaching people simple things: law after law, line after line, a little here, a little there: but Isaiah was saying the priest needed to teach the deeper things of God.  The people were grown adults and need more than the milk of scripture, they needed more than the pureed and mashed up food, they needed real bread).  Lets look at this verse from Luke: (Better yet, lets look at it in the KJV, since that is the only "real" version of scripture according to the other poster -- There will be a post on that later).

Luke 4:7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

What a wonderful promise scripture gives us if we read this OUT of context.  If you will worship me, all shall be yours.  This is wonderful, all we have to do is worship God and we shall get everything.  WRONG.  This is one verse where contexts matters!  Did you know the devil said this?  He said this when tempting Jesus.  Go read the rest of Luke 4.  Get the context and you won't like this verse anymore!

Yes, 2 Timothy 2:15, states you should correctly teach the word of truth.  But how do we do that?  We look at scripture, ALL of scripture, as a whole.  Not just one part.

Genesis 40:8 Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t interpretations belong to God?"

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:20 First of all, you should know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Interpretations from scripture come from GOD and only GOD.  HE is the one who wrote it and HE is the only one who can tell us what it means.

In order to fully grasp what the Bible is trying to say, you must read the passages in context, in context with the verses around it, in context of it's book, and in context of the Bible as a whole.  Another belief I hold to is that the Bible is true and does not contain any contradictions or mistakes.  If you allow the Bible to have mistakes or contains things that are not true, then you cannot believe any of scripture.  Who are you to judge the book of God?  If one thing is false, then all of it is false because we have no way of knowing what is true and what is not.  We cannot pick and choose what WE (man) think is true and what is not.  As we see above, it is God's word.

By taking scriptures out of context, you open up for contradictions.  The Bible cannot contradict itself if every single part of it is true.  If you read a verse and think, but what a minute, it contradicts this other verse over there, then you are interpreting those scriptures incorrectly, in my opinion.  They are both true, so you must look at other scripture to see the full meaning.

Matthew 12:25 Knowing their thoughts, He told them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

Here, Jesus says division in a kingdom, home or city (and this can be extended to ANYTHING, even scripture) cannot stand.  If you divide scripture and only take a small part for living, it will not benefit you the way knowing and believing all of scripture, as a whole will.  You need all of scripture to live a Godly life.  You need all of scripture, together, to rightly know God and his plans for salvation.  You cannot understand one concept in the Bible by reading one line.  God's salvation plan is more than John 3:16.  If  you divide the Bible into small parts and twist them to mean what you want, you are spreading a false gospel.  If what you believe is not backed up by ALL of scripture, then what you believe is wrong.

Yes, the whole Earth is deceived by Satan.  That is why we cannot reply on any Earthly interpretation of the Bible.  We must rely on the Bible to interpret the Bible.  If we do not understand one part of scripture, we must look at other scripture to help us understand.  The only way to stop a false prophet is to show them the truth of scripture.  The scripture is the only truth we have.  We cannot rely on our own understanding.  We must rely on God.

1 Corinthians 2:1 When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. 2 For I didn’t think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a powerful demonstration by the Spirit, 5 so that your faith might not be based on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.
6 However, we do speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written:
What eye did not see and ear did not hear,
and what never entered the human mind—
God prepared this for those who love Him.
10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything,even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God.13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

"Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit." Hence, scriptures.  God revealed the scripture to the original writers.  God reveals the interpretations to us through the spirit.  We must read the word God gave us through the prophets and apostles and rely on his spirit for guidance.  God did not give us a bunch of little verses and say "do with this as you please," he gave us a whole book and said "read and obey."  All of it.  Not just part.  Not what makes me feel good.  Not what I like, but ALL of it.      

Reading the Bible IN context helps us grasp a full understanding of scripture.  Pulling verses out of context could get you sucked up in one of the Devil's lies.  (Luke 4:7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine." (KJV) -- Remember, this is a promise of the Devil, not God).  Context is important.