by Geoffrey Schmitt

Created on: January 14, 2010

There are two significantly different approaches to Bible Study. They can be described simply as the difference between reading into the Bible vs. reading out of the Bible.  The scholarly names for these two approaches are eisegesis and exegesis.

Eisegesis, or reading into the Bible, though frowned upon by many, is none the less common place. Depending upon your point of view, it might be a positive thing.  For example, Jewish people think Christians use Eisegesis when reading the Old Testament. For them the Pentetuch (the first five books) the books of the Law and the Prophets are Holy Scripture. When Christians find Jesus in the Old Testament it seems clear they are reading him into it.  Maybe not a bad thing.

Protestants consider Roman Catholics to be reading their theology into the New Testament.  When they translate from the Greek manuscripts and get “cousins” instead of “brothers,” they are more concerned with the idea that Mary had no other children than with what the text actually says. Conservative Christians accuse Liberal theologians for translating feminist theology into The New Revised Standard Bible Translation.

Exegesis, or reading the meaning out of the Bible would seem to be the more honest approach. When interpreting a text there are various steps to be taken. Clearly we are not all language scholars. We are not going to be able to read the more original Hebrew or Greek texts. One way to get around this obstacle is to read a passage in several translations. If possible, see if you can tell what the bias of the translators is.  Be willing to look outside your own tradition and admit your particular branch of the Christian family tree may have its own biases.

There is another dichotomy of translation to consider when studying scripture. There are word for word translations, and meaning for meaning translations. Some Bibles do their best to adhere to the original languages by matching each word to English (or whatever modern language is being used). The New King James, The New International, and the New Revised Standard, take this approach. Other Bibles attempt to get the best meaning by writing the sense of the original text without necessarily trying to be word for word. They will use modern terms for money. Instead of just a transliteration of something like a denarius, they will give a rough equivalent in dollars. The Good News Bible, The New Living Bible and The Message Bible are examples

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