Immediate-Application Amy: She immediately looks at a text asking what it is saying to her today.
Jacob teaches us that we should never have more than one wife; Ruth shows us that we should be aggressive in our pursuit of a husband; and Isaiah gives justification for walking around naked years at a time.
She justifies this approach because she wants to make the Bible real and alive. Slowly she see that this application is devasting, for she is unable to meet level of morality the Bible demands.
Whole-Picture Perry: Rather than asking how this text immediately applies, Perry seeks to understand the whole storyline of the Bible, asking what it is revealing about God, his nature, and his plan for humanity.
Jacob reveals God's sovereign election in the beginning stages of his forming a nation for himself. Ruth anticipates God's grace that he shows to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. Isaiah's prophecies loudly proclaim that God is a holy and just God, bringing judgment upon Israel, yet he also gives hope a future "servant" that will draw all nations to himself.
He justifies this approach because he wants to be faithful to the text and understand God. Slowly he finds the nature of God and his plan to be more breath-taking than first imagined. The Bible becomes alive and beautiful as he discovers how he fits into God's plan.
Immediate-Application Amy sought quick insights that would inspire her and was left with few transforming truths.
Whole-Picture Perry put off immediate applicaiton and instead looked to what was God's sovereign plan. He found that the delay in application brougth more application than could ever have been desired.
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