Quotes without context invite misunderstanding

Out-of-context quoting is a practice weaponized to deface people, but I don’t want to address that here. Instead, I will consider the practice of well-meaning Christians to publish Bible verses to a mass audience.

Some Christians like to publish verses on social media, or put verses on their windows, binders, walls, etc for others to see. The intent is good–to share the words that give you life–but the consequences aren’t.

There are two primary dangers. First, that others will not understand what the verses mean without context, and second, that they will conclude that you are concealing the truth about the Bible.

Christians think they understand a verse’s meaning only to discover that, with a wider context, the meaning of the verse deepens and, sometimes, completely changes. That’s because biblical interpretation is cyclical. If that’s true for a student of the Bible, a person who has been on the merry-go-round of interpretation for years, what sort of understanding do you anticipate someone with no Bible background will take away from a bare verse?

One is wise to be suspicious when a person vilifies another by quoting scandalous quotes out of context. One is also wise to question a person who hides the faults of another by selecting only positive quotes. Many who read a Bible verse about love immediately, and rightly, dismiss its message because they have also been exposed to verses about hate and cannot, with what they know, reconcile the two. What bipolar message would you conclude the Bible contains if all you know is “you hate all evildoers” and “for God so loved the world”?

The inclusion of chapters and verses to the biblical text has made it emminently referential, but many Christians have concluded that the Bible is designed to be a reference manual. That’s not what the collection of books are, nor are do any of the individual scrolls share the characteristic of an encyclopedia. The Bible is a collection of literature: narrative, poetry, apocalypse, letter, discourse.

Instead of bare verses, might we quote stories? Paragraphs? Poems? Even, and this is surely scandalous… summaries?

I hope you won’t take this too harshly, dear reader. I used to plaster Bible verses over every square inch of my car with window chalk. We’re learning together. It’s not our fault that the Bible has been so misrepresented, but it is our responsibility to be better stewards of the words of life.