The Who, What, Where, When, and Why....

2) We must understand culture and discern absolute truth.

Whenever we interpret scripture, we must differentiate between what is cultural and what is absolute truth. The only way we can do this is by understanding the cultural context. Take the scriptures that admonish women to be quiet.

We would do well to remember that the authors of these texts have no idea that their letters will be compiled as the Holy Bible. They are writing to people regarding issues within the church. When studying the context, we can see that Paul had to write to a group where the women in the church were disrupting service with their questions. Hence, when he writes, “Women keep silent…” this is not to suggest that men are the only ones who are permitted to be disruptive. Rather, it is to show that no one should be disruptive. However, since Paul was writing a letter to address the issues of the recipients, he only spoke of the women. I can’t emphasize enough how we should remember the context of what we are reading.