Philippians 4:13 And The Problem

Jacqui 0:00

Greetings, listeners. Most of us have heard this verse. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You've probably seen it somewhere, maybe on a coffee mug, on a motivational poster, inside a graduation card. And it's a beautiful verse. But here's the thing. When Paul wrote those words, he wasn't thinking about winning a game or passing a test. He was in a hard season. He was talking about being content. He was saying something like this: I've had plenty and I've gone without. And Christ gives me strength for both. We only know that because we read the words around the verse. That's called context. And that's what context does. It doesn't take away the encouragement that this verse provides, but it shows you what the verse really means. It helps you to understand it better. Well, welcome everyone. I'm your host, Jacqui Adewole, and this is the Bible Basics Podcast, where every two weeks we break down the basics of the Bible into understandable bite-sized chunks. Today we're talking about one simple habit. It helps the whole Bible become more understandable, and it's called context.

What Context Means In Practice

Jacqui 1:31

Context just means paying attention to what's around a passage before we decide what it's saying. And we do this all the time without thinking. If a friend sends you one line with no backstory, you can read it completely wrong. But if you know what was going on that day, the same words land differently. The Bible works the same way. So in this episode, we're going to look at context by asking a few simple questions. First, what's happening around this passage? Second, who first heard these words and what was going on in their world? Three, what was daily life for them? And four, what kind of writing are we even reading? Now, let's talk more about each of these four questions.

Scriptural Context By Reading Around

Jacqui 2:28

And although there are more than four ways or four perspectives to look at context, these questions address the four main ones scriptural, historical, cultural, and literary. So where do we start? We start with the simplest question of all. What's happening around this passage? And that's called scriptural context. Think of it this way: a verse sits inside a paragraph, a paragraph sits inside a chapter. A chapter sits inside a book, and every book sits inside the whole story of the Bible. So before we ask what a verse means for us, we need to read what's right next to it. Read the sentence before, read the sentence after, sometimes read the whole chapter. We already saw this in action. Remember Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me on its own. It can sound like a verse about pushing harder and reaching more, but the sentences around it show us Paul, who is writing from a prison cell, by the way, is talking about contentment, about being okay with a little, being okay with a lot, and trusting Christ through both. So it's the same words, but now you have a more accurate understanding. Next,

Historical Context Makes Prophets Clear

Jacqui 4:05

let's look at historical context. Picture this. A book like Isaiah or Jeremiah or Amos, and it gets confusing fast. Warnings, judgment, strange images, anger in one breath, comfort in the next. A lot of people read a few pages of a prophet, get lost, and give up. Here's what helps. The prophets weren't writing into thin air. They were speaking to real people at a real moment with a long history behind them. That's historical context. Who wrote this? Who first heard it? And what was going on in their world? And here's a helpful way to hold this. The Bible was written for us, but it wasn't first written to us. It was written to real people who lived long before we did. When we remember that, the message gets clearer, not further away. So back to the prophets. Here's the backstory. Long before they showed up, God had told his people how to live. He told them what life would look like if they stayed close to him. And he told them what would come if they walked away. And you can read about that in the book called Deuteronomy. Then a lot of time passed. Kings came and went, and little by little the people drifted. They forgot what God said. They chased after other things. That whole stretch of history is in the books that come before the prophets. Books like 1 and 2 Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. And that's right where the prophets step in. They weren't inventing new rules. They were basically saying one thing. Remember what God told you back in the start? What is happening right now is exactly that. And these original audiences understood the backstory of the prophet's messages. But that's not always the case for us. If you don't know the backstory, a prophet's message can sound like random bad news. But once you know what came before, you hear something else. You hear a warning rooted in love. You hear God still reaching for people who wandered far from him. That's what historical context gives you. Not just facts about long ago, a way to actually hear what a passage is saying.

