Imagine sitting down to watch a movie, but instead of starting at the beginning, you fast-forward three-quarters of the way through and press play. Someone is crying. Another person is desperately trying to get somewhere. There’s conflict between people you don’t know. Someone makes a huge decision, and you have absolutely no idea why.

You’d probably sit there asking:

Who are these people?
Why is she crying?
Where is he going?
Why does this matter so much?
What in the world happened?!

Of course you’re confused; you missed the beginning! We would never intentionally watch a movie that way. We know that what happened earlier gives meaning to what we’re watching now. Yet sometimes, that’s exactly how we read the Bible. We open our Bible to a random verse or chapter, pull out a sentence, and immediately try to figure out what it means and how it applies to our lives, without ever stopping to ask:

What happened before this?

That’s called context, and it’s an important part of the Dissect & Digest Bible Study method. Context is simply what surrounds a passage and helps us understand what the author is saying and why he is saying it. And 1 Thessalonians 3 gives us a perfect example.

1 Thessalonians 3:1 says, “Finally, when we could stand it no longer…” (NLT)

Stop. Don’t keep reading yet. Wait, what couldn’t Paul stand any longer? Something has obviously been happening. Paul doesn’t explain it in that sentence because he has already explained it. The problem is that we walked into the movie halfway through. So, what do we do? Back up. Go just a few verses backward to 1 Thessalonians 2:17–20. Suddenly, the picture starts coming into focus. Paul tells the Thessalonian believers that he had been separated from them. He desperately wanted to see them again. In fact, he says they tried again and again to return to Thessalonica, but Satan prevented them. Then Paul tells these believers just how much they mean to him. He calls them his hope, his joy, and the crown he will proudly present before Jesus when He returns.

Now you can “turn the page” and look at 1 Thessalonians 3:1, “Finally, when we could stand it no longer…”

Ahhh. Now it makes sense. Paul couldn’t stand being separated from these believers and not knowing how they were doing. The answer was sitting just a few verses behind us. Context is so important because it often tells us the “why.” When you keep reading 1 Thessalonians 3:1–2, we learn that Paul decided to remain in Athens while Timothy was sent back to Thessalonica. If we started reading at chapter 3, we might simply think:

Okay. Paul sent Timothy somewhere.

But now we know the story. Paul loved these people and he desperately wanted to see them. He had tried to return, but had been prevented from doing so. He was deeply concerned about them, so he sent Timothy. Context didn’t merely tell us what Paul did, it helped us understand why he did it. And that’s one of the things context does for us when we’re studying Scripture. But paul wasn’t just missing his friends. Let’s keep going.

In verses 3–5, we discover something else. The Thessalonian believers were experiencing persecution and suffering, and Paul was concerned about their faith. Then in verse 5 he practically repeats himself: “That is why, when I could bear it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong.” (NLT) There it is again. He couldn’t bear it any longer. Paul wasn’t simply sitting in Athens thinking, I really miss my friends. He was thinking about believers he loved who were suffering.

Are they okay?

Are they standing firm?

Has the tempter gotten to them?

Is their faith holding up under persecution?

He couldn’t go himself, so he sent someone he trusted. Timothy wasn’t simply delivering a message either. Paul sent him to strengthen and encourage these believers in their faith and then report back. Is it making more sense now? Knowing the context changes the way we read the entire chapter. And this is where the story gets really good because in verse 6, Timothy returns, and he brings good news: Their faith is still strong, their love is strong, they remember Paul affectionately, and they want to see Paul just as much as Paul wants to see them. Listen to Paul’s reaction: “It gives us new life to know that you are standing firm in the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 3:8 NLT) That’s a pretty emotional response, but now we understand why.

Imagine watching a movie and seeing a man receive a letter. He opens it, reads a few sentences, and suddenly becomes overwhelmed with relief. If that’s the first scene you’ve watched, you’re probably thinking: What’s so important about that letter? But if you’ve watched everything leading up to that moment, you know. You might even be crying with him! That’s what context does. It gives weight to the moment, and that’s exactly what happens here in 1 Thessalonians 3. We’ve seen Paul’s concern, we’ve seen his separation from them, we’ve heard him say twice that he couldn’t stand it anymore, and we’ve learned what he was afraid might have happened. So when Timothy walks through the door with the news that they’re standing firm, Paul’s reaction makes perfect sense. And the story isn’t over. Paul’s response to Timothy’s report is thanksgiving and prayer.

Read 1 Thessalonians 3:9–13 and pay attention to what Paul asks God for: He still wants to see them again. Wait a minute. Haven’t we heard that before? Yep. Back up again. In 1 Thessalonians 2:17, Paul told them how eagerly he had been trying to see them face-to-face. Now in 3:10, he’s praying earnestly that he will get that opportunity. And in verse 11, he asks God to make it possible for him to come to them.

Look at the progression in 1 Thessalonians:

• Paul desperately want to see the Thessalonian believers. (2:17)
• Paul tried to go visit them, but he was prevented. (2:18)
• Paul couldn’t stand it anymore, so he sent Timothy. (3:1-2)
• Paul needed to know whether their faith was holding up. (3:5)
• Timothy returned with good news! (3:6)
• Paul is overwhelmed with relief and thanksgiving. (3:7-9)
• Paul still longs to see them and asks God to make it possible. (3:10-11)

That’s the story, but we could easily miss it if we treated chapter 3 as though it appeared out of nowhere. Chapter numbers are helpful to organize biblical content, but sometimes they can make us lazy. Here’s something important to remember when studying your Bible: Paul didn’t write the words “Chapter 3.” The chapter and verse numbers in our Bibles were added much later to help us locate passages, and thank goodness for them! Imagine your pastor saying, “Turn somewhere toward the middle of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians and look for the sentence about Timothy.” That would not be helpful. Chapter and verse numbers are incredibly useful, but they can unintentionally make us think a new chapter means a new thought. It doesn’t. Sometimes the sentence at the beginning of a chapter is directly connected to the sentence at the end of the previous one. And that’s exactly what happens here. So don’t let the big 3 on the page stop you from backing up into chapter 2.

Another important thing to remember is: Don’t pluck a verse out of the Bible. Now, does this mean there’s something wrong with reading a single Bible verse? Of course not. A verse of Scripture can encourage us, convict us, comfort us, or remind us of truth. The problem comes when we decide what a verse means without considering its context. We don’t get to pluck a sentence out of the Bible and make it mean whatever we want it to mean.

Before asking: What does this verse mean to me?

We need to ask: What does this verse mean according to the Author? What was the author talking about? Who was he talking to? What happened before this? Why did he say this? What happens afterward?

Once we understand what Scripture is saying, then we’re ready to think about how that truth applies to our lives. Context protects us from putting our own meaning into God’s Word. So, how do you find the context? The next time you sit down to study a verse or passage, don’t be afraid to back up, look around, and ask questions. Things like: What happened immediately before this? What has the author been talking about? Who is speaking or writing? Who are they speaking to? Why are they saying this? Is this sentence continuing a thought from earlier? What happens immediately afterward? Where does this passage fit within the larger book? Sometimes you’ll only need to back up three verses. Sometimes you’ll need to read the whole chapter. And sometimes understanding a passage requires knowing the larger story of the entire book. But, friends, that’s Bible study! Before you say, “I don’t understand…”  or “I just don’t get it,” don’t immediately assume Scripture is too difficult for you to understand. Maybe you simply walked into the movie halfway through. So, back up. Read what came before. Read what comes after. Follow the author’s train of thought. Ask questions and look for connections. And please don’t rush, because sometimes the answer to the question you’re asking is sitting three verses behind you.