Why Your Preaching Needs Historical-Cultural Context

In this episode JC Schroeder talks about how looking at the historical-cultural context of Scripture can help open up the Bible for us and our sermons. It helps us to see the connections and distinctions between the world of the Bible and the Bible itself. Having this material in our sermons can help to clarify the text and lead to greater love and transformation.

📚 Resources:
John Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament

-------

📺 Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@bitesizeseminary

💻 Check out www.bitesizeseminary.com for more resources. 

📬 Connect with JC: 
Website | bitesizeseminary.com 
Facebook | Bite Size Seminary Podcast 
Twitter | @bitesizesem 
YouTube |  @bitesizeseminary

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey friends, in this short video I just want to talk
to you a little bit about theimportance of looking at and
utilizing the historicalcultural context, especially in
our devotional time and in ourpreaching.
So to give you an illustration,I'm doing some reading today on
a sermon that I'm preparing tospeak on Sunday.

(00:20):
I was looking at some of myprevious reading in this book,
ancient Near Eastern Thought andthe Old Testament by John
Walton.
I really like this book.
It's a great entry into thethought world of the Old
Testament and I came across twopassages, kind of on
back-to-back pages, that helpdescribe, I think, a really
helpful vision for the uniqueperspective of the God of Israel

(00:45):
and the God of the Bible.
So, for instance, here on page69, john Walton says this about
divine attributes.
He's speaking about divineattributes and he describes the
attribute of goodness and hesays this quote it is very rare
for the gods of the ancient NearEast to be described as good,

(01:05):
though the hope is commonlyexpressed that the God will do
good to the worshiper, that is,act favorably or for their
benefit.
This is an expression of favorrather than a sense of intrinsic
goodness.
End quote.
And so here he's describingsomething about that, all the
other gods that surroundedIsrael, that lived in the

(01:27):
ancient Near East, that theyweren't described as like an
innate goodness.
They weren't good, but the Godof the Bible is.
Then we have this otherinteresting quote here on the
opposite page, on page 70, whenhe describes now the attribute
of faithfulness.
Here he says again quotefaithfulness is one of the most
frequently affirmed attributesof Yahweh because of his

(01:50):
covenant relationship withIsrael.
In contrast, it is difficult tofind any such affirmation for
the gods of the ancient NearEast.
Words that convey loyalty arenever used of the gods in that
way.
The gods have no agreements orpromises to be faithful to and
no obligations or commitments tofulfill.

(02:13):
Now a couple of things here thatI want to note.
The first one is, if we're notlooking at the comparative
literature, the comparativeculture, the historical,
cultural context of the OldTestament, we may be at risk
foreseeing the God of the Biblein an isolated way to see, to
not see how unique and beautifuland special that he is.

(02:37):
Because in these two divineattributes, in comparison with
the other gods, yahweh, the onetrue God of Israel, the one true
God of the Bible and ofChristians, he is unique.
He is so unlike these othergods.
So having a resource like thisand doing this sort of research,

(02:59):
I think, greatly benefits andaids us in helping us to see the
effect and the character theeffect of Scripture and the
character of God.
The second thing I just want tonote and I just got so excited
about this as I was reading thisis that this is who our God is.
Our God, the God of the Bible,is a God of goodness.

(03:21):
He is good, he's not trying totrick me, he's not trying to do
something wrong against me.
He is totally.
His quality is goodness and heis faithful.
He is a God who is faithful tome.
Even when I am faithless, heremains faithful.

(03:42):
That is the God of the Biblehow he was, how he acted towards
his children, israel, and howhe acts toward me, his child.
That is who our God is andthat's something.
Just thinking back, thinking ofspeaking and preaching on Sunday
, that's something that willpreach because that will benefit
my own heart, my ownrelationship with the Lord, and

(04:03):
can benefit others as well.
So my encouragement to you lookat something like a resource
like this, look at thehistorical, cultural context of
the Bible so that we can hearGod's voice and how he speaks to
his people and how he speaks tous, and that we may share that
with others.
I hope this is a blessing.
Thanks for joining me on thiskind of lo-fi episode, but I

(04:26):
hope that blesses you andencourages you and I'll see you
next time.