A proof cluster is a group of passages that, read together, hold one truth in place. It is the opposite of proof-texting. Proof-texting lifts a verse out of its setting and gives it a meaning from somewhere else. A proof cluster gathers what Scripture itself says on one point: the passages that state it, the steps that lead to it, and the texts that are often set against it. Taken together, they leave only one reading that breaks none of them.

The principle is simple: context determines meaning. A verse torn from its surroundings can be made to say almost anything. Read among the passages that speak to the same thing, it can say only one thing. This rests on the words of Christ Himself, that "the scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35).

You do not have to take my word for any of it. Paul writes, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). There, to prove means to test. So a proof cluster is not here to convince you; it is here to be proved. Its links are laid out one by one, so that you can check each of them against your Bible. If one of them is shown to say something else, the cluster falls, and I would rather know. Here they are told in plain words, for anyone who wants to see.