This is really a comforting thought. The bible was not written to us, but was ONLY written to the first century. The bible only had in mind the first century generation, since of course sin, death, judgment, ect were only for that historic time period. This kind of letter based thinking is what Preterist's continue trying to uphold. They continue trying to make the bible a historical book, rather than focusing on the Spirit which continues to talk, continues to guide, and continues to cleanse our hearts. It is all a historical book focused on natural events. If you want to understand what the book is really trying to tell you, you must understand who it was written to, what it would have meant to them in the first century. It is not written to us today, but is "someone else's mail." Right? This really shows how the Devil is using Preterism to make the bible irrelevant and no longer useful to us today.
Gene Fadeley
The letters of the New Testament were not written to us. Before you scream, consider what the letters say, such as; To Timothy, To Titus, To the Romans, To the church at Galatia, To the seven churches of Asia, and the list goes on. These were letters written to first century people and first century churches about first century situations and events. God has preserved these letters for us today for our learning, instruction, and comfort but they were not written to us.
They were written to first century people. We are in effect reading someone else's mail. When we read these letters we must understand them as they were written. When the writer told the readers that these events would happen 'soon', he was talking about events that were about to happen at that time in the first century. We have absolutely no problem understanding this principle when reading the Old Testament, why so much problem understanding it in the New Testament?
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