Proper Bible study: identify what the text meant to the original audience before asking how to apply it; context prevents proof-texting.

Winger summarizes the hermeneutical method: abandon preconceived ideas about what you want the passage to do for you, ask what it said to the original audience from the original author, then ask how to apply it today. Reading in context eliminates many proof-text uses of verses, leaving fewer but more solid and powerful interpretations.