3 Verses About Mental Health + How to Use Context In Scripture

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Summary

Sometimes, scripture is used incorrectly to defend unbiblical ideas, especially when it comes to how we address mental health. Here are three verses we commonly misuse when talking about mental health and boundaries.

Podcast Transcript

Intro

Have you ever heard someone use a Bible verse to justify what they’re doing, and you thought to yourself, that’s not what that verse means? Today we’re talking about three verses I’ve heard misused to justify unhealthy behaviors and to diminish the importance of boundaries and mental health. By the end of this episode, you’ll have some new tools for understanding and interpreting scripture correctly. Let’s get started!

Welcome

As Christians, sometimes we struggle to understand mental health from a biblical perspective. And when we struggle to understand something from a biblical perspective, sometimes we use scripture in a way that doesn’t reflect it’s original meaning. We misuse, misapply, misinterpret or even misquote scripture all in an attempt to argue what we believe to be a biblical perspective.

Unfortunately, any time we misuse scripture to support our perspective, we usually miss the mark. And I think the worst part is that we misrepresent God and we warp others’ understanding of Who He is. So today I want to talk about three verses that I constantly hear misused when it comes to boundaries and mental health.

Context

But first, let’s talk about context. Because I don’t want to just clarify these three verses today. I want to teach you how to evaluate scripture when you think someone is using it incorrectly.

Now there are a lot of different types of context, but today we’re just going to focus on three. I think these are the three that will make the most difference for your understanding of scripture.

Literary Context

The first is literary context. Imagine the part of the Bible you’re looking at is just a literary work. What style is the writing? Is it a song or poetry, a historical account or even apocalyptic literature. For example, the book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature, and apocalyptic literature has it’s own style of symbolism and repetition. If you don’t read Revelation with that style in mind, you’ll misunderstand large portions of that book.

Scripture needs to be read within its literary context so we can understand what the author intended to communicate. And speaking of the author, literary context includes who the author is, who they wrote to and why they wrote.

Today, we’ll look at one of Paul’s letters. Paul wrote a lot of letters, and each one is unique. Paul wrote letters under very different personal circumstances from traveling, to torture in prison, to awaiting trial under house arrest. Likewise, the churches he wrote to had unique circumstances as well. Some were poor, some were struggling with unity, and some lived in areas where participation in sexual immorality was expected. Knowing what the author and the recipients of these letters were going through should inform our understanding of the passage.

We’ll also consider the original language of some of our passages today, which is another way literary context should affect our understanding of scripture.

Historical Context

The second type of context is historical context. This includes the history and the culture of the time. Our first passage today addresses some of the assumptions the people of Israel had made about the coming Messiah. Knowing those assumptions and beliefs helps us understand what those conversations were about.

Biblical Context

The third type of context is biblical context. You’ve probably heard people say that “scripture should interpret scripture.” Unfortunately, most people will pull two unrelated verses and use them to support a point that is not only unbiblical, but dangerous as well. Using biblical context means we examine how a passage fits into the larger story of scripture.

I like to practice zooming out: you start with a verse or a passage, then look at the paragraph, then the section, the chapter, the book, and then the Bible as a whole. You want to look for themes or repeated words and concepts. Make a note of transition words like therefore, but or and. Notice if there is any numbering in the passage, like if the author lists points or uses words like “first” and “second”. All of these things will help you understand how your passage fits into the larger story of scripture.

Three Verses About Mental Health and Boundaries

So now that we have a better understanding of how context works and why it matters, lets look at today’s verses. Some of these verses might be familiar to you and you may have learned and even taught others the unbiblical perspectives I’m about to share. Have grace for yourself. We’re all learning all the time.

My goal in sharing these verses is not to cause contention or shame, but to reveal how we sometimes misunderstand the intention of scripture and how having a clear understanding of scripture can help us live lives that please God.

Matthew 16:24

We’re going to start with Matthew 16:24 which says,

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.’”

