How many passages of Scripture were written to you? How many inspired words were written to directly address
your specific situation in life? The answer may surprise you. Not one word of one verse of Scripture was written directly to you, or to me, or anyone else in the 21st century. That is not to say that God does not speak to us today through His Word–He does. It is not to say that the Bible is not applicable and authoritative– it absolutely is. Scripture is the inspired, applicable, and authoritative Word of God to all places, all people, throughout all time. What it means is that every word of scripture has a historical context. Every book has an original audience and the Divine instructions therein were germane to it. A failure to consider every passage in its original context produces bad interpretation and false understanding.
As a simple case study, consider Matthew 18:20. Countless individuals quote the passage in relation to small groups of people worshipping, but that is not even in the same Galaxy of the true meaning of the passage. A proper interpretation would begin by recognizing that Matthew was written to a primarily Jewish audience, thus the Law of Moses stands in the background. As it happens, the Law required 2 or more witnesses to prove someone guilty in a legal context
(Deut. 19:15). Now note that Matthew 18:20 is the conclusion of the context beginning in verse 15–a context describing proper protocol for dealing with a brother who has sinned. A “spiritual legal” context, if you will. Those two contextual datapoints show that Matthew 18:20 simply communicates God’s approval of discipline which follows His guidelines.
Reading 21st century ideas into an ancient text is one of our greatest challenges in Bible study. It is the foundation of a number of false doctrines, traditions, and assumptions of the meaning of Scripture. The key to proper interpretation and application is keeping the historical and overall biblical context in mind.