Historical Context in 5 Steps

Have you ever heard someone speaking about the Bible or read a good devotion book and found yourself puzzled by their insights? As a young student of the Bible I would listen to various speakers and expositors of scripture and wonder to myself, “How did they get so much out of the passage they used? I read that same passage and I did not see any of that stuff in there.” It often seemed like magic how these teachers would mine such great insights from seemingly nowhere.

The unseen work done by these biblical teachers is not so difficult to learn. This task is either unknown to the average person or unused because it requires more effort than a casual reading of scripture. It all comes down to one thing. You must understand the CONTEXT.

There are typically five different contexts used to explore the truths of scripture. I will focus on the first one – Historical Context.

Getting the historical context is seeking to understand the current situation when the scripture in question was written. This is the first task of understanding a passage of scripture.

There are many different genres in the Bible and some make this task easier than others. For example the NT epistles are typically the easiest to do this work with whereas the OT Prophets often only allow generalized statements of historical context.

[It is a good to read the entire book or section being studied in one setting to understand the flow of the message and break it into natural divisions. This will help you form a general outline that will greatly enhance you study.]

The following questions will help determine the historical context of a passage.
1. Who is the Author?
For many passages of scripture, this is the easiest information to gather. The gospels are named for their authors. Paul wrote most of the epistles and others are named after their writers. Even in the Old Testament the prophets gave their names to their prophecies. It is generally accepted that Moses wrote the first five books of the law.

Some authors however are much more difficult to pinpoint. Many writers pinned the book of Psalms, and some books have parts written by different people. Some historical books don’t have obvious authors, and the book of Hebrews, no one can answer definitively who the author was.

This step is important though because the author tells us when in time was the book written. It helps us to understand the writer’s situation. What is their occupation? Are they old or young, Male or female, Jew or Gentile. Use this information to understand the perspective of the writer.

Knowing the author gives you additional insights. Some writers have written more than one book, and use words in certain ways. For example the Apostle John almost always implies the idea of obedience whenever he writes about belief.

2. Who are the Recipients?
Read the book, letter or poem which the passage is found in to discover who were the original recipients of this text. Again this can be simple for some books because the author tells you in the introduction whom they are writing to. Other times this may require more detective work. Some books are written to one specific person i.e. Timothy and Titus. Other books are written to entire groups of people i.e. the Gospels, history books and most epistles.

Once you determine who the original recipients were, you can study out more about them. Where did they live? When did they live? What where some of their challenges and unique struggles? Were they predominantly Jewish or Gentile.

It matters that the book of James was seemingly written to Christians with a Jewish background whereas the books of 1st & 2nd Thessalonians were written to a predominately Gentile Christian audience. Luke goes out of his way to explain the Jewish terms in his gospel, but the author of the gospel of Matthew does not.

3. What Issues are being addressed and why?
Now this can be difficult to discover at times, but it is always worth putting forth the effort to learn. The issues being discussed define the occasion of the text. The ‘Occasion’ captures what happened or what situation required this author to write this text to these recipients. Even Histories, Gospels and Law books have an occasion for being written.

Defining the occasion and discovering the issues being addressed requires you to read the entire book to discover what is the author focused on. What problems are being brought up and addressed? What conclusions are the author drawing? Why is this so important to the recipients?

The more you do this work of reading and questioning the text, the better you will be at discovering why this book was written and what it was trying to address.

4. What is the Author’s attitude towards the Subject and the Recipients?
This information can tell you a lot about the last question. Paul can speak so tenderly to the Philippians and sound so harsh when addressing the Galatians. In the same way, the prophet Isaiah has both strong words and loving words towards those he is writing to.

Consider the author’s attitude when attempting to understand the occasion of the text and the solution to whatever problems are being addressed. This can help better understand how we interpret what is being said.

An author can use figures of speech like hyperbole to stress a point or show emphasis, but these are never meant to be taken literally. They may also use logic or quote other passages to answer a question. All of these techniques reveal their attitude towards the subject matter.

5. What Geography & Culture link the Author and Recipient?
This information is good to know because it helps to understand what unique challenges the author and the recipients faced. Seek to understand where the recipients live i.e. Egypt, Israel, Europe. What time frame are they living in? i.e. United Kingdom, Exile, 1st century. What nation was in control? i.e. Egygt, Babylon, Rome. Who was in control? i.e. Pharaoh, the king, Caesar?

These answers will shape the problems they faced and inform us on how God’s word was used to resolve the problem.

It is always good to consult timelines to get a better picture of the political pressures being faced and to do a background study on the locations and cities mentioned to be aware of things that were common knowledge back then. A good Bible dictionary or commentary introduction can give you tons of background information.

Once you are armed with the historical context for any passage you are studying, you will be able to understand what the author and the recipient’s situation was and have a clearer picture regarding what God was trying to tell them about Himself and His will. You will also be much better prepared to apply what God says from their context to your own context today.

What do you think about historical context? Is it helpful for your bible study? Do you search for other information than what is listed about? Please comment below so we can discuss if further.