You probably looked at this article and sighed. You clicked on it expecting to get angry. You were wondering why someone was wanting to keep you from sharing your faith on Facebook. Don't worry that is not what this article is.
This article is not about not sharing the Bible. Sharing the Bible is something that I encourage you to do. Something as Christians we are commanded to do. My purpose of this article is to get you to think about not sharing a single verse all by its lonesome. The Bible was not meant to be read in little one verse snippets on a Facebook page.
Yeah, there are some beautiful verses, but they still need to be read in context. Instead, we should be sharing verses, passages, maybe even chapters because context enriches our understanding and sometimes makes the passage even more beautiful.
Take Ephesians 2:8-9, you have probably heard it. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,not a result of works, so that no one may boast. It is a beautiful verse about our salvation by grace on its own but read it in context, and it gets even better.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2-10 ESV)
When you read the preceding passage, the grace it is talking about is even more amazing. We were children of wrath and dead in our sins, but JEsis made us alive.
Let's try another verse of the day out in context. John 3:16. Even a lot of non-Christians know this one: For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:13-20)
Again, the context shows our relationship with God more clearly than the snippet of a beautiful and well-loved verse. I could go on with other examples, but I think you get the point.
Now, am I saying no one should ever post a single verse on its own? Of course not. I am simply suggesting that next time you are thinking about sharing a verse, look at the surrounding verses and see what the context adds to it.