I typically hear the phrase “deny yourself” used to emphasize giving up personal desires or to remind someone not to be selfish. That interpretation isn’t technically wrong, but what “denying yourself” means differs from person to person because we’re all different and God calls each of us to a different kind of self-denial.

What it Says

Let’s start by zooming out on this passage a little. Starting in verse 21, Jesus is talking with His disciples, and He tells them what is coming: He will suffer, He will die, and He will be raised to life on the third day. Now, a bit of historical context, the Jews believed that the Messiah would come and destroy the Roman Empire. So when Jesus announces that the Roman Empire is going to kill Him, they’re a little confused, and very distraught. Peter pulls Jesus aside and tells Him, “Don’t worry, that won’t happen!” And Jesus’ response is the famous line “get behind me, Satan!”

That leads directly into the verse we’re talking about today. Jesus turns back to the rest of the disciples and tells all of them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” He continues by saying, “for whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.”

What it Means

Jesus told the disciples He would die, and when they responded with shock and disbelief, He responded by saying, “I’m going to ask you to die, too.” When Jesus refers to “denying” themselves, He’s telling the disciples they will have a choice: choose Him and die to live, or deny Him and live to die.

Jesus is also asking the disciples to deny their belief of who Jesus should be. The disciples believed the Messiah should be a great warrior who would lead a revolt against the Roman Empire. You could even call that their “will” for His life and for their lives too. But when Jesus tells them to “deny” themselves, He’s telling them they need to deny their “will” in exchange for His.

How to Apply This Passage

If we apply this passage to our personal lives, we need to remember that “denying ourselves” will probably look very different than the way the disciples were asked to deny themselves. But regardless, God is still God, and He has a will for our lives. We need to open ourselves up to Him and let Him dictate what it means for us to “deny” ourselves.

That also means we need to say “no” when someone tries to incorrectly tell us what God’s will is for our lives. Maybe an older woman at church is asking you to volunteer, and you truly don’t have the time. Or maybe someone is encouraging you to take a job with a new ministry, but the job would involve a pay cut, and you don’t feel God is asking you to make that sacrifice.

Unfortunately, I’ve heard this verse used a lot to force people to do things they don’t want to do. So to clarify, God does not call us to every sacrifice. Denying ourselves means we put God’s will over our own will and over the will of others, too! Which means we have to take the time to recognize His will in our lives and make the effort to protect our callings from the things that God does not have for us.

Philippians 4:19

Now let’s move on to our next verse. In Philippians 4:19, Paul says,

“And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

This is a similar situation to Matthew 16:24. I hear a lot of people using this verse to justify staying up too late to do something they think is important to God or to encourage people to take on more commitments than they can handle. Because if we’re doing the work for God, He’ll give us all the energy we need, right?

Like Matthew 16:24, that isn’t what this verse really means. In fact, that’s pretty much the opposite of what this verse is talking about.

What it Says

This is a letter written from Paul to the church at Philippi, a church of very poor people who gave a lot of money to other churches and to Paul for his care and the growth of the ministry. In 2 Corinthians 8:2, Paul says,

“their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.”

As a result, other churches were cared for, and Paul’s ministry was funded.

This verse is a direct response to the generous giving of this church. Paul acknowledges their sacrifice, thanks the church, and tells them, “God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Paul basically says, “God has an abundance, and because of your faithfulness to God, He will supply your needs out of that abundance.”

What it Means

Now that doesn’t mean we should do what we think is right just to earn God’s blessings. Again, we come back to the issue of God’s will versus our will.

If we look back at 2 Corinthians 8 as Paul is describing the Philippian church’s giving, he says, “they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by God’s will.” In other words, the Philippians committed their way and their will to God before deciding to give generously to Paul and the other churches. Verse four says, “they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry.” In other words, they wanted to give! But they paused and sought God’s will first.

