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Bible readers have used the Bible to justify every manner of human behavior, from the sublime humanitarian efforts of Mother Theresa to the grotesque horrors of the Crusades. The Bible cannot sustain both the holy and the profane: the point of departure is in the discovery of the original author's intent in that which they were writing. Good interpretation means hearing a particular text in the language, literature, culture and historical context of the writer and his recipients. Once the original meaning is ascertained the interpreter has the exciting task of asking how that original meaning applies in the third millennium A.D.
To do either of these jobs well, especially the latter, the Bible itself explains that the interpreter is dependent on the help of God's Spirit mediated through meditation and prayer. The good Bible interpreter prays continually, studies seriously, has common sense and is a perceptive student of current affairs. When all these disciplines converge, the interpreter can use God's Word accurately to speak to the pressing issues of the day.
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