We want to know what the Bible means for us - legitimately so. But we cannot make it mean anything that pleases us and then give the Holy Spirit "credit" for it. The Holy Spirit cannot be brought into the process to contradict himself, and the Spirit is the one who inspired the original intent. Therefore, the Spirit's help for us will come in our discovering that original intent and in his guiding us as we try faithfully to apply that meaning to our own situations... On this one thing, however, there must surely be agreement: A text cannot mean what it never meant . Or to put it in a positive way, the true meaning of the biblical text for us is what God originally intended it to mean when it was spoken. This is the starting point. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth , Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, Zondervan, 2003, pg. 30.