What this is all about....Part 3 Exegesis

Exegesis is something a student can learn going to a well biblical seminary. But, you don’t need to go to seminary to learn how to exegete the scriptures. Follow this scripture:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

You can learn much from Jesus Christ, as you correctly apply biblical hermeneutics through exegesis. I encourage you to do this. Again, I encourage all hungry to know the Word of God, do this.

What is exegesis?

Good question!!! It is simply finding the literal meaning of a biblical text by carefully examining the language from the original manuscripts, in order to derive what was meant by the writing of the text. Exegesis involves looking at the original languages of the text which are HEBREW,GREEK and some ARAMAIC. It is applying all of the principles I laid out for you in the previous post. Doing that is exegesis in a nutshell. I don’t remember them Karsten!!! Okay I will give the names of them for you:

1. Literal principle

2. Historical principle
3. Grammatical principle
4. Synthesis Principle
5. Practical Principle

For what this are you’re going to have to go to my last post because I am not writing that over again. Applying these principles, Christ will open the truths of scripture up to you, as you learn that God is the truth.

Eisegesis

This is one of the most dangerous applications that is destroying many congregations today. Eisegesis is interpreting the scriptural texts by subjectively, non-analylitical reading into a text your own meaning. The word eisegesis alone means “to lead into”. Eisegesis is a mishandling of the scripture, and many times leads into misinterpretation. In fact if you are using eisegesis, you may be trying to make a point, at the expense of proper biblical interpretation. For example, many people have used this scripture by eisegesis:

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

I have tried many times to claim healing on men that are sick, that by His stripes they are healed. Some have died, and some still remained sick. I have used this to remove headaches from myself, and it has not worked. Why? I read into the text what I wanted to believe. I wanted healing for my headaches, so I found a scripture I thought applied and applied it. But 1 Peter 2:24 truly has nothing to do with that, but contextual deals with Jesus Christ dying for the Christian’s sins. As scripture interprets scripture, we see the same meaning in Isaiah 53:5. Wow? So stay away from believing those who have used eisegesis as a normal basis for interpretation. I will not point out the prosperity pimps, because now even some of your heroes do this. Be careful my friends, study scripture for yourself by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

I often ask questions to bible when doing exegesis on a particular bible text. I call it, who-what-where-when-how technique. This is not an official way doing exegesis; it’s just what I use to help understand the meaning of a bible text better. I ask the bible, who, what, where, when, and how? Say for instance (I’ll use the text I am doing exegesis on this month) let’s look at Ephesians 5:25. As I find out transliterations of words, I’ll ask the bible, who is talking? What is Paul talking about? Why? Where is the letter being sent to? How is he saying it? So on and so on, which eventually helps in understanding the Word of God.

The bible will interpret the bible as you do proper bible exegesis. That is not what really is going to make a difference. Application of God's Word shows that the bible student has truly understood what the Lord Jesus Christ our Slave Master has said!!!!! More on application next time my beloved, God bless!