If one maps a contemporary experience onto Scripture, that correspondence is awry. The cultural filters between the composition of the texts and their inclusion in the canon leave a lot to be misinterpreted. What mattered in ancient Israel does not for the most part matter today—and vice versa. The instructions concerning sacrifices, slaves, fabrics, planting, etc., are no longer relevant. Because we do not share their cultural assumptions, we usually do not really understand what these are about, in any event.

What does matter is the example that Jesus set for us to follow, and the gift of the Spirit to enable us to do it, in our own day.