In 1535, Miles Coverdale printed the first complete English Bible. In his preface he gave readers one rule for reading it: "It shall greatly help thee to understand Scripture if thou mark not only what is spoken or written, but of whom, and to whom, with what words, at what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what goeth before and what followeth after."

That is a long sentence. Its point is short. A verse belongs to a passage. The passage belongs to the people involved and a moment in history.

Pull a verse out of that setting and you can make it say almost anything. A verse out of context becomes a pretext. It stops being a text you submit to and becomes a prop for the point you already wanted to make.

The devil used this method first. In the wilderness he quoted Psalm 91 to Jesus:

"If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" Matthew 4:6 (NKJV)

The words were accurate. The use was wrong. Psalm 91 describes God's care for the man who trusts Him. It does not tell that man to jump from a roof to test Him. Jesus answered with another verse and restored what the devil left out:

"Jesus said to him, 'It is written again, "You shall not tempt the LORD your God."'" Matthew 4:7 (NKJV)

Now apply Coverdale's questions to a passage many people quote alone. Matthew 25 opens with the words "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins." The first word is "then." It points backward. Matthew 24 comes before it, and in that chapter Jesus sits on the Mount of Olives and describes wars, earthquakes, false christs, and the abomination of desolation. He tells His hearers to pray that their flight will not fall on the Sabbath. That detail fixes the audience, because you do not warn a Chinese or Indian believer about fleeing on the Sabbath. Whatever the parable in chapter 25 teaches, it is addressed to the same hearers about the same subject as chapter 24. Cut the "then" off and the parable can be made to frighten anyone.

Paul says to Timothy:

"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV)

The phrase "rightly dividing" is (orthotomounta) ὀρθοτομοῦντα — "cutting straight." It is the picture of a workman who cuts along a straight line instead of hacking at the material.

So before you build a doctrine on a verse, read the chapter before it and the chapter after it. Ask who is talking and who is listening. Ask when, and why. If the answers do not fit the teaching, the teaching is the problem.

A verse read in its context can correct you. A verse pulled out of it can only agree with you.