The words Exegesis and Eisegesis both sound the same, BUT their individual prefixes “ex-” and “eis-” give us clues as to what makes them different from each other.
“ex-” means to take out of “eis-” means into
Exegesis is reading meaning from OUT of the text meaning…you DISCOVER the meaning of the text.
Eisegesis is reading your own meaning INTO the text meaning…you DETERMINEthe meaning of the text.
KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LUST and LOVE IS DECIDEDLY A DECISIVE, RESPONSIBLE ATTRIBUTE
* HOW TO AVOID MISHANDLING THE WORD OF GOD *
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If we want to be faithful to the Word of God, we mut reverentially approach it and allow its message to speak to us, by not imposing our preconceived meanings into the text.
To help us, students of the Bible, pupils of God like Samuel who became a pupil of God desiring as a servant to hear and receive more of the Word of God (1 Samuel 3:10) understand and recognize when the Word of God has been Eisegesis (irresponsibly handled) and not Exegesis (responsibly handled)…EACH WEEK…we will provide a side-by-side EXEGESIS versus EISEGESIS analysis of a scripture that is frequently mishandled and taken out of context to avoid irresponsibly mishandling the Word of God our OWN selves.
On the pages of EACH EXEGESIS versus EISEGESIS illustration assessment evaluation examination exploration study depiction and then click the photo to download our Scripture Study Sheet that we curated as a tool to help you take a DEEP DIVE in accurately STUDYING the Word of God to avoid…EISEGESIS…violating scriptures by reading INTO it…your own ideas.
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EXEGESIS is based on responsible handling of the Word of God as the reader seeks to follow scripture authentically to draw true information and meaning OUT OF THE TEXT while allowing God’s Word to speak for itself with authority. In so doing, the reader remains respectful to both its Historical Context and Literary Context; as well as being mindful of cultural settings and linguistical syntax in which the writer lived to avoid coalescing personal beliefs, ideas, and notions. Reading with an EXEGESIS mindset reduces the risk of…Misinterpretation, Misrepresentation, and Misunderstanding…and allows understanding to what the Word of God is really saying. As a result, the reader can proceed to apply it to actualities of our time and situation.
EISEGESIS is an irresponsible skewed mishandling of the Bible that frequently leads to…Misinterpretation, Misrepresentation, and Misunderstanding…of the Word of God with the reader who is ONLY CONCERNED with bending and making the Word of God line up with his/her preconceived beliefs, ideas, and notions while injecting his/her own meaning INTO THE TEXT. The erroneous motivation behind EISEGESIS is for the interpreter to use scripture to fit a counterfeit narrative and viewpoint that supports their predetermined thoughts and opinions in making the Word of God mean what they want it to mean, at the expense of leading people astray and drawing wrong conclusions.
Most Bibles are Study Bibles and have an “INTRODUCTION” section at the beginning of each Book of the Bible to garner reliable answers to learn Background information, and whether you have a Bible that does or does not, the following seven (7) websites will be of great use for Bible studying.
Each verse in the Bible must be understood in its original HISTORICAL CONTEXT that includes the setting (places and/or events going on at the time, and the situations that prompted the writings) and the ORIGINALhistorical audience (recipients); in addition to, its original LITERARY CONTEXT that includes cultural background and natural grammatical use of literal language (the linguistics, their cultural syntax) to help unpack what the Bible writings are saying to the each reader through circumstances at the time so that they, as pupils of the Bible, can perspicuity (clearly) understand the immeasurable teachings of God’s divinely inspired Word so that they can perspicacity (astutely) arrive to the true meaning of what God wants to convey through His supernaturally guided selected authors to whom were prepared by Him (Acts 9:15-16) and supervised by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21) to inscribe His truth (as proclaimed by Danial in the Book of Daniel 12:8-9, by Jeremiah in the Book of Jeremiah 1:4-5, by King David in the Book of 2 Samuel 23:1-3 and by the Apostle Paul in the Book of 1 Corinthians 2:13).
