Estes Echo

Biblical Interpretation in Perspective

One extreme of biblical analysis is to deny any supernatural component and to view scripture merely as the words of men. The other extreme is to focus solely on the Bible’s divine perspective as the word of God and to discount the most basic reality that it has been transmitted in the words of men. A more balanced approach is to appreciate that the books of the Bible were inspired by God’s Spirit as they were written by real people in real places in real-life situations, dealing with real issues in actual historical and cultural contexts. Accordingly, to deal fairly and adequately with this collection of sacred writings (2 Timothy 2:15), one must respect its divine origin and supervision, while acknowledging the human contribution and the relevance of foundational matters such as text, language, transmission, authorship, provenance, date, audience, occasion, purpose, and historical-cultural settings.

–Kevin L. Moore