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Wheat Pennies and Applying Scripture
Wheat Pennies and Applying Scripture
How much is a penny worth? One cent, right? The truth is, it depends on the penny and person involved. A quick Google search quickly shows that not all pennies are created equal. From double-dies, to missing mints, to having wheat sheaves on the back — some pennies have more value to the discerning collector.
While few of us are numismatists (coin collectors - had to look it up), we can understand the concept of looking beyond face value. We can, and to a degree must, apply this concept to the Bible as well (carefully). As students of the word, people whose very lives depend on the truths found within, we must search for truth and value on every page of Scripture. Then we must turn those truths into real change in our lives. The Bible is true to everyone, yet it impacts each person differently depending on our personal experiences. But it’s not always that easy to understand biblical truths.
There are some roadblocks we must overcome in reading and understanding the Bible. As modern Americans, we have a much different cultural background and way of thinking than that of Bible authors, through whom God spoke to man. When we miss the point they were making, we miss out on what God was teaching the original audience.
“Knowing the original meaning of a biblical passage helps us to apply it to our own lives because we recognize that a key component to its original meaning is understanding its original purpose, that is, the change God designed that text to accomplish in its first audience, in its first readers, in light of their situation, in the light of their frame of reference, how much of Scripture they knew at that point or had access to, in light of the trials, the temptations that they were facing: that was God’s application to them” (1)
Scripture is the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctifying people for God’s own possession. That was its purpose when it was written, and that is its continuing purpose today and until the end, no matter what individual, culture, or age it finds itself in. Today, we must understand what Scripture meant to its original audience, and then, viewing it through the lens of Christ’ fulfilled work, learn what change God wants to bring about in our lives today then apply that lesson.
We must be careful to ask, “What does this scripture mean to you?” While well intentioned, that question could imply that the instructions of God may vary from person to person, and that each of us may rightly interpret different messages from it. Perhaps the better questions would be, “How can I apply this verse to make the change God wants me to make?” We can know for certain that God’s purpose does not, has not, and will not change.
All this may make us think that we have nothing in common with the ancient world of the Bible. The truth is, things really are the same. We have the same God, we live in a similar world, and we are really the same kind of people who struggle with the same temptations and problems. This is the beauty of God’s timeless message — it can cut to the heart of modern man and transform him into a holy child of God just as well as it could Abraham, David, Peter, and Paul so long ago. Understanding this should help us to place and even greater value on the depth and richness of God’s revealed word to man.
1 “Applying Scripture” Dr. Dennis Johnson
