In “Never Read a Bible Verse” you write that we can’t appropriate verses in the Bible meant for a particular audience in the past for us today. I’m confused about how we know what does apply to us then. Using your logic you provided in this part of your book, couldn't we say that everything that Paul says in the Epistles isn't really directed to us so we should ignore it all? I mean he wrote them to the church in Ephesus, Corinth and Philippi, not to us here today.
Before I stumbled across the Never Read a Bible Verse article by Greg, I read the book How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee and it changed the way that I read the bible. If you want an in depth covering of how to interpret the different types of biblical writing (narrative, laws, wisdom, prophetic, etc.) then I would highly recommend the book.
It seems to me that a breakdown of the process of interpretation would be to 1) Determine the intention/message of the writer to his original audience, and 2) Determine whether the author's intention/message is relevant to the contemporary audience.
Posted by: Jeremy | August 17, 2009 at 01:25 PM
The role of God the Holy Spirit is also important. Sometimes God will testify to your spirit by His Spirit that a promise though not originally written for you does in fact apply to you.
Posted by: Hans van Hutten | August 17, 2009 at 04:34 PM