The significance of understanding CONTEXT is without a doubt crucial in learning what the Lord has to say and teach in making VERTICAL progress towards Spiritual FORMATION, MATURATION, and TRANSFORMATION into becoming a New Creature with New Features in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). It is where you will dive deep and garner valuable insight that is integrally germane to the intended MEANING, PURPOSE, and REASON of the ORIGINAL INSPIRED AUTHOR…THEN, and its importance for effective and correct application…TODAY.
In addition, understanding CONTEXThelps to identify APPLICATIONS from the ORIGINALhistorical audience and events of their day, such as, situations and circumstances the ORIGINAL recipients had to deal with, had to battle with…essentially STRONGHOLDS that they had to OVERCOME and WRESTLE with by consistently applying God’s truth to SIMILAR situations and circumstance that mankind has to deal with today. Including, unexpected conflicts that the enemy of the Lord uses as hindrances to work against the knowledge of God and mankind’s dependency on Lord.
More importantly, understanding CONTEXT provides METHODICAL STRATEGIES {plans, tactics, processes, procedures, directions, instructions (dispensations), guidelines, structures} regarding how we are to respond to the Lord about what He is conveying to you and revealing to you, for you to effectively work with the Holy Spirit in beginning His work to perform Hebrews 4:12 Surgery on your SOUL in transforming your heart and your life into becoming a New Creature with New Features in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I like how the Amplified Version develops Hebrews 4:12 as it expounds on “…the full power…” of God with “…making it active, operative, energizing, and effective…” This tells me that when we receive the Word of God by faith, the Holy Spirit begins to effectively and actively OPERATE ON US (do the transforming work in us) by GETTING INTO OUR SOUL and divide the things that are wrong from the things that are right. “…penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and shifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.”
This is HOW POWERFUL the Word of God is to our lives and HOW VALUABLE it is in our lives.
The Bible communicates the Word of God in a rich array of LITERARY CONTEXT and FORMS; as a result, in this section, WE PROFFER TO TEACH YOU PRINCIPLES and EQUIP YOU WITH TOOLS as Hebrews 5:12 (NASB) proclaims, “…teach you the elementary principles of the actual words of God…” and move you from Hebrews 5:12 (NASB) “the need for milk” to where this same verse declares where you ought to be, “…by this time you ought to be teachers…” and from where Hebrews 5:13 (NASB) describes “…partakers of only milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is an infant” (the King James says it this way, “a babe in the word of righteousness”). In so doing, you will begin to do ready yourself as Hebrews 5:14 (NASB) declares for “…solid food is for the mature…” (the King James says it this way, “strong meat that belongeth to them that are of full age”).
As the Master Teacher, one of the supreme purposes of Jesus Christ is to directly involve every pupil under His tutelage as He effectively utilizes parables and the strategy of asking questions as teaching tools to set up opportunities to stimulate thought for the LEARNER to go on an EXCAVATING JOURNEY with Him as He facilitate transformation and impart understanding while methodically setting up learning opportunities for all of mankind to coalesce an intimate relationship with Him to make VERTICAL progress towards Spiritual FORMATION and MATURATION by the guidance and teachings of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, opening the door for the power of the Holy Spirit to indirectly equip, guide, and transform your life into a New Creature with New Features in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) towards living a life that SUBMITS and YIELDS faithfully to the precepts of God and operates under the obedience of the Lord to align with the PLAN and PURPOSE God DIVINELY established and ordained for our lives…which is to have WISE…“dominion over the works of thy hands” (Genesis 1:26-28, Genesis 9:2; Psalm 8:5-8). In other words, ASSIGNED to rule over His creation and responsibly partake as caring participants in His sacred plan and NOT BE BAD MANAGERS of that which sovereignly as Psalm 24:1 tells us…BELONGS TO GOD…and ultimately be made fit for the Master’s USE (2 Timothy 2:21).
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Many people GREW UP in church, but they DID NOT GROW UP in Christ
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Being a sincere Disciple of the Lord is the prerequisite of becoming a devoted student of the Word of God who WANTS TO GROW UP IN the GRACE and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18) and BE FIRMLY ROOTED IN and BUILT UP IN HIM (Colossians 2:7). This pursuit begins by seeking to understand the authority of Scripture in the way the ORIGINAL AUDIENCE would have understood it and in the way, God is conveying His Word to mankind by respecting the ORIGINAL INTENTIONS of each ORIGINAL BIBLICAL AUTHOR and the LITERARY CONTEXT under which each Book of the Bible was written. We begin with what God gave to us to speak to us, which is His very Nature…the WORD “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1) which became flesh by His Son Jesus Christ (John 1:14). We do this by looking at the LITERARY CONTEXT found on the pages of the Bible which is a collection of various types of literature and to learn KEY STEPS in approaching
Scripture that is necessary in STUDYING the Word of God that includes Literary Genres (Forms and Styles) and Figurative Language applied and featured in the Bible (such as, Simile, Metaphor, Metonymy, Synecdoche, Personification, Anthropomorphism, Poetry, Apostrophe, Irony, Hyperbole, Euphemism, Litotes, Parables, Allegories, Symbols, Types, Parallelism); essentially HERMENEUTICS in tandem with the Holy Spirit to reveal the wisdom of God’s Word as we find sustenance divinely designed to enrich our whole being into spiritual wholeness to help us DEVELOP and GROW BEYOND JUST BEING A READER OF THE BIBLE, but as a BELIEVER with the desire to grow EXEGETICALLY and THEOLOGICALLY in the knowledge and understanding of the inerrant Word of God as the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to make us more like Jesus in our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors.
The Literary Context section of this Bible Study Guide on the FOLLOWING PAGES, PROVIDES YOU with discovery “tools” for the BIBLICAL EXCAVATING JOURNEY you are studying; therefore, ALLOW the PROMPTS and QUESTIONS to help you DISCOVER the Lord God. In so doing, ENJOY this journey of cultivating a relationship with the Lord and DO NOT ALLOW the enemy of the Lord (Satan) make you feel distressed or anxious, and get you off track of walking with the Lord and being firmly and securely “Rooted and built up in Him” (Colossians 2:7) to facilitate transformation as the Holy Spirit points you to TRUTH…
…to cultivate knowledge, to increase understanding, to provoke self-examination,
to encourage, enlighten and edify His audience, to build intimate relationships,
to inspire listeners, to develop faith, and to aim His pupils towards the truth.
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** PERFECTION is not the goal, PURPOSE IS **
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To that end, while reading each verse, be obedient to the revealing promptings and teachings of the Holy Spirit
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With that said, understand that you ARE NOT required to complete the GUIDE in any type of order; however, as you work through each chapter, DO use the PROMPTS we have prepared on the following pages to STIMULATE THOUGHT towards seeking out knowledge and understanding, as well as writing down any questions you may have (like the meaning of a word or of the text in general) so you can revisit that area(s) to explore further. Pay attention to KEY BIBLICAL TRANSITIONS, such as, the examples below.
KEY BIBLICAL TRANSITIONS (click inside of each category to download information from our LaTrica Sanders that will be updated monthly)
TRANSITION WORDS (Therefore, But/And, Because, If/Then, Wherefore, for, so, that, nevertheless, behold, however, Likewise, etc.)
LIST (Make a note when the author makes several points in a row; for example, The Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5)
KEY OR REPEATED (Words, Phrases, and Ideas)
ABSOLUTE WORDS (All, Every, Never, Always)
THEME(s): circle, underline, highlight
CROSS REFERENCES (cf.)
LESSONS (e.g., Commands, Challenges, Encouragements – “…set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” – 1 Peter 1:13)
COMPARISON/CONTRAST (“And you were dead…But God…made us ALIVE together with Christ” – Ephesians 2)
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