Living by the Book/Living by the Book Workbook Set (54 page)

R
emember Ken back in
chapter 1
? Ken has the highest possible regard for the Bible. If you ask him whether it’s the revealed Word of God, he’ll say, “Absolutely.” Is it authoritative for belief and practice? “Without question.”

But guess what happens when Ken goes to work? He leaves the Word at home—not just physically, but mentally. He doesn’t mean to slight the Scriptures. But the truth is it never occurs to him that they might have something to say about the way he conducts his business. Why? Because he perceives the Bible to be irrelevant in that context. “The business world is no Sunday school class,” he told me. “You’re up against things that aren’t even mentioned in the Bible. So it doesn’t exactly apply to your day-to-day situation.”

Ken is hardly alone. Noted pollster George Gallup, Jr. has found that only 61 percent of Americans now believe that “religion can answer today’s problems.” That’s a drop from 81 percent in 1957. At the same time, those who think religion is hopelessly out of date have grown from 7 percent to 20 percent. No wonder another Gallup poll concludes that there is “no significant difference” between the churched and the unchurched in their ethics and values on the job.

What about you? Do you feel like your faith is about as relevant as a buggy whip when it comes to work and other matters of day-to-day life? Or are you among the many who would like to apply their faith to the issues of today but can’t figure out how to go about it? After all, you don’t find the burning topics of our society addressed in the ancient pages of Scripture. So how can you make the connection?

Let me suggest that the place to start is with context—both the original context of Scripture, and the contemporary context in which we live. Context makes a profound difference in how a person applies biblical truth.

Remember Genesis 2:24, where God set up the institution of marriage?

What must Adam and Eve’s marriage have looked like before the Fall? Imagine the level of communication, trust, partnership, and intimacy they must have experienced. But then they sinned. Now they have a new set of dynamics to contend with—mistrust, selfishness, pride, and lust. Yet God leaves intact the expectation to live as one flesh. That’s a whole new context.

Jump ahead to Moses as he relates the Genesis account to the people of Israel. They are coming out of Egypt, where polygamy is common. For that matter, even Israel’s own patriarchs had concubines. What does a one-flesh relationship look like, given that legacy? Again, a change in the context.

Later we find Jesus discussing marriage with the Pharisees (Matthew 19:1–9). By that time divorce had become common. The pressing question was how a man could get out of marriage, not stay in it. Yet Jesus cites Genesis 2 to reinforce the sanctity of the marriage bond. Apparently His words shocked His listeners. “If that’s what marriage is all about, then why get married?” the disciples ask incredulously. The same biblical truth but a completely different context.

Later Paul writes to the Ephesians. Perhaps the wealthiest of all the Roman cities, Ephesus was the Orlando of its day, the tourist capital of the
first-century world. By the time Paul arrived on the scene (Acts 19), marriage had fallen into a sorry state, particularly among the wealthy. Remarking on the women of his day, the Roman philosopher Seneca quipped, “They divorce in order to re-marry. They marry in order to divorce.”
¹
His equally cynical son defined a faithful married woman as one who only had two lovers.
²

Paul had already caused one full-scale riot in Ephesus with his new and strange teachings (Acts 19:23–41). Now he astounds the young Ephesian believers with his letter. Like Jesus, he quotes Genesis 2:24 and then says, “[Husbands] each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband” (5:33 NIV). How does a couple pursue a one-flesh relationship in the context of first-century Ephesus?

For that matter, what does biblical marriage look like in the context of the twenty-first century? More than half of all new marriages are ending in divorce today. An increasing number of couples cohabit before marriage. Sexual infidelity is on the rise, despite the risk of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. More and more find themselves with blended families and the particular relational dynamics they create. How does a couple practice one-flesh marriage in today’s cultural climate?

The point is that the Word of God is eternal and unchanging, but our world is not. Therefore, living out God’s truth demands that we plug it into our particular set of circumstances. But as I cautioned at the end of
chapter 43
, We do not change the truth to fit our cultural agenda. Rather, we change our application of the truth in light of our needs.

How can that happen? How can we take a message that was written in AD 100 or earlier and make use of it in AD 2000 and later? The key is the context. What was the context then? What is the context now? And what is the truth that remains true regardless of the cultural context?

We saw the importance of context to Interpretation. Now we discover its importance to Application. We’ve got to understand the ancient culture. The more we know about the culture in which a passage was written and to which it was originally applied, the more accurate will be our understanding and the more we’ll be able to make use of it in our own cultural setting.

But that’s not all. We’ve also got to understand our own culture. Just as we seek insight into the ancient context, we need to seek insight into our own. Where are the pressure points? Where are we especially in need of biblical truth? What are the cultural dynamics that make the practice of truth difficult and seemingly impossible at times? What influences our spiritual attitudes and behavior? What would Paul and the apostles be saying to us if they were writing to our churches today? Where would Christ be active if He walked among us now?

