1. Grasp the text in their town. 2. Measure the width of the river to cross. 3. Cross the principlizing bridge. 4. Consult the biblical map. 5. Grasp the text in our town.

Each step answers one question, in order: what did it mean to them, how are we different, what is the timeless principle, how does that principle fit the whole Bible, and how should we live it out. Learning the steps as questions is more useful than learning the names.

It means working out what the passage meant to the people it was first written to. Write the answer in one or two sentences, in the past tense, and specific to them.

The past tense is a discipline, not a style choice. It stops you sliding straight to "God is telling me..." before you have understood what he was telling someone else. This step is where all the careful reading and context work in the book gets used.

Listing honestly the differences between the original audience and us — time, culture, situation, and for Old Testament texts, covenant.

The width of the river changes from passage to passage. For some letters it is narrow, because we are Christians in churches like they were. For an Old Testament law or a command given to one person at one moment, it is wide. Measuring it first keeps you from jumping into the water.

It is reflected in the text itself, is not tied to that specific situation or culture, fits the rest of Scripture, and applies to both the original audience and us.

The principle is the bridge that crosses the river. Write it in the present tense, because it is true now. If a principle could have been drawn from almost any passage, or would have meant nothing to the first readers, it is not really coming from this text.

Checking the principle you drew from the passage against the rest of the Bible — does later revelation, especially the New Testament, confirm it, qualify it, or deepen it?

A principle drawn from one passage can be lopsided on its own. This is especially important for Old Testament texts, where the coming of Christ changes how a principle applies. The biblical map keeps the bridge you built pointed in the right direction.

Working out how individual Christians today should live out the passage's theological principle, specifically enough to act on it.

The principle is the same for everyone; the application is not. One principle from one passage may land very differently for a student, a parent, and a retired pastor. That is the point of the step, not a weakness in it.

Then: God told Joshua, about to lead Israel into Canaan, to be strong, obey the law, and trust his presence. River: we are not leading Israel into the land, and we are not under the Mosaic covenant. Principle: God's people draw courage for what he calls them to from his presence and his word. Map: Jesus promises to be with his people always. Now: a specific task God has put in front of you.

Going straight from Joshua to "be brave in your career" skips the river entirely. Going through the steps keeps what is really in the passage — presence and word as the ground of courage — and drops what belonged only to Joshua.

Joshua 1:1-9

Treating every passage as if it were written directly to us, and spiritualising a passage so that it can mean whatever the reader likes.

The first error ignores the river and carries commands across that were never meant for us. The second jumps over the river without looking at the text at all. The journey sits between them: it takes the original meaning seriously and still expects the passage to speak today.

Because Christians today live under the same new covenant as the letters' first readers, and are in churches much like theirs. Old Testament audiences lived under the Mosaic covenant, in the land, with priests and sacrifices.

Covenant is the biggest single difference to measure. A command in Leviticus and a command in Ephesians can look alike on the page, but one was given to Israel under Moses and the other to the church, and that changes how far each has to travel.