PROOF-TEXTING BREEDS DOCTRINAL FRANKENSTEIN

By Akin Ojumu

It may surprise you to know that no Bible text stands on its own. To understand a particular passage of Scripture, it must be interpreted within its surrounding context. A text without context is a pretext for a proof text. When proof-texting conceives, it gives birth to a doctrinal Frankenstein of wacky ideas and bizarre practices. Preachers who do this often rip a bunch of Bible verses completely out of their proper context and join them together to make horrendously unbiblical assertions.

It’s not enough that we cite a hodgepodge of disparate Bible passages in support of a point of view. Any Bible passage we use to marshal a theological argument must be contextually relevant and applicable to the subject under discussion. 

Proof-texting, therefore, is the practice of pulling isolated verses out of their original biblical context to promote a specific theological doctrine, make a theological argument, or push personal belief.

A great example that has been used over the decades of people taking passages out of context is that of the person who pulls out his Bible, closes his eyes, and says, “Lord, I need you to talk to me today.”  

Believing he can hear God through bibliomancy, he flips the Bible open, puts his finger down to a Bible verse. Surprise, surprise, the text that he happens to put his finger on is Matthew 27:5, which reads: 

“Judas went and hung himself.”

Not exactly sure what this means, the individual closes the Bible again. He proceeds to say a quick word of prayer under his breath, asking, “Lord, what are you trying to say?” With his eyes still shut, he flips open the Bible to another random page and puts his finger down. The text to which his finger now points is Luke 10:37, which says: 

“Go thou and do likewise.”

As amusing as this may sound to you, that’s exactly what many of you do with the Bible. It’s your strategy for hearing God speak to you. And that’s exactly what proof-texting looks like. It’s a rather foolish way to handle the Word of God.

There are three rules that govern Bible interpretation. And these rules are, context, context, context. 

Biblical context is the cornerstone of accurate interpretation of Scripture. It ensures that individual verses are understood exactly as their original authors intended, rather than being distorted or taken out of their historical, cultural, or literary settings. 

When studying the Bible, you must pay close attention to the following three aspects of context:

(1) Literary Context

Scripture is not an omnibus, i.e., a compilation of disparate books that are totally unrelated to one another. Behind every book of the Bible is the Holy Spirit. It is He who, through the agency of inspired human minds, wrote the words contained within Scripture. Every verse is part of a larger, ongoing narrative or argument. It’s a Book with one overarching theme, and that central motif is Christ.

John 5:39

“You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very Words that testify about Me.”

Immediate Context: The verses, sentences, and chapters directly surrounding a passage. Reading these reveals the author’s train of thought.

The Book as a Whole: Understanding the book’s overarching theme, purpose, and audience.

Genre: The style of writing determines how you should read it. The Bible includes historical narrative, poetry, prophecy, and letters (epistles), which all require different interpretive lenses.

(2) Historical & Cultural Context

The Bible was written over thousands of years by different human authors speaking into their specific eras.

Original Audience: Who were the words originally written to, and what were they facing?

Culture and Customs: Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman traditions, social structures, and worldviews differ vastly from modern Western realities.

(3) Theological Context

This looks at how the passage connects to the overarching message of the Bible, the nature of God, redemptive plan of God, and the broader narrative of Scripture (e.g., how the Old Testament points forward, and how the New Testament looks back).

To ensure you aren’t pulling verses out of context, the following are some practical methods you may find helpful:

Read the Surrounding Verses

I learned very early, as a wet-behind-the-ear Christian, that to accurately interpret a particular verse, you must always read the verses before and the verses after.

Never ever quote a Bible text in isolation without paying careful attention to the broader context in which the text exists. Before zooming in on a single verse, read the entire chapter or even the whole book to understand the big picture.

Ask the Right Questions

Every time you read a Bible passage, you must ask yourself the question:

(1) Who is the author of the text?

(2) To whom is the author writing?

(3) What’s the author’s original intent when he wrote this?

(4) What message was he trying to pass across?

(5) How did the recipient interpret and understand the text?

(6) What’s the historical and cultural context?

(7) What do the words mean and how were they used in the original language?

Proof-texting is not an only child; it actually has siblings. One of those familial relatives is called Narcigesis. 

When a preacher twists a Bible story and makes them it about himself or is audience, that’s called NARCIGESIS. This is a word coined from NARCISSISM (i.e., self-absorption and an overinflated sense of self-importance) and EISEGESIS (i.e., to read one’s opinion into a Bible passage). Narcigesis, i.e., Narcissistic Eisegesis, therefore, is when we read ourselves into a Bible passage and make ourselves the hero of the Bible story. 

Put in another way, Narcigesis is a neologism describing the practice of interpreting the Bible by excessively focusing on the reader’s own self, ideas, and experiences, rather than on the text’s original meaning and context. It combines narcissism (self-admiration) with eisegesis (reading one's own meaning into a text). The term suggests that the reader makes the text “all about them,” twisting biblical passages to fit their personal agendas or circumstances.

For example, a preacher who takes the story of David and Goliath and turns it into an ear-scratching ponderous platitudes of killing all the Goliaths standing as obstacles in your life is a preacher engaged in Narcigesis. 

Another popular example of Narcigesis is the distortion of the story of Joseph and his brothers. Narcissistic eisegeting preachers often take this story and make it a cautionary tale of not sharing your dreams with people because they may hate you for it and may want to destroy your dreams.

Those who make a habit of narcissistic eisegesis, i.e., Narcigesis, are guilty of taking the name of the LORD into vanity. And this is not an inconsequential matter. It’s an egregious violation of the third commandment.

Exodus 20:7

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

From Genesis to Revelations, the Bible is an autobiography of the Messiah written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Every single book of the Bible is by divine design. Together, they tell an amazing story of the same person, Jesus, the Anointed One.

Luke 24:27

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”

Christ is not the main attraction in Scriptures. He is the sole attraction. All that’s written in the Bible is meant to point us to Christ. The stories, history, poetry, signs, wonders, and miracles are all written to help us believe that Jesus is the Messiah. This is the story of redemption.

John 20:30-31

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Sinclair Fergusson, a Scottish Reformed systematic theology scholar, best describes the proper Christian approach to understanding and preaching the Bible. Writing in his essay titled, “Preaching Christ from the Old Testament,” he says:

“As Christians standing within the light of New Testament revelation and looking back on the Old Testament, Christ himself acts as a hermeneutical prism. Looking back through him, we see the white light of the unity of the truth of Jesus Christ broken down into its constituent colours in the pages of the Old Testament. Then, looking forwards we see how the multi-coloured strands of Old Testament revelation converge in him.  When we appreciate this we begin to see how the constituent colours unite in Christ and are related both to each other and to him. In this way we see how the Old Testament points forward to him. We see how sometimes one ‘colour’, sometimes another, or perhaps a combination of them, points forward to Jesus Christ, is related to Jesus Christ, and is fulfilled by Jesus Christ.”

You deceive yourself if you claim to know God or belong to Him and yet you do not handle the Scripture accurately and precisely, the way it is meant to be handled. That’s not my opinion; it is what the Bible says.

Isaiah 8:20

“To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this Word, it is because they have no dawn.”

John 8:31-32

“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my Word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

May God give you the courage and humility to heed this warning.

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Reference & Attribution: This commentary used information obtained from Google AI.