Puritan Interpretation - Six Questions to Ask of the Text

J. I. Packer, in his book A Quest for Godliness, suggests six questions one must ask the text in order to interpret the text faithfully (like the Puritans):

1. What do these words actually mean?
2. What light do other Scriptures throw on this text? Where and how does it fit into the total biblical revelation?
3. What truths does it teach about God, and about man in relation to God?
4. How are these truths related to the saving work of Christ, and what light does the gospel of Christ throw upon them?
5. What experiences do these truths delineate, or explain, or seek to create or cure? For what practical purpose do they stand in Scripture?
6. How do they apply to myself and others in our own actual situation? To what present human condition do they speak, and what are they telling us to believe and do?

These are important questions for the faithful preacher or teacher to answer; may God grant us to be more like the redwoods.

May we all be more influenced by the Puritans,

Todd