Leader packs · Rightly Divide · The lesson itself

Teach: Context changes everything

Two of the most quoted verses in the Bible are usually quoted wrong. Read them in context and watch what changes.

Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15 (BSB)

Teaching outline

  1. 1Open: two famous versesPut both verses on the table and ask who has heard them quoted, and where. Most hands will go up. Ask what each hearer took the verse to mean.2 min
  2. 2Draw out, or read inDefine the two words with the lesson's wording, then read Jeremiah 29:7, 10 and 11 aloud in order and rebuild the promise in its setting.4 min
  3. 3The prison paragraphRead Philippians 4:11 to 13 and 19. Ask what the "all things" are, strictly from the paragraph.3 min
  4. 4Close: three questionsTeach the three guard questions and send learners to test one favourite verse against them this week.1 min

Discussion questions

  1. Which of the two verses have you quoted, or heard quoted, the poster way?
  2. Why do you think out-of-context verses are usually the most popular ones?
  3. Jeremiah's readers had seventy years to wait. What does verse 7 ask of people in a long season they did not choose?
  4. What verse do you lean on most? What do the verses around it say?

Pushback you will meet

“Doesn't context just kill the meaning of a verse?”

It does if you mean the events around it: who wrote it, to whom, and what the next verse says. That is not distance. That is reading the whole sentence instead of half of it.

For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.

Jeremiah 29:10 (BSB)

“I just know a verse is for me. Isn't that enough?”

Then we have read it rightly only if we can also read the verses around it out loud without the meaning breaking. That is the test this lesson teaches.

Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15 (BSB)

Before the session

Bibles open at Jeremiah 29 and Philippians 4. Learners should read the full chapters around the two verses before the session if they can.

Downloads

The full set of downloads (Kahoot .xlsx, CSV, printable quiz) is generated from the lesson page; the printable quiz is here.