Best Out of Context Bible Verses. Share yours!

"There is no God" .. Psalms 14:1.

This (partial) verse was used regularly by the famous American atheist, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, as one of her reasons for being an atheist, stating that "even the Bible says, 'there is no God'"

Isaiah 45 (KJV)
6 I am the LORD, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create evil:
I the LORD do all these things.

We know that God is NOT evil, nor is He the Author/Creator/Cause of sin/moral evil in the hearts of men. He does allow moral evil to exist (obviously), and He promises to use "physical" evils, disasters, wars, distress, illnesses, pandemics, etc., for the good of all of us who are His .. Romans 8:28.
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My vote is for 1 Cor 14:34, 35:

34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law.

35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

Most people who use these verses to subjugate women don't realize they are being quoted by Paul from the Talmud, and then refuted in vs 36:

36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?

BibleUnboxed said:

Here's my favorite Out of Context Bible verses...

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Hmm...

LXX Amos 4:4 Ye went into Bethel, and sinned, and ye multiplied sin at Galgala; and ye brought your meat-offerings in the morning, [and] your tithes every third day.

LXX Ecclesiastes 10:19 Men prepare bread for laughter, and wine and oil that the living should rejoice: but to money all things will humbly yield obedience.

LXX Proverbs 27:14 Whosoever shall bless a friend* in the morning with a loud voice, shall seem to differ nothing from one who curses him.

LXX Genesis 25:30 And Esau said to Jacob, Let me taste of that red pottage, because I am fainting; therefore his name was called Edom.

LXX Ezekiel 4:15 And he said to me, Behold, I have given thee dung of oxen instead of man’s dung, and thou shalt prepare thy loaves upon it.

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* Friend is our body, which is especially lustful in the morning of our youth and if we yield (bless) to its pleasures we will most likely fall into sin (curse it).

2 Peter 3
9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward ~us~, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.


This verse is cited regularly to prove one of two things that I do not believe this verse is talking about. 1. That the atonement is unlimited/that 'all' are elect or 2. That the atonement is universal.

St. Peter's 2nd Epistle was written to and about God's elect alone, to His saints and His saints to be. Chapter 3 was written to and about God's elect alone, to His saints and His saints to be. Finally, the passage that v9 is found in was written to and about God's elect, to His saints and His saints to be.

God is longsuffering towards "us" (His elect). He waits patiently for all of "us" to come to saving faith in Christ Jesus, not for those who He already knows never will.
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Genesis 6
6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Exodus 32
14 The LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.


Open Theists use verses like these to prove that God is pretty much just like us, that He does not know the end from the beginning .. Isaiah 46:9-10, that He is neither immutable nor omniscient, and that the decisions He makes are often driven by His emotions in the moment.
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Matthew 19
16 Someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?”
17 And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”


This passage is quoted pretty often around here by our works righteousness/legalist types as the true way of salvation
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St_Worm2 said:

Isaiah 45 (KJV)
6 I am the LORD, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create evil:
I the LORD do all these things.

We know that God is NOT evil, nor is He the Author/Creator/Cause of sin/moral evil in the hearts of men. He does allow moral evil to exist (obviously), and He promises to use "physical" evils, disasters, wars, distress, illnesses, pandemics, etc., for the good of all of us who are His .. Romans 8:28.
.

Click to expand...

You didn't say which translation you use. From the NET...
"I do this so people will recognize from east to west
that there is no God but me;
I am the Lord, I have no peer.
I am the one who forms light
and creates darkness;
the one who brings about peace
and creates calamity."

That changes the meaning, so in this version, it's not "evil" but "calamity". Big difference.

pescador said:

You didn't say which translation you use. From the NET...
"I do this so people will recognize from east to west
that there is no God but me;
I am the Lord, I have no peer.
I am the one who forms light
and creates darkness;
the one who brings about peace
and creates calamity."

That changes the meaning, so in this version, it's not "evil" but "calamity". Big difference.

Click to expand...

Hello Pescador, "create evil" is the King James translation (note the "KJV" next to Isaiah 45 in my post).

You are correct, the NET, and most/all other modern translations, solve the problem by using a different English word for the translation of רַע (transliterated raʿ) that makes far more sense (at least by today's understanding of "evil" anyway .. I'm sure that the King James divines' use of "evil" was exactly what it should have been for their readers, 400+ years ago in England, but the meaning of words morph over the years, as I'm sure you are aware). There is no way that our contemporary understanding of "evil" is opposite in meaning from the word "peace" (peace and war would be the first things that come to mind as modern day opposites).

There is also no way that the King James divines (the KJV translation team) meant "moral" evil in v7, nevertheless, many today argue that it does for the simplistic reason that, "that's what the KJV says it is, so that's what it must be" .. w/o taking into account the fact that, even 400 years ago, most words have more than one meaning, just like they do today, and that a words principle meaning may not have been the same back then ).

For instance, "cute" in 1611 England, meant "bowlegged"

--David