As we read books of the bible, it's useful to get the background of the book when it was written. Why did the author write the book? In what circumstances was the author in when it was written?
In doing so, we really can appreciate more strongly the author's point as well as get the intended meaning correct.
For example, when we read 2 Timothy, if we know that this was Paul's last letter before he was to be martyred, that it was written when he was imprisoned in a cold roman jail with chains, we would read it in a different light.
A man in his last moments would definitely say the most important points to his most intended recipient. So you can appreciate from thus that 2 Timothy was paul's most dire words to his young co laborer in Christ.
But though Paul was in such a hopeless situation as most would see it, we see that he had actually the ultimate hope in him. That he would be with God soon and be given the crown of righteousness, for he had fought the good fight, ran the good race and kept the good faith.
If you had been to Cambodia and visited the tuol sleng prison, where thousands of people were prisoned with the end in mind being execution, and seeing their tiny and dirty cells, you can never imagine that you will still have hope if you are imprisoned there.
Yet Paul had. When people of this world thinks that he gave his life for nothing, he actually gave it for everything, that while in chains, then Word might be preached even more fervently because of his example.
So with all this background, when we read 2 Timothy now, it would be in a different light and we can almost feel it coming to life.
The word of God is not just boring texts. Get a bible handbook or study bible that introduces a book's background, and the text will come alive, that we can understand it better, proclaim it better, defend it better, obey it better.
No comments:
Post a Comment