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Exegesis v. Eisegesis
A quote from Dr. James White's forth-coming book "Pulpit Crimes"...
Eisegesis. The reading into a text, in this case, an ancient text of the Bible, of a meaning that is not supported by the grammar, syntax, lexical meanings, and over-all context, of the original. It is the opposite of exegesis, where you read out of the text its original meaning by careful attention to the same things, grammar, syntax, the lexical meanings of the words used by the author (as they were used in his day and in his area), and the over-all context of the document. As common as it is, it should be something the Christian minister finds abhorrent, for when you stop and think about it, eisegesis muffles the voice of God. If the text of Scripture is in fact God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16) and if God speaks in the entirety of the Bible (Matt. 22:31) then eisegesis would involve silencing that divine voice and replacing it with the thoughts, intents, and most often, traditions, of the one doing the interpretation. In fact, in my experience, eisegetical mishandling of the inspired text is the single most common source of heresy, division, disunity, and a lack of clarity in the proclamation of the gospel. The man of God is commended when he handles Gods truth aright (2 Tim. 2:15), and it should be his highest honor to be privileged to do so. Exegesis, then, apart from being a skill honed over years of practice, is an absolutely necessary means of honoring the Lord a minister claims to serve. For some today, exegesis and all the attendant study that goes into it robs one of the Spirit. The fact is, there is no greater spiritual service the minister can render to the Lord and to the flock entrusted to his care than to allow Gods voice to speak with the clarity that only sound exegetical practice can provide.




Comments
amen.
Posted by: gabriel | October 8, 2006 02:40 AM
"For some today, exegesis and all the attendant study that goes into it robs one of the Spirit."
I find this tragic and horribly deceiving. Are they actually saying that they are interpreting scripture "by feel"? Are they wanting a dynamic, every volitile interpretation of scripture over what it really says in context? What could their motivation be to do this? Aren't they doing this to support there "doctrinal" teachings that would be impossible if they followed exegetical rules?
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
Posted by: Mike Ratliff | October 9, 2006 10:15 AM
"For some today, exegesis and all the attendant study that goes into it robs one of the Spirit."
very powerful truth!
However, i have discovered that such individuals which are guilty of this flawed way of interpreting the the Bible are themselves really blind to the fact of their error. I refer to those who employ Eisegesis unknowingly as "the deceived, deceiving the deceived!"
Jesus corned it so well, "How can the blind lead the blind, they both end up in the ditch"
As friend once said to me years ago, "If they knew they were deceived, then they wouldn't be deceived, that's why it's called deception because they are deceived".
Posted by: Samuel Patterson | August 19, 2011 04:27 AM