Pieces Parts

Years ago, a Wendy’s commercial humorously called the meat in McDonald’s chicken nuggets “pieces parts.” 

That’s because McNuggets were made of bits and pieces of chicken pressed together "out of the context" of the whole chicken. 

Sometimes we formulate our beliefs with “pieces parts” of the Bible. In fact, most Bible errors come from cutting one or two verses out of context and pressing them together to form a half truth. 

Bible verses are not meant to stand alone. Nor can we use one verse and exclude another. That's one reason Scripture commands us to:

"Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth." 2 Timothy 2:15, Amplified Bible

Every single verse in the Bible is true, but not every verse contains complete truth. The best way to illustrate this is to give you an example.

Read the verses below and answer these questions: 

Romans 12:12: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

2.What can we learn about prayer from the following passages?

What problems come from studying some of these passages and ignoring others?
 
 Matthew 7:7: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

John 14:14: "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

John 15:7: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."

John 15:16: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you."

John 16:16, 23-24: Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” 23 In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete."

James 4:2-3: You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

1 John 3:21-22: Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him.
 
1 John 5:14-15: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.


For additional thoughts on this subject check out these 1-Minute Bible Love Notes:
Upsidedown Truth
Slightly Skewed

I would love to have you share your insights, answers, and questions in the comments section. Thanks, Gail 
All Scripture NIV unless otherwise noted 
copyright 2013, Gail Burton Purath, BiteSizeBibleStudy.com 
This study was one of the first Bite Size Studies and I am re-publishing it. I no longer offer insights, but this study has insights linked above.