Principles of Application

1. The application can be specific and related to a real-world scenario (contemporization). However, it must faithfully reflect and be related to the meaning of the text.
2. For an application to be valid it must not contradict the rest of the scriptures.
3. The application should be affirmed elsewhere in Scripture.
4. The principle of application should not be culturally or historically bound.
5. The application should not be an emotional response, but rather understanding.

Five Steps:

Step 1: Grasp the text in their town. What did the text mean to the original audience?

Step 2: Measure the width of the river to cross. What are the differences between the biblical audience and us?

Step 3: Cross the Principlizing Bridge. What is the theological principle in this text?

Step 4: Consult the biblical map. How does our theological principle fit with the rest of the Bible?

Step 5: Grasp the text in our town. How should individual Christians today live out the theological principles?

Do not obey God emotionally, but rather with understanding.

Excerpt from: “Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible” witten by  J. Daniel Hays and J. Scott Duvall