What does the Bible mean in context?

When we interpret the original languages, we must take into consideration the culture in which it was originally written and the history of the people to whom it was written. The goal is to understand what those original words meant to the people in the time and place in which they heard them.

The Scriptures cannot mean today what they did not mean when they were written.

Rick Brentlinger

The Old Testament

We must consider the intended audience of Scripture. The Old Testament was addressed to the Israelites, and the laws and ceremonies presented were intended for them as they pursued their redemption and reconciliation with God. For example, in Leviticus, Moses uses phrase “These things I write to the children of Israel” over 25 times, indicating that those laws and ceremonies contained within were addressed to the children of Israel, not today’s Christians.

As another example, the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 are the foundation of the Law, and as is described in the section below, they have also been made obsolete by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Many of them fulfill Christ’s “Two Commandments” (see below), but the others are not addressed to Christians.

The Law expressed a standard of perfection that no human could possibly meet. This made it necessary that God would provide a Savior, and in the time before Jesus, the people’s faith in God that He would provide that Savior is what saved them.

The history of God’s chosen people is instructive for today’s Christians as it gives us a picture of God’s character and how He dealt with his people in ancient times. However, we are not to follow those laws as a means to our own salvation. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Ephesians 2:8–9

The New Testament

The New Testament is mostly a collection of letters addressed to the new Christian Church (from the Greek ἐκκλησία (ekklesia), meaning “a called-out body of believers”). It tells us how Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection fulfilled the prophesies of the Messiah, and as a result, His sacrifice was the fulfillment of the Law. Therefore, the New Testament Church is no longer bound by the Law. Jesus’s death on the cross satisfied God’s judgment of sin.

The New Testament also instructs the Church about how to live their lives as believers in Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said:

³⁷ “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
³⁸ “This is the great and foremost commandment.
³⁹ “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
⁴⁰ “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. His words are what we referenced above as Christ’s “Two Commandments” and further demonstrate that today’s Christians are not to follow Levitical Law.

The Apostle Paul, writing to the new believers in Rome, said:

²⁰ by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight

Romans 3:20

²⁸ For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Romans 3:28

Based on these principles, let us examine the Scriptures that are most often used to claim that God disapproves of gay and lesbian lifestyles.