What do you expect to find when you read the Bible? Ask that question to a hundred people and you’ll probably get a number of different answers:

• Old stories.
• Lasting truth.
• Guidance for making decisions.
• Comfort.

And the list could go on and on. In some ways, all these things are right answers, but they aren’t the MAIN answer. The MAIN answer points us to the MAIN purpose of the Bible. The Bible is God’s Word. As His Word, it is His revelation. In its pages, then, we find God’s revelation of Himself, and that’s the main purpose of the Bible. It’s not to tell us what to do or give us a roadmap for life; it’s meant to show us who God is because everything else in life flows from that understanding.

God breathed out this revelation of Himself so that we might know what He is like, and so that we might worship and follow Him rightly. He did not leave us in the dark about who He is or our origin in Him, but instead gave us this word which is perfect. Unalterable. Unchanging. This is the nature of the Bible, and it’s in that understanding and acceptance that we can rightly understand all the other above answers.

So before we start to apply the Bible to our lives – which we really should do – we have to understand that the main purpose of the Bible is not to find life application, but instead to encounter God. Having understood that, we also should recognize that the Bible was not written in a vacuum; it was written to and for specific people in specific situations at specific times. This is the context of the Bible.

But does that mean the Bible wasn’t written to you? Well, yes. At least not originally. But at the same time, we believe that the Bible is God-breathed and inspired, and because it is, we believe it is “alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). That means it is as truthful and applicable today as it was to the people it was originally written to.

When we want to apply the Bible, we have to take into account both of these dynamics, which leads us to one important principle in biblical application:

Even though it wasn’t written TO me, the Bible was still written FOR me.

That means if we want to rightly apply the Bible, we need to first understand the original purpose. The original intent. The original situation which the Bible addresses. This is the context. And only after we understand that can we understand how that principle rightly applies to us today. Maybe a little illustration might help:

There is a passage in Leviticus that specifically prohibited the people of God from plowing to the edges of their fields:

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the resident alien; I am the Lord your God” (Lev. 19:9-10).

Now you might look at that passage and think, Well I’m not a farmer, and I don’t know anything about farming. So I can just skip this one and pick it up when things get more interesting.

And, true enough, these verses weren’t written TO you in your suburban or urban context. But they were written FOR you. So with that principle in mind, you can look a little deeper and ask why it is that this command was given to begin with.

God did not want His people going to the edge. He wanted them to have some margin. This command, though, wasn’t just about preserving His own people. He didn’t tell them to create this kind of margin because doing so is personally healthy and psychologically balanced. He gave the command for the sake of other people who might wander into those fields.

God is so concerned about the poor and the foreigners that He built in a means into the regular life of His people in order to provide food for them. He made sure that the people didn’t harvest all the way to the edges of the field. Some days the people might not come; other days they would. Regardless, the edges of the field were “just in case.”

• Just in case there is someone traveling who needs food.
• Just in case you have the chance to share with someone who is in need.
• Just in case someone else needs to feed their family.
• Just in case the leftovers can be useful after all for something other than giving you more.

And this is where the passage that wasn’t written TO us becomes FOR us. This command defies the constant call of our culture for “more.” We live in a margin-less world. Our calendars are booked with meetings and appointments end to end. So are our pocketbooks. In fact, everything from our time to our money is pretty much spoken for. We are plowing to the end of the fields. In fact, we are going back over the fields of our lives a second and third time, looking for any spare cent or second that has not been accounted for.

Let us, then, recognize that the Bible is indeed FOR us. But we understand how it’s FOR us only when we see who it was originally TO.