Biblical IV

IV. Know the Historical Setting

We can’t live biblically if we are not aware of the historical gap between our world and the worlds of the Old and the New Testaments. Thus, a historical-bridge proposal would be an important technical proposal because it can bridge this historical gap. First, the books of the Scriptures were not written in a vacuum. God spoke in specific historical settings and used the language of the day to connect with real historical humans like you and me. Therefore, understanding the terminology of the time and the historical background are both essential to understanding the message of the Scriptures and, consequently, being able to distinguish between what is essentially biblical and what was constrained by social/historical setting.

A couple of examples may clarify this previous point. Try to read a newspaper or a novel from last century, and you will probably struggle with the proper…