First Application Of Biblical Exegesis example essay topic

First I will give you a background of exegesis. Webster's New World Dictionary (1990), defines exegesis as, the interpretation of a word, passage, etc., esp. in the Bible. This definition is a worldly. To understand the true meaning and background I looked in John H. Hays book called, Biblical Exegesis, for the answer. He says that the term 'exegesis' itself comes from the Greek word which basically meant ' to lead out of. ' When applied to texts, it denoted the ' reading out' of the meaning.

The noun, therefore, could refer to 'interpretation' or ' explanation. ' Thus whenever we read a text or hear a statement which we seek to understand and interpret, we are involved in exegesis. In this paper I am trying to find out what true Biblical exegesis means. By finding that truth then I and the person reading this paper can leave with an understand-ing on how to comprehend the content of exegesis. Through out my paper you will see noted some of my sources. I have carefully read these books and have selected the best ones to fit the purpose of this document.

I will be exploring many areas of exegesis and will be giving you a brief overview of these and then explaining different uses for exegesis. BIBLICAL EXEGESIS: Comprehending the content In the quest for the original wording of the Bible you have to look at all of the texts and their background. Their are many versions: Revised Standard, The New English Bible, The New International Bible, New American Bible, and the King James Version. All have different ways of saying the same scripture.

This is the beginning of the textual criticism portion of biblical exegesis. In my own personal opinion I have found that the King James Version is the closest translation to the Greek and Hebrew texts that we have. The next factor in exegesis is historical criticism. This describes the setting of the time and space.

In Walter C. Kaiser, jr.'s book, Toward an Exegetical Theology, he states ' The historical sense is that sense which is demanded by a careful consideration of the time and circumstances in which the author wrote. It is the specific meaning which an author's words require when the historical context and background are taken into account. (Kaiser p. 88) ' Next we have to consider the language of the text. This is Grammatical Criticism. ' Grammatical criticism is concerned with the meaning of the words in their combination in sense units.

Grammatical criticism may be thought of as the set of skills and disciplines through which the exegete seeks to re-create and enter the original thought world and linguistic frame of reference of the text (Hays p. 54) ' This means that this part of exegesis is concerned with words in their context to the rest of the scripture. Another important fact of biblical exegesis is the literary criticism. This looks at the composition, structure, and rhetorical style of the text. 'Literary criticism refers to the process of determining how the style and form influence how it is to be understood. Literary interpretation is the process of determining the literary quality of a writing by analyzing its genre, structure, and figures of speech and how those factors influence the meaning of the text (Zuck p. 124).

' Roy Zuck defines tradition criticism as the customs gap. ' Great differences exists between the way people in the Western world do things and think and the way people in the Bible lands lived and thought. Therefore it is important to know the cultures and customs of peoples of Bible times. Often faulty interpretations stem from an ignorance of those customs (Zuck p. 16). ' This type of criticism is very import-ant to biblical exegesis because you are forced to look at the traditions of the Bible's authors in order to understand where they are 'coming from. ' In the next phase of my paper I will be canvassing a few applications of biblical exegesis.

Now that I have shone you several ways that exegesis is used I must show you how to apply it and how it is being utilized. Exegesis is involved in all areas of reading and interpreting the Bible. I also in general it also has its 'non-religious' practices. THE NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS FOR CORRECT BIBLICAL EXEGESIS Roy B. Zuck outlines in his book, Basic Bible Interpretation, gives nine steps that are suggested as a way to apply the Bible properly to our lives: (1) Build Application on Interpretation. (2) Determine what was expected of the Original Audience.

(3) Base Applications on elements Present-day readers share with the original audience. (4) Recognize how God's working varies in different ages. (5) Determine what is normative for today. (6) See the principle inherent in the text. (7) Think of the Principle as an implication of the text and as a bridge to application. (8) Write out specific action-responses.

(9) Rely on the Holy Spirit. The first application of biblical exegesis is using it for historical and archaeological revision. The Bible has been a major source for Israel researchers. The Bible gives many stories of the history of God's holy city.

The Bible covers a great deal of its focus on earth has been the city of Israel. Some researchers are forced to look toward the Bible to find out facts about Israel. Various secular researchers scoff at the Bible's history, but the truth is that if they searched the Bible they would find all the places and times to be exactly correct. Then to focus all the credit on them instead of God's holy, inerrant Word.

Along with the historians the archaeologists are finding that lost cities that could never be found before are being found by using directions found straight from the Bible. A recent finding that shocked the world and the archaeological community was the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This proved that the Old Testament could be proved by ancient manuscripts. Archaeologists can either prove or try to disprove the Bible with their findings. In the end they find out that the Bible was right and cannot be disproved. Each case must be looked at differently and from a different exegetical stand point.

The second application of exegesis is for doing theology. ' The task of theology, as a specialized discipline, is to articulate the faith of the synagogue and the church for each new generation of believers (Hays p. 119). ' People attempting theology have to use exegesis in many ways. First theologians can be. Because of their commitment to biblical exegesis you can bet that some of them exegete correctly. Watch out for imposters also.

Because theologians have examined biblical texts their angle is usually correct on a subject. You have to research a theologian and find out if they are consistently correct in their exegetical methods. The third is using it for proclamation. Websters Dictionary defines proclamation as the 'act of announcing a fact.

' Proclamation in this since refers to the biblical preacher. Biblical exegesis is extremely important to the pastor because he has to deliver sermons form the Bible. If he can correctly exegete scripture he will express the accurate way that the scripture was meant to be portrayed. 'Using the Bible for the purpose of proclamation constitutes a distinctive function and presupposes a clearly defined 'life setting. (Hays p. 122) ' The last is for personal appropriation or for one own use. Even though historians, theologians, and preachers have to use exegesis so does the common every day layman.

Those who have committed their life to total devotion and full-time study do so to provide service to those who cannot. When you read the Bible for personal reasons you to are using exegetical approaches to the scriptures. We do this every time we read something or hear it spoken. The Bible is no different besides that you have to decipher it correctly. By reading other commentaries on that book or verse you can form your own exegetical hypothesis, but make sure it is a biblical one.

In conclusion you can tell by my brei f research that exegesis is a large area of study. I wish that I had more time to study it. I plan to on my own time keep up on this subject and keep my memory fresh. Doing research for this paper has helped me in my exegetical view of scripture. I plan to become a pastor some day and exegesis will be a big part of my message and proclamation.

All in all exegesis was designed to give us a better awareness of God's Holy Word. If we apply it to our lives we will be better for it..