![]() And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules. ![]() “Let your steadfast love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. Like one ancient exegete once professed, biblical exegesis is meant to foster hope: Therefore, the ultimate goal of biblical exegesis is to see and feel reality clearly for what it actually is, as prescribed in the Bible, and respond to truth with proportionate, heart-felt adoration for Jesus Christ. The glory of God shines forth through the text into our hearts (2 Cor 3:18). Therefore, the grammatical and syntactical conventions of language do not constrain the meaning of the text. Since the Bible is a supernatural book, this not only involves the intellect, but the heart. The goal of biblical exegesis is to uncover as much of the Bible’s treasures as God will allow. You can either pan for the dust in the streams which flow from the mountain, or you can dig and blast your way into the endless treasuries of wealth housed deep within the mountain’s body. The Bible is like a never-ending mountain that houses endless supplies of precious gold. To be sure, learning the languages is incredibly difficult, but oh so satisfying on the day that you can read God’s word in them! ![]() Bethlehem College & Seminary trains their students in the languages well. student thus far is the ability to read Greek (I’m currently learning Hebrew). Personally, the sweetest fruit I have experienced as an M.Div. But those who taste the exhilaration of theological discovery through careful grammatical exegesis will never be satisfied until they can drink fully at the foundation of the original source!” “It is therefore incumbent upon interpreters of the English Bible to find a reliable translation. Those who do not know the biblical languages are limited in their exegesis, since they must rely on translators for their written text. That is, if you know Greek or Hebrew, it is your obligation to engage with any text-critical issues. Yet, before you can “come to terms” with an author, you must establish a reliable text. Where there is unresolved ambiguity in communication, there is no communication, or at best communication must be incomplete.” “If the author uses a word in one meaning, and the reader reads it in another, words have passed between them, but they have not come to terms. Take Mortimer Adler’s warning, for example: Words take on specific meaning in their given context. Likewise, careful reading involves understanding the words an author uses in the manner the author uses them. The written text is merely a medium by which meaning is conveyed, and it is the exegete’s job to uncover it. In other words, we exegete in order to uncover the author’s intended meaning. I’m grateful to God that our professors stress the importance of carefully reading and thinking about the text in such a way to fol low the author’s train of thought. So, if you can read, then you are an exegete.Įxegetical digging looks like careful reading and thinking. Read the messages in the order in which people sent them. Look at the time stamps of the e ‑ mails. Look at the names of the authors in the thread. Look at the subject line to see whether it tells you what the thread is about. Recognize that the style of literature is e ‑ mail, so the thread consists of messages that two or more individuals electronically wrote to each other. If I randomly opened an e ‑ mail thread in my Gmail inbox and if I asked you to exegete it what would you do? You would probably do the following (though not necessarily in this order): Bethlehem’s Assistant Professor of New Testament and Theology Andy Naselli provides a helpful illustration:Įxegesis may sound complicated, but it’s really not. Therefore, the implication is that everyone who can adequately read a written language is an “exegete” (one who executes exegesis). It is simply following an author’s flow of thought. Exegesis isn’t strictly a theological or “Christian” term. In fact, exegesis is the very process by which one uncovers the meaning of any written text. “ Exe ”-what!? The word itself sounds a bit daunting, doesn’t it? But in fact, with a little explanation, “exegesis” really isn’t all that complicated. The latter always, if executed well, requires a careful eye, sharp mind, great patience, and much prayer. In the same way, you can read the surface of a particular biblical text and get a decent grasp of its message, or you can “ dig ” and “ blast ” to uncover the hidden treasures in the Bible. However, blasting and drilling reap more treasures than a 14-inch gold pan in the river. You can either pan for gold on the surface where shallow streams flow, or you can blast the inner walls of a mountain-either way it’s still gold.
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