05/07/2024
Because of the church denomination that many grew up in and what they were taught, most Christians today are afraid to question their beliefs in light of the Scriptures. They rather blindly subscribe and obey various beliefs and practices they were taught simply because they believed and trusted their pastors and/or other “renown” ministers that they have been reading or listening to for many years.
But like the Bereans (see Acts 17:10-12), every Christian and especially ministers of the gospel must personally read, study and seek to understand the Scriptures as they were presented and taught by the biblical authors. In other words, to believe and subscribe to any teaching, doctrine or practice, a minister MUST go back in time to understand the context (i.e. historical and cultural backgrounds, genre, grammar, syntax, etc.) of a passage to discover and know what the biblical authors meant when they spoke and wrote the book or a particular passage of Scripture.
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EXEGESIS
Exegesis literally means “to lead out of”. It involves a careful, objective analysis of a text, aiming to draw out its true meaning. An exegete does not and must never come to the text with preconceived ideas or notions or his/her denominational presuppositions. He/she must not read anything into Scripture that wasn’t/isn’t there; but must read and follow the text, respecting its grammar, syntax and context. He/she must let the text itself reveal what the original author or writer was/is conveying to his audience and to those of us who are readers. The goal is to discover the inherent or intended meaning of the text or passage. Hence, exegesis does justice to the text and leads to proper biblical interpretation.
EISEGESIS
Eisegesis literally means “to lead into”. It occurs when an interpreter approach the biblical text with preconceived notions and read his/her own ideas into a passage, resulting in a subjective, non-analytical interpretation. Usually because of his/her church denominational biases or cultural lens, the interpreter comes to Scripture and make the text mean what he/she wants it to mean or say. In short, eisegesis often mishandles and does injustice to the biblical text, thus leading to wrong/bad interpretation.