It’s interesting that when David was putting together his army to establish a kingdom, he recruited the sons of Issachar. The text describes them as “men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). We could use a lot more sons of Issachar in the Body of Christ today—people who understand both the Word and the world, people who know what God wants them to do in their society, people who are not only biblical but contemporary as well.

By the way, being someone who “understands the times” today demands that one be nimble. Our world changes so rapidly, and the ways of culture shift so suddenly, that we have to be ever-vigilant if we intend to keep up. Yet in “keeping up,” the hazard is that we can make an idol out of “new.” If something is new, we think it must be important and merits our attention. But maybe it doesn’t. The most important “new” thing that will ever merit our attention is the question,
Where is God working today, and how can I get involved in it?

Understanding culture is not as easy as one might think. Just because we live in a society doesn’t mean we’re aware of how it operates. In fact, most of us go about our lives oblivious to the forces that influence us. We could stand to make a study of our culture—along with the other cultures of this globalized world we live in—just as we study the cultures of the biblical world.

So I want to suggest a host of questions to ask as you evaluate today’s cultural context. They are little more than the six keys to observation that we saw earlier:
Who? What? Where? When? Why? Wherefore?
We’ve seen how to use
them to study societies in the ancient world. But they also apply to the modern situation.

Of course, the problem when we ask those questions about our own setting is our tendency to settle for superficial answers. Remember, one of the killers in Bible study is the attitude, “I know that. I’ve already seen that. I’ve got that one under my belt.” The same is true in studying one’s own society. Never think that you completely understand the world in which you live.

Here are some issues to consider. Many others could also be mentioned, but these will get you started.

Where are the centers of power? Who is in charge? How do they gain control? How do they hold sway? Why do they have power and not someone else? How effective are they at maintaining control? Where are the challenges to their authority? Who makes decisions for our society as a whole? Who makes decisions at the local and individual level? Who exerts influence whether or not they are in power?

What are the means of communication? How is news and information distributed? Who controls the media? Why do they control it and not someone else? Who has access to the media? How does the society determine credibility and the reliability of information? How do the means of communication shape the messages that are communicated?

What place does money have in the culture’s values? Why? How do people earn a living? With whom does the society trade? What goods are exchanged? What are the means of transportation? How do people get from place to place? What resources does the society have? What resources does it not have? What are the technological achievements? How many people live in poverty? How large is the middle class? What is the disparity between rich and poor? How does that influence the culture?

What peoples make up the culture? Where did they come from? What history and values do they bring? How is the society organized socially? How is it stratified? How is status determined? Who is at the top? Who is at the bottom? Why? What racial barriers and problems do people contend with? How do they affect daily life? What traditions and values characterize the various subcultures?

What are the roles of men and women? How do the genders relate? What problems confront either gender? Why?

What value does the culture place on the family? How are families structured? Who are the key families? Where do they live? What are their histories? How do they maintain influence? How is power passed from generation to generation? How are young people educated and socialized? What are they taught? Who does the teaching? How does a person become an adult in the culture? How long does adolescence last? What happens to the elderly?

What are the dominant religions? Where did they come from? What condition are they in now? What are the trends? Which groups are growing the fastest? Why are they growing? What philosophical assumptions do people operate from? What outlook do they have as they look at the world and at life? What exposure to the gospel has this culture had? What has been its response?

What kind of art is the culture producing? What is the art saying about the people in the culture? About the world? What place is given to the artist?

What legends and myths have been passed down? What stories are told and retold? Why? Who writes the history? What stories have not been told? What
is the pace of life in the society? How do people measure time? What place is given to the elderly? What do children represent? For that matter, who represents children?

Where is the culture situated geographically? What topographic and climatic factors influence day-to-day life? How mobile is the society in comparison to other societies? How long do families live in one place? What land has passed down through the generations? What people have been displaced? What locations have featured prominently in the culture’s history? Where have the wars been fought? Where are celebrations held? What monuments and memorials are there?

What natural resources (e.g., water, oil, natural gas, timber) does the society possess? How much is there? Who has access to and control of those resources? What things does the society have to import? How much of the society has access to electricity? Phone service? Internet? What are the culture’s geographical assets (e.g., seaports, mountain ranges, arable land).

If you diligently answer questions such as these about the world around you, you’ll develop some profound insights into how a society operates. But how do you marry that data with the truth of Scripture? How do you apply God’s Word in the context of your own situation? After all, there is no one-to-one correspondence between verses in the Bible and day-to-day life. How can you make the connection? Let’s find out in the next chapter.