Cultural Context And The Good Samaritan

Jacqui 6:52

Next, let's explore cultural context. You've probably heard the phrase good Samaritan. We use it for anyone who does something good to help another, particularly a stranger. There are even laws named after it. But that phrase comes from a story Jesus told. It's recorded in Luke chapter 10, verses 25 to 37. And there's something in it we miss today unless we know a little about the culture. So here's the story in short. A man is traveling a lonely road, he gets attacked, robbed, and left for dead. Two respected religious men come down that same road. Both of them see him, and both of them walk right past. Then a third man comes along, a Samaritan, and he's the one who stops. He bandages the man, he pays for his care, he makes sure he's okay. And we almost always miss one thing. To the people first hearing this, the original audiences, a Samaritan was not the obvious hero. Jews and Samaritans had a long, painful history with each other. There was a real distance between them, real distrust. So when Jesus makes the Samaritan the one who shows mercy, it would have landed hard. The Samaritan as the hero would be the last person the crowd expected. That's cultural context. It pays attention to how people lived, their culture and their norms, who they trusted, who they avoided, what was normal to them, but maybe not normal to us. And the setting adds to it. Jesus says the man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Now when the Bible says down, it doesn't mean heading south. Because if you look on the map, Jericho is not south of Jerusalem. It means going downhill. Jerusalem sits up high. Jericho sits way down low near the Dead Sea. The road drops about 3,000 feet, so you're walking downhill the whole way. And that road was known for being steep, lonely, and dangerous. A good place to get robbed. So picture it. The man is already isolated, already exposed, already in trouble before anyone lays a hand on him. Knowing the road helps you feel how vulnerable he really was. Put it together and the story gets sharper. Mercy can come from the person you least expected. And mercy might be asked of you towards someone you would never choose. Next

Literary Context And Bible Genre

Jacqui 9:50

there's literary context. Think about how you read in everyday life. You don't read a recipe the way you read a love letter. You don't read a text from a friend the way you read a contract. You already know the difference without trying. The kind of writing tells how you read it. The Bible works the same way. It's not one kind of writing, it's many. There's stories, there are letters, there are laws, they are songs, poems. We actually spent our whole last episode on this. The kind of writing a passage is is what we call genre. If you heard that episode, this will feel familiar. If you missed it, you can go back to it anytime. The link is in the show notes. Either way, here's the short version. We read each kind of writing for what it is. Most people know this line from Psalm twenty three. The Lord is my shepherd. That line is poetry. It's a picture. If you read it flat like a fact sheet, it sounds strange. God's not out in the field with actual sheep, but read it as poetry and the picture opens up. A shepherd leads, a shepherd protects, a shepherd makes sure the sheep are fed and safe. So that line is telling you something about God. He guides you, he watches over you, he provides for you. And that points to one more thing. Sometimes a single word is carrying a picture, not a dictionary definition. Shepherd is not a job description here, it's an image meant to make you feel cared for. So when a word seems odd, slow down and ask how it's being used. Knowing the kind of writing changes how you hear it. You read a poem slowly for the picture. You read a letter closely for what it asks of you. You read a story to follow what happened. Read each one the way it was meant to be read.

A Simple Habit For This Week

Jacqui 12:10

So we've discussed four types of context using these simple questions. What's happening around the passage? That's scriptural context. Who heard it first and what was going on in their world? That's historical context. What was daily life like for them? That's cultural context. And what kind of writing are we reading? That's literary context. And how does this apply to us, you say? Well, you don't have to ask off four every time. Some passages only need one. A hard verse might just need the words around it. A strange custom might need a little cultural context. The point is not to make Bible reading complicated. The point is to slow down, listen better, and more accurately understand what's being said. And under all four questions sits one more, the biggest one. What does this show me about God? Because in the end, that's what we're after. Not just facts about an old book. We want to know him better. So here's something to try this week. Pick one passage, maybe a short story from one of the gospels, maybe a few verses from one of Paul's letters, maybe a psalm. Read it once, then walk it through context using our four questions. What's happening around this passage? Who heard it first and what was going on in their world? What was daily life for them? And what kind of writing is this? You won't answer all four every time, and that's fine. Even asking the questions will slow you down. And slowing down is where the noticing starts. Before

Why Context Protects Your Application

Jacqui 14:14

we close, think about this for a moment. Has a verse ever confused you, or have you read one and not been sure how it fits your life? Most of us have. And that doesn't mean you're bad at this. It usually just means you're missing the context. So here's why it's worth your time. When you read the Bible in context, two good things happen. You understand what a passage actually means, and you can apply it to your life the way it was meant to be applied. Skip the context, and things can go sideways. You can misunderstand what a verse is really saying, and you can apply it to your life in a way that was never meant. Think back to I can do all things through Christ. Read it out of context. People hear a verse about winning. Then they lean on it to pass a test or win a game. The meaning gets missed, and so does the way it's meant to be lived. Context protects you from both. It helps you hear God clearly, and it helps you live out what you actually heard. Now,

Tools To Help Next Time

Jacqui 15:31

the questions we ask today are a great place to start, but you don't have to figure it all out on your own. Next time we're looking at the tools that can help. Study Bibles, Bible dictionaries, commentaries, even digital tools. Simple resources that do a lot of the work for you. Until then, keep reading, keep seeking, and keep growing in your faith.