Why does it matter to whom a Bible passage was addressed?
Identifying the original audience shapes what a passage says and how it is said, because the intended recipients affect its meaning and application. Scripture not addressed directly to you is not to be discarded, yet audience matters. For example, Paul writes to the assembly, whereas Isaiah, Daniel, and the Twelve addressed Israel.
Les teaches that whenever a portion of Scripture is read, the reader should determine to whom it was addressed. That does not mean a passage not addressed to you should be thrown aside, but the original audience does affect what the passage is saying and how it is being said. He 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 while ministering to Israel. Instead, Paul addresses this epistle to the assembly. Les prefers the word assembly over church because the Greek word ekklesia means a called-out assembly, while church is more of a coined term and not really in the original Greek. Paul writes to those at Corinth in the assembly, sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all in every place who call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.