Exegesis is usually defined along the lines of being critical analysis and explanation of religious text. In respect to the Bible, this includes the chronology, the cultural setting, the history, understanding the original language, and how that should be interpreted in the light of the progressive revelation of God’s message to mankind. There are distinctions to be made between exegesis, hermeneutics, exposition, and eisegesis.
Exegesis is the attempt to find the true meaning of a text. An exegete doing exegesis ought to approach a text without any bias and be willing to see what the chronological evaluation, the cultural setting and the language tools reveal in the light of the history associated with the particular book and its place within the Bible.
Hermeneutics is a method of interpretation that is applied to a text. There are quite a number of systematic applications that can be applied to a text to discover what is meant in relation to the message that is being conveyed by what has been written.
An expositor is somebody who takes the work of an exegete a little further and explains the significance of the text in today’s language and what it means for people today.
Eisegesis refers to what is commonly an easy way to interpret, by going with the flow according to a person’s opinion. Yet eisegesis is often presented as genuine exegesis. This occurs when an assertion has been made and then people use the literal-grammatical tools of exegesis to justify the worldview of that assertion.
Topical eisegesis, dogmatic eisegesis are two common forms of false exegesis.
Topical eisegesis begins when one looks up a word in a topical bible or a concordance and then begins to spout one’s own opinion using the texts that deal with the topic.
Dogmatic eisegesis occurs when someone develops what becomes church doctrine based upon an assertion and then exegesis is used to support the doctrine. Dogmatic eisegesis is often called dogmatic theology, but it is not biblical theology.
One set of doctrines that are clearly eisegesis are those known as TULIP. This group of teachings are assertions that have been made with every effort to support them from a exegetical model. Likewise, so is the doctrine of successive apostolic authority.
Exegesis and eisegesis differ in that the former is supposedly the laborious way of developing doctrine and eisegesis is the easy way of developing doctrine. They are comparable in their differences to deductive reasoning and inductive reasoning.
True exegesis is based on inductive reasoning whereupon the text under consideration reveals the truth about itself. False exegesis occurs when the text under consideration is interpreted in the light of assumptions already made.
Unfortunately, humans approach matters with a filter and interpret what is uncovered according to their existing worldview rather than allow that which is uncovered to teach them about the world.
The Only Words Written By The Finger Of God Is The Basis For Interpretation
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