"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work."

(2 Timothy 3.16-17 NLT)

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew for the Jewish people of the period. The authors used phrases and words that they could only understand within their cultural context of their day.

The Old Testament, in turn, formed the formation of the Jewish culture in Israel of that day up until the period of Jesus and the apostles. When Jesus and the apostles were alive, the only written Scripture they used was the Old Testament. Most of the authors of the New Testament books were Jews.

The New Testament was written in Koine Greek on the cultural foundation that was formed in the context of the Old Testament. The phrases and words used in the New Testament were the ones that made sense within the cultural context of the people of those days. Both the books / letters written to the Jews and the ones written to the "gentiles".

Some passages in the Bible and theological concepts are better understood through a little bit of anthropology, rather than forcing it through our contemporary cultural understanding. The goal is to strip the cultural context and distil it to the essence of God's inspiration.

The words are just the vessel; what I seek is God's inpiration.