Why should you determine who a Bible passage was originally addressed to?
Determining the original audience clarifies what a passage is saying and how it is being said, because the recipients shape the message and its manner. A passage not addressed to you is not discarded, but audience matters. For example, Paul addresses the assembly at Corinth, whereas Isaiah, Daniel, and the Twelve addressed Israel.
Les teaches that whenever you read any portion of Scripture, you should always determine to whom it was originally addressed. That does not mean that if it was not addressed to you, you throw it aside; rather, it has an impact on what it is saying and how it is being said because of to whom it is said. Les illustrates this by noting that Paul is not writing to the nation of Israel as Isaiah, Daniel, or the other Old Testament writers did, nor as the Twelve did when they ministered to the nation of Israel. Instead, Paul addresses this epistle to the assembly, which Les prefers to call the called-out assembly, since that is what the Greek word ekklesia really means.