We must understand that the Word of God is both natural and divine. God breathed His Book. The very Words are His. His Word has timeless relevance. Its truths are applicable to people of every generation. This being said when Paul wrote his letter to the Romans he didn’t have Joe Lusk in mind. He was writing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, to the Christians there at Rome. Just like he had a reason for writing to Rome, he had a reason for writing to the Ephesians, and the Galatians, and so on. There was a message or were messages that God had for those particular people that applied to their particular situation.
The reason this matters is because in order for us to accurately determine what the same letter to the Ephesians has to do with us today we must strive to understand, first, what Paul intended to say to the Ephesians themselves. Before trying to figure out what God was saying to us, we need to determine what He said, and why as it pertains to the original recipients. Then, once we have the idea in its context, we can accurately apply it to our situation in life or accurately determine how it would apply to our lives. Without having first done the work of understanding the message as it was written for the original recipients we cannot hope to accurately find the message for our day and time, and when Scripture is applied without having discovered the author’s intent we inevitably take rights with the Scripture that were not given. The author’s original intent must be what we draw from when applying Scripture today and it must be that by which our applications are measured with regard to accuracy and authority. If we abandon the original intent of the author we abandon any authority we might have had by virtue of being able to claim, “Thus saith the Lord!” Haddon Robinson said in his book titled Biblical Preaching, “Preaching in Paul’s mind did not consist of someone discussing religion. Instead, God Himself spoke through the personality and message of a preacher to confront men and women and bring them to Himself.”[1] He went on to say, “Not all passionate pleading from a pulpit, however, possesses divine authority. When preachers speak as heralds, they must cry out ‘the Word.’ Anything less cannot legitimately pass for Christian preaching.”[2]
In conclusion consider Pierson on the matter, “But our object just at this point is to emphasize the fact that the Scriptures are in a book form, are written by human pens, that God’s messages have flowed through human minds as channels; that all these writings have to do with persons, places, times, events, geographical and historical surroundings, and are framed in human speech and according to the laws of grammar and the usages of language; and all these things must be considered and examined if we are to know the Scriptures and the power of God in them.”[3] The entire chapter represented by this statement deals with the necessary importance of working to identify the intent of the author. As the Journal Instructions state, “If you have not found the author’s intent you have not found anything.”
[1] Robinson, Haddon, W. Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids: 2001. p. 19-20
[2] Robinson, Haddon, W. Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids: 2001. p. 20
[3] Pierson, Arthur, T. Knowing the Scriptures. New York: Gospel, 1910. p. 66
The reason this matters is because in order for us to accurately determine what the same letter to the Ephesians has to do with us today we must strive to understand, first, what Paul intended to say to the Ephesians themselves. Before trying to figure out what God was saying to us, we need to determine what He said, and why as it pertains to the original recipients. Then, once we have the idea in its context, we can accurately apply it to our situation in life or accurately determine how it would apply to our lives. Without having first done the work of understanding the message as it was written for the original recipients we cannot hope to accurately find the message for our day and time, and when Scripture is applied without having discovered the author’s intent we inevitably take rights with the Scripture that were not given. The author’s original intent must be what we draw from when applying Scripture today and it must be that by which our applications are measured with regard to accuracy and authority. If we abandon the original intent of the author we abandon any authority we might have had by virtue of being able to claim, “Thus saith the Lord!” Haddon Robinson said in his book titled Biblical Preaching, “Preaching in Paul’s mind did not consist of someone discussing religion. Instead, God Himself spoke through the personality and message of a preacher to confront men and women and bring them to Himself.”[1] He went on to say, “Not all passionate pleading from a pulpit, however, possesses divine authority. When preachers speak as heralds, they must cry out ‘the Word.’ Anything less cannot legitimately pass for Christian preaching.”[2]
In conclusion consider Pierson on the matter, “But our object just at this point is to emphasize the fact that the Scriptures are in a book form, are written by human pens, that God’s messages have flowed through human minds as channels; that all these writings have to do with persons, places, times, events, geographical and historical surroundings, and are framed in human speech and according to the laws of grammar and the usages of language; and all these things must be considered and examined if we are to know the Scriptures and the power of God in them.”[3] The entire chapter represented by this statement deals with the necessary importance of working to identify the intent of the author. As the Journal Instructions state, “If you have not found the author’s intent you have not found anything.”
[1] Robinson, Haddon, W. Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids: 2001. p. 19-20
[2] Robinson, Haddon, W. Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids: 2001. p. 20
[3] Pierson, Arthur, T. Knowing the Scriptures. New York: Gospel, 1910. p. 66
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