EXEGESIS VRS. EISEGESIS IN BIBLE INTERPRETATION

I recently came across a post by a minister where he samples the genealogy text of Matthew 1:3 which speaks of Judah giving birth to Perez and confidently attempted to siphon out of it some "rhema"about praise(which is the meaning of Judah) being what births breakthrough( meaning of Perez). The rather interesting "eisegesis" and not "exegesis" really struck me as very unfortunate not for the reasons you would think, especially because I honestly think in the case of this individual, no malice is or was intended( my personal opinion).

What exactly do we mean by these two tongue biting words exegesis and eisegesis ? Many are most familiar with the former which is exegesis but I doubt most have come across the latter.

Both words happen to share a similar greek root the word ἄγω (ago), which means "to lead".The greek prefix in the word exegesis—ἐκ(ek) means "from" or "out of," while εἰς(eis) the greek prefix in the word eisegesis means "into." And so when we speak of exegesis as far as bible interpretation is concerned what we imply is a thorough exposition and explanation of a given text by carefully analyzing and examining the text in a very objective manner without intending to read one’s own meaning, intentions and emotions into the said text. Eisegesis on the other hand is when one attempts to make an interpretation of scriptural text by subjective and non analytical methods typically reading their own meanings, emotions and views into the said text.

Any exegetical task would require four(4) key elements. To begin with, one must observe the passage or text carefully to know what it says. Followed by the willingness to know and understand the meaning of the text. What follows after is the important question of how the passage or text relates to the whole bible and lastly how the text applies to us. For the Bible reader who chooses the path of eisegesis, their main goal is to imagine their own ideas and concepts concerning a text or passage and then begin to mine out of the Bible scriptures and passages that fit into their made up idea and then begin to apply it aspects of their lives.

In all of these, my profound dismay was heightened by what I gleaned from the many comments and responses that preceded this apparent mishandling of scripture from the many Christians I believe who follow him just like myself. Imagine me endlessly scrolling with the hope that I may just come across a theologically well grounded response on this amazing "rhema" of some sort. And all I read were comments like "this is deep" , " I never saw it that way,wow" and a plethora of mind baffling responses too absurd to quote.

It seems this was a revelation intended to form the basis for a song. I’m sure the song is great but to read meaning into a text and force it to mean and imply something it doesn’t mean and at the end butchering it mercilessly just to make a song sound deep is not anywhere close to biblical.This appears to be a trend I notice amongst a lot of song ministers who tilt and abuse the scriptures just so they promote a song as having emanated from the "womb of the spirit" whatever that means. A spiritual song at its best should speak of God and bring glory to Him. Just that is enough. No gimmicks needed. No butchering of scriptures required.

Unfortunately there are many who would not see things this way because their admiration and love for people outweighs their commitment to proper theological and biblical accountability. If the Apostle was alive today, he would probably repeat in more certain words his advice to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 to rightly divide the word of truth. The Greek word for divide is the word "orthotomeō" which interestingly means in its usage to teach the truth directly and correctly.

I would be the first to admit that accurate biblical interpretation is not an easy task even for the most scholarly Christian there is not to even mention someone who is trying to build their foundations in the faith. And so there would be times when we are bound to make genuine blunders without intending to maliciously mislead God's people and I think that God continuously shows us all mercy. Being humble enough to accept when we are on the wrong side and our willingness to make amends when our attention is drawn to our mistakes is what ultimately makes the difference.