Context begins with the immediate neighborhood of the verse. The simplest way Scripture gets misinterpreted is when we grab one sentence and skip everything around it.

Philippians 4:13 becomes a self confidence slogan. Matthew 7:1 becomes a ban on discernment. Jeremiah 29:11 becomes a personal promise of prosperity. But once you read the paragraphs before and after, the meaning becomes clearer, deeper, and humbler.

How to practice this:

• Read at least a paragraph before and after any verse you want to interpret
• Its vital that you ask how the surrounding sentences shape the meaning.
• Look for repeated words, transitions, and the flow of the author’s argument
• Let the author finish their thought before you draw conclusions

💡 Resist the urge to force the text to say something it is not saying in its immediate context because it fits your context.

The Bible is one story told across different covenant eras. The way God related to Israel under the Sinai covenant is not the same way he relates to the church under the new covenant. If we mix those up, we misread the author’s intent.

“One of the major culprits behind distorted interpretation is forgetting that the Old Testament and the New Testament must be read differently, each through its own covenant lens.”

Jeremiah 29:11 is a covenant shaped promise to Israel in exile, not a universal guarantee that every Christian will get a better job next year. The laws given in Leviticus were for Israel as a nation under a specific covenant, not a blueprint for the church’s diet or civil code today. Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount assumes he is fulfilling Israel’s story.

The Old Testament often gives laws that regulate life under the old covenant, which includes civil, ceremonial, and sacrificial commands meant for ancient Israel’s unique calling and context. The New Testament reveals the new covenant in Christ, where those same goals of holiness, justice, mercy are fulfilled in a different way through transformed hearts rather than national law. It can feel like opposite behavior, but it’s really the shift from external regulation to internal transformation.

How to practice this:

• Ask which covenant era the passage sits in
• When reading the Old Testament, ask yourself: in light of Jesus fulfilling God’s promises through his death, burial, and resurrection, how should I understand this verse?
• Notice if a promise is tied to Israel as a nation or to Christ and his people
• Let the big story guide how you read individual verses

💡Remember the Old Testament points forward, and Jesus shows us where the arrow lands.

The original audience had real fears, assumptions, and cultural instincts. If we want to hear the author’s meaning, we need to stand where the first readers stood.

When Joshua received the call to be strong and courageous, he wasn’t preparing for a job interview. He was about to lead former slaves into fortified cities. When Paul wrote about meat sacrificed to idols, he was addressing believers surrounded by idol worship in their everyday social life. When Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, the shock landed because Jews and Samaritans hated each other.

Understanding their world helps us understand what the author meant. Once we hear the text the way they heard it, then we can faithfully live it today.

How to practice this:

• Read the book introduction and pay close attention who the audience is
• Ask what struggles they were facing and how the passage directly speaks to those struggles.
• Imagine the scene through their eyes before making application
• Use trustworthy tools to find the Historical context.

💡 Helpful tools:
→ The BibleProject.com gives very helpful overviews of every. book in the
→ The BibleHub.com commentaries for historical notes looking up specific words