How to Apply This Passage

In the Enduring Word Commentary, David Guzik says,

“In giving, the real issue isn’t giving money. It is giving ourselves to the Lord. If we really give ourselves to the Lord, then the right kind of material giving will naturally follow.” God is not necessarily asking us to give everything until it hurts, and when I say “everything”, that includes our time, our energy, our talents and our focus. We should seek God’s will for our resources first instead of our own will.

So this verse is not permission to misuse the resources God has given us: like our money, our time, focus, energy, talents, opportunities, etc. Instead, it’s a reminder that God does not bless our disobedience. It is when we follow His will that we see the blessings come from our sacrifice.

Matthew 22:39

Our last verse is Matthew 22:39 which says,

“love your neighbor as yourself.”

I have seen this verse used to argue two extremes. The first is that we cannot love others unless we love ourselves first. The second is that loving ourselves is wrong, and we should be focused on loving others. Unfortunately, neither of these extremes represents this passage correctly, so let’s look deeper and see what this verse is really talking about.

What it Says

First, let’s look at the immediate context of this verse. The Pharisees and Sadducees, which were religious groups in Jesus’s time, were questioning Jesus and trying to trap Him in a lie. In verse 36, they asked Him what the greatest commandment was. There are hundreds of commandments in the Law of Moses, so this seemed like an easy way to trap Him. Surely He couldn’t call any commandment greater than the others, right?

But Jesus responded by saying the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” And then He adds the second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Then He says, “All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” In other words, these two commands sum up everything God has asked us to do.

What it Means

Obviously, these two commandments are pretty important. So let’s clarify what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

This commandment is not new. We find it back in Leviticus 19:18, which says:

“Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.”

This appears to be a pretty clear call to simply treat others the way we want to be treated. I like the way David Guzik explains it . He says,

“in the same way we take care of ourselves and are concerned about our own interests, we should take care and have concern for the interests of others.”

How to Apply This Passage

This isn’t about loving ourselves so we have the bandwidth to care for others, although, as we have already discussed, there is an argument for protecting our time and energy and saying “no” to the wrong things. I believe if we are obedient to God and He asks us to do something we don’t have to energy, time, or money to do, He will provide. So it’s not fair to say we HAVE to take care of ourselves before we can care for others. As long as we are obeying God, caring for ourselves to prepare for our callings deserves our best effort and we can believe that God will do the rest.

This verse also isn’t dismissive of loving ourselves. Matthew Henry’s Commentary on Matthew 22:39 puts this excellently. He says,

“It is implied that we do and should love ourselves. There is a self-love which is corrupt, and the root of the greatest sins, and it must be put off and mortified: but there is a self-love which is natural, and the rule of the greatest duty, and it must be preserved and sanctified. We must love ourselves, that is, we must have a due regard to the dignity of our own natures, and a due concern for the welfare of our own souls and bodies.”

God gave us our minds, bodies, hearts and souls and we should be good stewards of all that we are and all that we have. Jesus’s call to love others doesn’t negate that. But it can change our perspective when we realize God created us to care for ourselves AND He calls us to love other people.

Outro

Alright, I don’t know about you, but that was a lot for me. I didn’t realize when I chose this topic how much research and work this episode was going to be. So, pat on the back for me because that was intense!

I have some ideas for topics for the podcast this year, but I would like to hear from you. So please, comment on this episode, message me on Instagram, or email me at brigette@brigettehenry.com. I would love to hear what you would like to learn!

If you enjoy this podcast don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share with your friends! Also if you listen on Spotify, they recently added a comment option so if you have any questions or thoughts about what we talked about today, I would love to hear from you! You can find me on Instagram @onespiritualjourney, and if you want to get in contact with me you can send me an email at brigette@brigettehenry.com . That link is in the show notes.

God, thank you for this opportunity to speak truth to your daughters today. I pray that the things we discussed will encourage them to know you more and will help them to live lives that glorify You. Amen!