If you are having difficulty understanding the bible, and how some of the things it is saying sounds contradictory. I hope this following post can help clear things up. I had much misunderstanding in the bible, as some words are so harsh that your mind just doesn't compute and hence ignores it. Things like chopping off your hand, taking out your eye, as it causes you to sin... so here is what I have found to be useful, and reading the bible in this light made much more sense.
Historical Contexts
Firstly you have to understand that the Bible is a collection of books, written in different time period though out a spread of 1500-1600 years. If you can appreciate this, you will see how a book written in the beginning can has very different context as that near the end. But more so than this, apart from a historical time difference. there are differences in Era or dispensation which makes the whole applicability very different. Think about it this way, in Heaven how do you apply this verse.
Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering.
Leviticus 23:19
What about
"You shall not murder"
Exodus 20:13
Imagine someone browsing a swimsuit magazine that is dated now, vs one written 60 years ago. One would be in shock as to why they wear so much cloth to the beach. But back in those days, they will see the material of today and consider it to be pornography. With the same view, you have to think about when the book was written, there was some 2000 years of history between it was written to when you are reading it now, and even further back for the old testaments. Merchants back then is not business man now. Priest back then is not Priests that you see at church now. They have different laws, different ideas on governments. medical, you name it.
Social / Cultural Context
Similar to the Historical, the Social and Cultural Context is very different also, ie if you are Chinese like me, you drink tea as your normal everyday drink, if you are American you might be drinking Soda or Coffee. and if you are italian you will be drinking wine. this is not a historical difference, but a cultural difference. The Jewish has a set of practice in living, that may very well be different to what we do or like to do.
Some were description of events.
It was a record of what people said, or understood at the time of writing, so for example, when Job said, "The lord gives, and the Lord takes away, blessed is his name" this is what Job said in history, meaning, in the history of this word, a man named Job, said the following words. But the following words, does not mean it is what the reality of God is. Think about it, when Jesus was here on earth, the exact representation of God in every way, did he ever give, and then he take away? NO! our God is not one who gives and take away. He Gives period. in the old testament, people had not had the revelation of the nature of God. It was only until Jesus came that they know that God is love. this is why they didn't recognize the son of God when the saw him.
Is it written to you?
This is the biggest misunderstanding. and one if not cleared up makes the biggest error in understanding the bible. All books in the bible are written for a particular purpose. They are written as records, when they describe the chain of events that took place. But for instructions, they are written to a particular audience, but that audience might not be a global one, and more so might not be addressed to you.
Read the below scripture and Think about this,
The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."
Gen 17:8.
When God was saying this. He was not telling you the american or the chinese to go and possess the land of Canaan, nor is he giving it to the canaanites back then. The Canaanites were being kicked out. in the same way. A lot of the things in the bible are not written to you, or for you. Think about Paul's letters, they were written to different churches, addressing the different issues they were facing. And when they are addressing those issues, the words, the illustrations, needs to be looked at with a perspective with such context. Ie when Jesus was speaking to the Rich young ruler, that he needs to sell everything, is that telling you, you need to sell everything?
Now some major dividing lines in dispensation needed to be understood.
The Law given by Moses was given to the Jewish people. If you were in the historical context of that time, and you were a edomite, you will not follow the law of Moses, because its blessing and curses does not apply to you. if you were a philistine, you wouldn't do the law, the philistine knows it, the Israelite knows it. imagine this ,its like if you a Chinese person placing a mezuzah at your door, and every time you enter the house, you touch the mezuzah. The jewish people will think you are nuts! its not your custom, its got nothing to do with the Chinese. So in the same light a lot of the things spoken in the bible, we are not under any obligations to do.
So think about this, do we have to do the law? (speaking as a gentile, and not a Jew), will address the Jew afterwards. This question was asked to the Galatians because the were a gentile church, some jewish people were teaching them that, as they believed in Jesus they need to follow the Jewish laws. Meaning, 1) the were not following the Jewish laws from the beginning, until someone said they also needed to follow the Jewish laws, and 2) Paul told them No! are you guy so foolish that you need to go back to the law? we are born of the spirit, and we are in Christ because of faith in him, not by the deeds of the flesh. So from a gentle concept back in the bible days, they never thought about going under the law, then some judaizer came and told them they had to, and Paul refulted it. If you are not a Jew, the old covenant never had you included. We have been invited to the new covenant, and that is one that is received by faith. you believe it you get it!
So the great dividing line is the beginning of the new covenant, which started in the last supper (not matthew 1:1), when Jesus said this is my body, broken for your sins. And when he has said it was complete, he came back after death. This is the great dividing line. Before this the new covenant, the better covenant has not started. After this, the message is, Its all finished, its all done, Jesus has DONE it ALL. your sins, are forgiven completely, past present and future, you have absolute righteousness with God, absolute relationship with God, all this is made available because Christ has completed his mission, and your key to getting this, is by believing. If you can understand this, you will also understand why jesus said somethings which are contradictory in essence to that of what the other books are saying in the new testament. ie, Saying we are no longer under condemnation, Christ has perfected us forever. This is in contradiction to ie the Lord's prayer, when he told us to forgive others, or else the Father WON'T forgive us. is our forgiveness based on our forgiveness of others? if so we are doomed! but the reason why Jesus said that was because, in the law, it was an eye for an eye, and in that dispensation, he had to say that to be sinless, Jesus was also under the law. The good news is, He came to Fulfill the law and the prophets. He came and did the law for you, and you scored perfect, because he scored perfect. If you can see how this works, the bible will make so much more sense.
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