October 19, 2025

Jack Wilkie wrote a short article a few years ago for Think magazine I have adapted some of his thoughts for a few bulletin notes that might help us as we approach our study of scripture. 

Bad Bible study ignores context

With the Bible being divided up into easily cited verses, we can end up treating it unlike any other written text. Imagine taking letters from your spouse and dividing them up line by line, then grabbing individual lines out of each letter and recombining them to make up a whole new paragraph. Yeah, it would be factually true to say she wrote those words. But she didn’t write them in that order, and may not mean them the way they come across when recombined that way. We realize it would be absurd to do that with letters from a spouse, and yet it’s the primary way many (if not most) study the Bible.

The Bible was not written as a series of disconnected verses to be strung together as we choose. Every verse is placed within multiple layers of context for a reason, and it cannot be properly understood unless it is understood in the light of those contexts.

Before you can assert the meaning of the verse, look at the immediate context (2-3 verses before and after). In Philippians 4:13 Paul did say he can do all things through Christ who strengthened him. But without context we end up defining “all things” the way we want to rather than the way Paul meant it. A quick scan of the immediate context shows he was talking about enduring any situation in life with Jesus’ help. 

After the immediate context, zoom out a bit and look at the context of the section. The section can range from a couple of paragraphs to a few chapters, depending on the book. In Philippians 4 Paul is talking about having the right mindset of peace and joy. So, 4:13 continues in that theme and loses its intended power if it is made to be more broad than intended. 

Then, look at the context of the book. In Philippians Paul is speaking about the joy that results when Christians unite for the Gospel, a needed message for a church who was divided (4:2-3). He speaks of the sacrifices Jesus made for us, along with the sacrifices Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus made for the Gospel. 1:21 is key – “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” When you’re living in service to Christ, with the promise of being with Him when you die, you can get through anything. Thus, the foundation is laid for 4:13.

Philippians 4:13 is maybe the most well-known of verses taken out of context and therefore the easiest to diagnose, but the truth is we can stumble into this mistake with virtually any verse in the entire Bible. The Bible student must engage in the work of exposing the context in order to understand a verse correctly. 

A good habit to help with context is to work on developing outlines of the books you are study this way you can get a quick overview of a book and better remember how what you are reading fits with what you have already read.

~ Kevin Cleary

October 12, 2025

Here are some real responses from people who were asked who is Jesus:

• Jesus is real in the sense that he exists for those who want him to exist.
• We don’t know many historical facts concerning Jesus, but apparently he was a rabbi who was an example of compassion. Since then he has been exploited by Christians especially Americans.
• Jesus is about as real as “real” as Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or King Arthur.
• Jesus was a man we should pity more than revile or worship. He suffered from what contemporary psychologists now know to be delusions of grandeur, bipolar disorder, and probably acute schizophrenia.
• An apocalyptic prophet who bet wrong and died as a result. He should be ignored not celebrated.

The truly sad thing about these statements is that some people sincerely believe these ideas.

In a similar example once while visiting a house to provide some information about spray foam insulation. The subject of Jesus came up. The owner of the home proudly informed me of some inside knowledge he had about the subject. Jesus, he said, was actually a part of a Jewish sect called Essenes. Furthermore, there are other ancient gospels which the Catholic Church forced out of the Bible that tell us what Jesus was really like. As he enlightened me I waited to hear where he was finding this new information and what it meant to him. He said he had read a book recently by a Lady, whose name he could not remember. I asked if it could it have been Barbra Thiering, to which he replied, “yeah she’s the one.” I gently pointed out that no reputable scholar, even those who don’t take the New Testament seriously, accept Thiering’s conclusions. He had read a book called “The book Jesus wrote” claiming that Jesus didn’t die but lived on and wrote the gospel of John.

The reason these strange and inaccurate perceptions of Jesus persist is not because people don’t have access to accurate information. Rather it’s because people are deeply uncomfortable with the challenge the Biblical and historical Jesus presents.

If the bible represents an accurate depiction of Jesus life and teaching then people need to live and act completely differently than they do.

John described the problem well when he said “ The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.”

~ Kevin Cleary

October 5, 2025

When we think of helping people it’s important to be practical. It’s helpful for churches to provide opportunity for members to engage in benevolence. We need to make it an ongoing part of our preaching and teaching. We need to provide guidance for safety and opportunity. Perhaps we keep water bottles available to be handed out. Maybe we provide pamphlets and business cards that can be given along with a meal or snack. Many churches have had success with gift cards to grocery stores or by keeping some food and clothing on hand to give out when needed. In colder climates churches may give out blankets or warm clothing. In warmer regions or in hot summer months churches may provide an air-conditioned cooling space for those at risk of exposure. These efforts as mentioned can easily be combined with business cards, invitations to bible courses or in person studies. 

Each of these can and should be carried out by individual Christians.

