“Is there Meaning in this Text” is great too. I haven’t plowed my way through it all, but have read select chapters–pretty dense.

We definitely need the “then and there” and the “here and now” when trying to understand Scripture.

Keep reading those Fathers! Irenaeus is my favorite Father, besides Augustine. Who do you like?

I find contextualizing scripture also makes it more interesting. This is particularly true of revelations I think. Thank you for this article.

I hear what you’re saying. I think it’s important to let Scripture speak on its own terms without our preconceived notions and agendas guiding our reading (easier said than done). We can do that by understanding the “then and there” of Scripture. What did it mean to its original hearers? How would they have heard it?

We can also be humble and confident at the same time with our Scripture interpretation. We can look at its interpretation within 2000 years of church history seeing how the church has read passages. This humbles us–we may not have any unique interpretations, i.e., I am not the first person to read, preach on, or interpret a passage of Scripture. Yet we can be confident that the Scripture is saying something to me personally (according to my context, emotions, circumstances in my life). I have found this is the best way that the Holy Spirit speaks to me.

We say that this passage might be saying X to you.. but it says NOT X to me. Greg Koukl (a calvanist apologist) who is known for his defense against moral relativism often attacks Christian’s for being scriptural relativist. I feel God definitely suggests to our heart certain passages because of what we may need at the moment. But I have up to this point not been able to discern what is the line between the Holy Spirit speaking to me through biblical text and me just trying to twist a passage to fit what I want it to mean.

Any suggestions?