Biblical Exegesis
First I will give you a background of exegesis. Webster's New World Dictionary(1990), defines exegesis as, the interpretation of a word, passage, etc., esp. in the Bible. This definition is a worldly. To understand the true meaning and background I looked in John H. Hays book called, Biblical Exegesis, for the answer. He says that the term "exegesis" itself comes from the Greek word exegeomai which basically meant " to lead out of." When applied to texts, it denoted the " reading out" of the meaning. The noun, therefore, could refer to "interpretation" or " explanation." Thus whenever we read a text or hear a statement which we seek to understand and interpret, we are involved in exegesis.
In this paper I am trying to find out what true Biblical exegesis means. By finding that truth then I and the person reading this paper can leave with an understand-ing on how to comprehend the content of exegesis. Through out my paper you will see noted some of my sources. I have carefully read these books and have selected the best ones to fit the purpose of this document. I will be exploring many areas of exegesis and will be giving you a brief overview of these and then explaining different uses for exegesis.
BIBLICAL EXEGESIS: Comprehending the content
In the quest for the original wording of the Bible you have to look at all of the texts and their background. Their are many versions: Revised Standard, The New English Bible, The New International Bible, New American Bible, and the King James Version. All have different ways of saying the same scripture. This is the beginning of the textual criticism portion of biblical exegesis. In my own personal opinion I have found that the K...
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... for personal reasons you to are using exegetical approaches to the scriptures. We do this every time we read something or hear it spoken. The Bible is no different besides that you have to decipher it correctly. By reading other commentaries on that book or verse you can form your own exegetical hypothesis, but make sure it is a biblical one.
In conclusion you can tell by my breif reasearch that exegesis is a large area of study. I wish that I had more time to study it. I plan to on my own time keep up on this subject and keep my memory fresh. Doing research for this paper has helped me in my exegetical view of scripture. I plan to become a pastor some day and exegesis will be a big part of my message and proclaimation. All in all exegesis was designed to give us a better awareness of God's Holy Word. If we apply it to our lives we will be better for it.
According to David M. Carr, the history of Scriptural interpretation indicates that religious texts are popular candidates for reinterpretation and, as such, are spaces wherein the personal identity of the reader frequently inscribes itself at length:
The Bible: The Old Testament. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Sarah Lawall et al. Vol 1. 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1999. 47-97.
For thousands of years there have been many transcriptions and changes to the words of God, For example, just in the last thousand years there has been three different transcriptions, The New Testament, Homer, and also Sophocles. For a person not to look for their own interpretation of the lord’s book is
Walvoord, John F., Roy B. Zuck, and Harnold W. Hoehner. "Ephesians." The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures. Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1983. 613-45. Print.
The letter to the Ephesians is a book of the Bible that creates many arguments between theologians and Bible commentators. It poses many questions about the critical issues in the letter and the authenticity of the letter. The arguments that are brought forth for each different stand or opinion are what make the book of Ephesians such an interesting piece of work, worthy of the critical eye of the reader.
N.T Wright (2008) stated that “When we read the scriptures as Christians, we read it precisely as people of the new covenant and of the new creation” (p.281). In this statement, the author reveals a paradigm of scriptural interpretation that exists for him as a Christian, theologian, and profession and Bishop. When one surveys the entirety of modern Christendom, one finds a variety of methods and perspectives on biblical interpretation, and indeed on the how one defines the meaning in the parables of Jesus. Capon (2002) and Snodgrass (2008) offer differing perspectives on how one should approach the scriptures and how the true sense of meaning should be extracted. This paper will serve as a brief examination of the methodologies presented by these two authors. Let us begin, with an
Robinson, B. A. (2008, March 30). Books of the Hebrew Scripture . Retrieved May 7, 2011, from Religious Tolerance: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_otb3.htm
McAuliffe, J. et al (2003). With Reverence for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. New York.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, Indexed. New York: Oxford UP, 2007. Print
Averroes begins by analyzing the Book of God in order to prove that philosophy, or intellect, is a vital aspect of religion, and that it is necessary for complete comprehension of the Law. “Since it has now been established that the Law has rendered obligatory the study of beings by the intellect…therefore we are under an obligation to carry on our study of beings by intellectual reasoning”(165). He goes on to instruct that intellect should be collected by means of gathering all previous knowledge of its kind since one person cannot discover everything about one particular subject. Of course, not all people will interpret text the same way, and some might even make wrongful interpretations by accident. When this happens, the original texts from which the interpretations come from should not be prohibited because more competent individuals will come along that will be able to infer the proper meanings to pass on to the people.
Harris, Stephen. Understanding The Bible. 6 ed. New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2002. Print.
Xisto, Daniel. "How to Write an Exegesis Paper." Thesis. N.d. How to Write an Exegesis Paper: AN EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS OF GOD’S “I AM” STATEMENT IN EXODUS 3. Print.17 Nov. 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.
Moreover, the Bible can be inerrant and still use the common language, euphemisms, metaphors, etc. that were common to the people of the day. The Bible can speak, for example, of the sun rising and setting (Psalm 113:3), from the perspective of someone standing on the surface of the earth, even though we know that the sun neither rises nor sets. The Bible is absolutely truthful even though it often uses common language to describe natural phenomena or approximations, etc. Language can be true and still offer imprecise statements. “I live a little more than a mile from my office,” for example, is an imprecise statement that conveys the near proximity of my home to my office. ...
Thus, the next steps in this investigation are to examine the passages for any clear interpretive glosses or syntax diversity. However, in each case, neither a clear interpretive gloss nor diverse syntax exists. In fact, Stanley omitted discussion of 2 Cor 10:17 “in accordance with strict guidelines that limit the investigation to passages that offer explicit indication to the reader that a citation is being offered (introductory formula, interpretive comments, etc.).”8 Nevertheless, while Stanley did not consider 2 Cor 10:17 to be a quotation, Euthalius clearly did.Interesting as this is, this should not suggest that Stanley’s reader-centered approach is the issue. For instance, Porter even critiqued the view that an introductory formula would always accompany a direct quotation, pointing to Gal. 4:22 as an example in which an introductory formula introduced a mere allusion.9 While the UBS5 supports Porter’s assertion, in this case the EA is not in agreement. This brings into question those places where the EA marks as a quotation those instances that the UBS5 marks as an allusion. These instances will return in the following section. In any case, in spite of 2 Cor 10:17; Eph 2:17; and Heb 12:15 lacking introductory formulae, similarities in word order with their presumed vorlages, interpretive glosses, or syntax diversity, the compiler of the EA longer quotation
The New Interpreter's Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. Nashville: Abingdon Press, ©2003.