books naturally had some purpose in mind in their production; and
The divisions at Corinth clearly gave Paul occasion to say: "For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas … all are yours; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's" (1 Cor. 3:20–23). And where the apostle says in 1 Cor. 15:32, "If after the manner of men I have fought with the beasts at Ephesus," it is not at all unlikely that the form of expression was suggested by the fact that such fights were rather common at Corinth. Does not the condition of the Galatian church explain why Paul, who himself circumcised Timothy, should write to them: "Behold, I Paul say unto you that, if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing" (Gal. 5:2). Why should he write to the Colossians rather than to others: "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). An intimate knowledge of the original readers will often illumine the pages of a writing addressed to them in an unexpected and striking manner. The same principle applies to the original hearers of a discourse, so that they, too, should be made the object of special study.
2. THE PURPOSE OF THE AUTHOR. The writers of the Biblical books naturally had some purpose in mind in their production; and the interpreter should make it his business to keep this purpose steadily in mind. We may believe that the mind of the writer was constantly fixed on it, and that he was guided by it in the selection of his material and in the expression of his thoughts. Therefore the knowledge of the end he had in mind will not only aid in understanding the book as a whole, but will also illumine the details. Elliott correctly remarks: "This object once discovered will complete the abridged phrases, throw light upon obscurities, and detect the true meaning when several interpretations are possible. The object will aid in distinguishing the literal from the figurative, the relative from the absolute, and the main from the secondary thoughts" (Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 166).
It is not always easy to determine the object of a writing. In some cases the interpreter will have to depend upon an ecclesiastical tradition that is not always reliable, but should be received with reserve. In others the author himself states the purpose of his book,