Context

Today’s challenge is more of a general thought from reading Romans again. So many individual verses in Romans are very familiar. And that’s a good thing, sometimes. The problem lies in the word “individual.” Oftentimes I pick up on a verse here and there – or am taught a verse here and there – and explore it individually. But, as I read through Romans again, I am reminded of the contextual significance of some of these verses and the fact that their meaning might not be quite what I’ve always claimed looking at them individually.

This challenges me not simply in Romans, but throughout Scripture. It is critical for me to memorize Scripture. And sometimes that means memorizing one verse here and another there. But, it does not limit my ability to study and learn the context around those individual verses.

This is not a new thought – the critical nature of context has been hammered into my head for years. But, somehow I still miss it in the familiar. Whether the familiar be my own interpretation of familiar verses or the way they’ve been taught to me all my life. The challenge before me is to remember to challenge my familiarity. To not just look at a familiar verse or passage and assume there is nothing more I can learn from it. Sometimes it might simply be that I’ve not explored the full depths of the passage. But, other times I might just find I’ve looked at it wrongly the whole time. Truly growing in Scriptural study means challenging my preconceptions. Without that, growth cannot happen.