I recently wrote about what words do. My main contention was that when we read anything (but especially Scripture), it is not enough to only ask what those words say, but we must go further and ask what the author is doing in saying those words.

If we fail to do this, our understanding will be warped, and our application may be dangerous.

By way of example, think about how Jesus understood the instructions given in the law about divorce. The verse in question is Deuteronomy 24:1, where it discusses a man who “finds something indecent” about his wife and so writes her a certificate of divorce and sends her away. When Jesus was questioned about this verse in Matthew 19, he responded in a fascinating way:

Firstly, he read with the big story in mind. The question was about whether divorce was permitted for any reason, but rather than argue the technicalities of the phrasing of the law, Jesus framed his answer in terms of how things were at the beginning. The Bible is bookended with pictures of God’s perfect world in Eden and the new creation, and as we see the kingdom of God established on earth we see something of that heavenly ideal brought into our earthly present. Many of the hermeneutical and ethical questions we wrestle with from scripture fall into a new light when we ask them in light of the unfolding story of God’s plan, and how things looked before sin entered the world.

Secondly, he pondered why the verse had been given. Clearly, Deuteronomy 24:1 was not written to encourage divorce. As Jesus explained, it was permissive because of the hard-heartedness of the hearers, and was attempting to provide some protections and dignity for the women who had been sent away. So a verse that on the face of it seems to allow divorce for any reason takes on a very different complexion when the ‘what is it doing’ question is asked alongside ‘what is it saying’.

Thirdly, he saw the application in terms of what the verse is DOING. As the Pharisees looked mainly through the ‘what is it saying’ framework’, it led them to an application that ran totally contrary to what the verse was doing. In their desire to be faithful to the text, they missed the very heart of it. Jesus saw that to truly live out the text, it is necessary to step back, understand what the purpose of the text was to the original hearers in light of the big story of Scripture, and to consider what kind of contemporary application would catch the heart of the text in our own context today.