We should avoid the trap of time share sales in doing our benevolence. Many of us may have sat through a time share pitch to receive the free tickets to an event or some other benefit, never intending to buy a time share. There will be some who may take this approach when attending the activities of the church. 

It’s wise to work in strategies which encourage people to be honest and express their disinterest. We may allow people to simply pick up gospel related materials. We may use benevolent efforts to advertise future events. We may allow people to interact with church members or sit alone or in their own groups. This keeps people from feeling trapped and avoids negative perception. We are not wrong to keep evangelism a priority. It can be helpful to simply tell people up front that we believe everyone needs Jesus, including them. When we then go ahead and help them, they can see that we are sincere in all that we do. 

The last thing to point out is that congregational efforts at benevolence should support and encourage personal efforts, not replace them. All Christians are called to show compassion to others at all times. Often personal efforts will be more fruitful because of the more intimate connections they are able to facilitate. 

May God Bless us in our efforts to reach people with the saving truth of the gospel.

~ Kevin Cleary

September 28, 2025

One of the earliest descriptions we have of the New Testament church involves its effort to care for the physical needs of its members (Acts 2:44-45). The earliest example is of a body of people who cared deeply for one another and took practical steps to ensure that all the needs within the community of believers were met. Later in Acts when Paul goes to Jerusalem to address potential issues between Jewish and gentile Christians there is a discussion of doctrinal agreement but added to that is a request to “remember the poor” Paul points out that this was something he was already eager to do (Gal 2:1-10). Jesus’ ministry is described as one which “preaches good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18; Mat 11:5). 

It’s hard to imagine a human heart that has concern for people’s souls that is unconcerned for their physical provision. James describes a person whose faith is dead with the example of seeing a brother who is in need and doing nothing about it. Jesus expressed his compassion by healing and preaching. We often see these two elements together (Mat 4:23; 9:35; Lk 9:6; 9:10). Paul admonishes us to do good to all men especially those of the household of faith (Gal 6:10). 

Perhaps even to a greater degree than our other priorities, helping people with their physical needs is linked to helping people with their spiritual needs. It’s a cliché but with good reason; people don’t care how much you know unless they know how much you care. If we want to reach people with the gospel of Christ there is no better way to build credibility than demonstrating our intentions by our behaviours and addressing people’s needs in a meaningful way. 

It must be noted at this juncture that we can’t overstate the importance of benevolence, but we must also understand that it is not and end in itself. I have known to many churches and to many individual Christians who do something kind or helpful and then stop there, never having mentioned the gospel. We can grant that occasions may crop up in which we help someone and don’t get an appropriate opening for the gospel. However, we need to maintain a constant awareness that our primary goal is to establish a relationship between men and God. It is not enough to satisfy physical need and our own ego while ignoring the eternal. 

May God Bless us in our efforts to reach people with the saving truth of the gospel

~ Kevin Cleary

September 21, 2025

     In Matthew 24 and Luke 21 Jesus describes his coming. In doing so he describes the nations being in anguish and heavenly bodies shaking. This has led many to suggest that he must be referring to the final destruction of the earth at the end of time. Jesus however seems to be using the same language used in the Old Testament to describe his “coming”. The reason the Old Testament becomes important is we must look to the prophets to find apocalyptic language like that found in Matthew 24. When we have looked at this, we will find that even figurative language does not always indicate that end time events are being considered. In the Old Testament God is said to come in different ways and at different times. In Isaiah 19:1 describes God coming in the clouds which is very similar wording to what is found in Matthew 24 but here it has reference to the destruction of Egypt. In Daniel 7:13+14 the Son of Man coming on the clouds refers to the founding of the Kingdom on the day of Pentecost (Jones). Again, this is a reference to something other than the end of the world but the same language is used that is found in Matthew 24. Although coming is not mentioned, language similar to that found in Matthew 24 appears in Isaiah 13:10; Isaiah 34:4-5 and Ezekiel 32:7 all describing judgments on nations. In all these cases language that is grandiose and sensational is used to describe different events. We can see then that similar language even exact quotations can talk about different events. D.R. Dungan sums up the principal “It must be remembered that that figures are not always used with the same meaning- a lion may not always symbolize the same thought… nor need a sheep, water, or fire always be employed for the purpose of expressing the same calamity or blessing.” In these cases, we might wonder why such dramatic language is employed the explanation is twofold. First God’s coming in judgement is always a big event. Second God’s coming in judgement on a specific nation or city serves as a foreshadow of the greater judgement to come. 

     Each of the Old Testament examples and the example of Jerusalem in Matthew 24 are meant to remind us that God’s judgement is real and must be taken seriously. Someday the Lord will descend with the shout of an archangel and this physical universe will cease. The destruction God brings beforehand remind us not forget this. We are living in a temporary world and must pay attention to those things which are eternal.

~ Kevin Cleary