“Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them …. Peter therefore seeing him said to Jesus, ‘Lord, and what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!’ This saying therefore went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?’” (John 21:20-23)
Exegesis and Eisegesis This text well illustrates the difference between two words which vary but little in form, though widely in meaning. Both “ ex egesis” and “ eis egesis” are derived from the same Greek root, ago , meaning “to lead, draw, or bring.” Yet, the prepositional prefixes, ex and eis , which mean “out of” and “into,” respectively, are enough to create words with quite opposite meanings. Thus, “ ex egesis” means to “lead, draw, or bring out ” the ideas of a text, or “to explain or interpret its meaning.” “ Eis egesis,” on the other hand, means to “lead, draw, or bring [a meaning] into ” a text. So, it all comes down to whether the Bible reader “leads into” the text his own ideas or “leads out of” it the ideas of the author, who, in this case, is God. Of course, the temptation to do the latter results from the reader’s wish to give his ideas the ring of divine legitimacy. Thus, a few letters’ difference in two little prepositions quite literally spells a huge and infinitely critical difference in meaning. It is the difference between what the Bible actually means and what the reader wants it to mean . If it is asked why people can read the same Bible and, yet, come to so many differing conclusions as to what it means, it is really no harder to understand than the difference between these two words. Understanding the Bible depends on whether the reader truly wishes to “bring out ” its ideas. Otherwise, he will simply “bring into ” it his own ideas. The first generation of Christians appears to have wanted and expected Christ to return within their lifetimes (cf. 2 Pet. 3:3,4). If so, perhaps this explains why they “read into” Christ’s words to Peter about the “disciple whom He loved” a meaning which He neither intended nor His words rightly bear. Thus, all that was necessary for John to correct this misinterpretation of His words was simply to repeat them. This shows that nothing more is needed to understand what Jesus meant than a careful and honest reading of His words. This is (proper) exegesis. Yet, some, as here, want to “read into” (eisegesis) the Bible’s words what is not really there, and, thus, they misunderstand it, because they are “leading into” it from their minds what they want it to say instead of simply “leading out of” it what is already there and putting that into their minds. The story is told of a religious debate on the question of whether “baptism” involves sprinkling with water or immersion in it. The debater in favor of the idea that baptism is sprinkling argued his proposition on the basis of possible, though irregular, meanings of key terms. His opponent responded by observing that, by his opponent’s methods and logic, possible dictionary meanings of the words, “believe,” “baptized,” and “saved” as “to have an opinion,” “to be sprinkled,” and “to be pickled,” respectively, would result in “he who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved” (Mk. 16:16) meaning “he who has an opinion and has been sprinkled shall be pickled”! Then, he closed with the question, “Is it our purpose to see what we can make the Bible mean, or is it our purpose to see what it does mean?” When a reader explains the Bible to mean what he wishes it to mean instead of what it actually means, he is guilty of dishonesty. He is telling the ultimate lie by committing the blasphemy of displacing God’s ideas with his own and calling them God’s.
THE INTERPRETER MAKES THE SCRIPTURE SAY WHAT GOD WANTS IT TO SAY. THE INTERPRETER MAKES THE SCRIPTURE SAY WHAT HE WANTS IT TO SAY. HOME HOME HYMN HYMN SCRIPTURE SCRIPTURE MEDITATIONS MEDITATIONS
“Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them …. Peter therefore seeing him said to Jesus, ‘Lord, and what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!’ This saying therefore went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?’” (John 21:20-23)
Exegesis and Eisegesis This text well illustrates the difference between two words which vary but little in form, though widely in meaning. Both “ ex egesis” and “ eis egesis” are derived from the same Greek root, ago , meaning “to lead, draw, or bring.” Yet, the prepositional prefixes, ex and eis , which mean “out of” and “into,” respectively, are enough to create words with quite opposite meanings. Thus, “ ex egesis” means to “lead, draw, or bring out ” the ideas of a text, or “to explain or interpret its meaning.” “ Eis egesis,” on the other hand, means to “lead, draw, or bring [a meaning] into ” a text. So, it all comes down to whether the Bible reader “leads into” the text his own ideas or “leads out of” it the ideas of the author, who, in this case, is God. Of course, the temptation to do the latter results from the reader’s wish to give his ideas the ring of divine legitimacy. Thus, a few letters’ difference in two little prepositions quite literally spells a huge and infinitely critical difference in meaning. It is the difference between what the Bible actually means and what the reader wants it to mean . If it is asked why people can read the same Bible and, yet, come to so many differing conclusions as to what it means, it is really no harder to understand than the difference between these two words. Understanding the Bible depends on whether the reader truly wishes to “bring out ” its ideas. Otherwise, he will simply “bring into ” it his own ideas. The first generation of Christians appears to have wanted and expected Christ to return within their lifetimes (cf. 2 Pet. 3:3,4). If so, perhaps this explains why they “read into” Christ’s words to Peter about the “disciple whom He loved” a meaning which He neither intended nor His words rightly bear. Thus, all that was necessary for John to correct this misinterpretation of His words was simply to repeat them. This shows that nothing more is needed to understand what Jesus meant than a careful and honest reading of His words. This is (proper) exegesis. Yet, some, as here, want to “read into” (eisegesis) the Bible’s words what is not really there, and, thus, they misunderstand it, because they are “leading into” it from their minds what they want it to say instead of simply “leading out of” it what is already there and putting that into their minds. The story is told of a religious debate on the question of whether “baptism” involves sprinkling with water or immersion in it. The debater in favor of the idea that baptism is sprinkling argued his proposition on the basis of possible, though irregular, meanings of key terms. His opponent responded by observing that, by his opponent’s methods and logic, possible dictionary meanings of the words, “believe,” “baptized,” and “saved” as “to have an opinion,” “to be sprinkled,” and “to be pickled,” respectively, would result in “he who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved” (Mk. 16:16) meaning “he who has an opinion and has been sprinkled shall be pickled”! Then, he closed with the question, “Is it our purpose to see what we can make the Bible mean, or is it our purpose to see what it does mean?” When a reader explains the Bible to mean what he wishes it to mean instead of what it actually means, he is guilty of dishonesty. He is telling the ultimate lie by committing the blasphemy of displacing God’s ideas with his own and calling them God’s.
THE INTERPRETER MAKES THE SCRIPTURE SAY WHAT GOD WANTS IT TO SAY. THE INTERPRETER MAKES THE SCRIPTURE SAY WHAT HE WANTS IT TO SAY. HYMN HYMN HOME HOME SCRIPTURE SCRIPTURE MEDITATIONS MEDITATIONS