Exegesis & Hermeneutics

I. Exegesis-
“The careful, systematic study to determine the original intent of the words of the Bible”


We all do exegesis:

What Jesus meant by that was…
Back in those days they used to…
We use common sense to transfer information from Scripture and apply it to our own situation.


a. We are forced to do it when the difference between ancient culture and modern culture makes it difficult to understand. But we need to always be careful about getting back to the original intention. Otherwise we risk reading into the text something that we want it to say.

Gal 5 2 Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 3 Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

Ro 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

b. When we consult the experts, make sure they are real experts.

Mark 10:23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

No evidence for the small gate in Jerusalem until the 11th cent a.d.

General Guidelines

A. Scholarly knowledge

1. Biblical Languages-Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek

2. Cultural Backgrounds-Jewish, Semitic, Hellenistic

3. Original texts-There are thousands of manuscripts with a variety of different readings. Scholars have largely agreed on what the best reading, i.e., the original said, but there are some points at which they differ.

Everyone can do the following things

B. Read carefully & ask the right questions

1. Context

a. Historical Context

Time period --background of Amos, Amos or Hosea

Culture --Messianic expectations at the time of John the Baptist; Jesus’ parables and the customs of the day

Occasion and purpose What was going on at the time, and what caused the book to be written? **Galatians

b. Literary Context

What’s the point? (Keep asking this question at every point?) What is the author trying to say? What is the train of thought?

Translation with paragraphs & poetry this helps a lot and most translations do that today.

2. Content

Meaning of the words-One will need to consult a Bible dictionary or commentary.

3. Tools

Bible Dictionary
Bible Handbook
Good translation
Good Commentaries


II. Hermeneutics

-Contemporary relevance of ancient texts: What does it mean for us? How can we apply it to our own situation and our lives? But we cannot start with this. We must study first to understand what the original intent was.

A. Controlled by the original intent of the text

B. Text can’t mean what it never meant—But can there not be deeper meanings of the text? Cults use texts in this way, we should not.

*Summary from How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth