Are You a Prooftexter Without You Knowing It?

Obey God Rather than Men

"We must obey God rather than men!" (Acts 5:29 ). This is one verse, that is commonly used by many especially those who keep the Sabbath & the festivals (Leviticus 23 ) to support their belief that these laws are to be kept. I have no problem with the verse itself because it is very true -- we really must obey God rather than men. But here's the problem. People are misusing this verse for their own personal agenda. This is called prooftexting.

Prooftexting Defined

Here's a definition from Wikipedia: "Prooftexting is the practice of using quotations from a document (often, but not always, a book of the Bible) to establish a proposition. Using discrete quotations is generally seen as decontextualised. Critics of the technique note that often a document quoted in such a manner, when read as a whole, may not in fact support the proposition for which it was cited."

There you go. Taken out of its context, taken out of its background story, people misuse and misquote Scripture to support their already formed and preconceived idea.

Getting the Context

If we look at the background story and context behind Acts 5:29 , we will learn from chapters 4 and 5 that Peter and the other apostles were preaching Christ all throughout Jerusalem. They preached Christ and this alarmed the Jewish religious leadership (Acts 4:2 ...). In fact, Peter began preaching Christ in Acts 2 during Pentecost. They were commanded not to teach in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18-20 ). That is the background story. That is the context behind it.

Read Passages Before and After

Instead of just quoting one verse, it is best that we get the context by reading several verses before and after the verse quoted and if need be, read several chapters -- before and after -- to really get a good background of the verse you are quoting and not unintentionally misuse Scripture.

Context is On Preaching the Gospel

In Acts 5:18 , the apostles were arrested and jailed. But in Acts 5:19-20 , the Lord commanded them to carry on and continue preaching Christ. They were made to appear before the Sanhedrin and once again they were reprimanded but the apostles replied that they ought to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:27-31 ). There you go. That is the background. They were forbidden to preach Christ.

Context is Not on Obeying Law!

As can be seen, the issue and the context is not on obedience to the law! And more particularly, the context here is not about obedience to the Sabbaths and festivals! The context is on preaching Christ!

In other words, Peter and the apostles were saying that they ought to obey God by preaching Christ and not to obey the commands of the Jewish religious leaders who were forbidding them to preach Christ.

Prooftexters have no business misquoting and misusing this verse for their personal agenda. Let's us all be careful when we handle the Scriptures. Hopefully, we have learned a short lesson about prooftexting and avoid becoming a prooftexter without us knowing it!