The First Task: Exegesis

Exegesis is the systematic study of the Scripture to discover the original, intended meaning. This is basically a historical task. It is the attempt to hear the Word as the original recipients were to have heard it, to find out what was the original intent of the words of the Bible.

How many times have you heard or said, "What Jesus meant by that was..."? Those are exegetical expressions.

The problem with much of this, however, is:

It is too selective, and the sources consulted are not true "experts".

1) The problem with "selective" exegesis is that one will often read one's own, completely foreign, ideas into a text and thereby make God's Word something other than what God really said. For example: Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 5:22, "Abstain from all appearance of evil" (KJV). When we look at it exegetically, we realize that Paul is giving final instructions on how to deal with "prophetic utterances", and when something is not of God we are to toss it aside. To make this text mean something else is to abuse the Word of God and make it mean what God did not intend it to mean.

2) When it is necessary to consult an "expert", use the best source possible. For example, in Mark 10:23 (Matt. 19:23; Luke 18:24), Jesus says, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God." He then adds: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom." It is often said that there was a gate in Jerusalem known as the "Needle's Eye," which camels could go through only by kneeling, and with great difficulty. The point of this "interpretation" is that a camel could in fact go through the "Needle's Eye." The trouble with this "exegesis," however, is that it is simply not true. There never was such a gate in Jerusalem at any time in its history. It is impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, and that was precisely Jesus' point. It is impossible for one who trusts in riches to enter the Kingdom. It takes a miracle for a rich person to get saved, which is quite the point of what follows: "All things are possible with God."

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