On Reading the Bible for Today

There is common ground between us and the ancients [who penned Scripture]. The cultures are different, but the basic human concerns have always been the same. Moreover, the image of God in people (Gen 1:26-28) lends us the capacity to hear God’s concerns in the text and respond to them. In other words, we have common ground with both the God who inspired the writing of the Bible and the ancient authors and readers of the text. This makes it reasonable to assume that we can come to a meaningful understanding of the significance of the Scriptures for our lives.

-Richard E. Averbeck, “God, People, and the Bible: The Relationship between Illumination and Biblical Scholarship,” in Who’s Afraid of the Holy Spirit?, ed. Daniel B. Wallace and M. James Sawyer (Dallas: Biblical Studies Press, 2005), p. 141.