Analyzing And Interpreting Passages In The Bible

If you have ever read the Bible, you more than likely understand the need to interpret some passages. While some texts are straightforward there are others that are more confusing. This interpretation, of both straightforward and confusing passages alike, begins with exegesis and hermeneutics. In addition, we need to understand that we are always interpreting the Bible every time we read and sometimes we fall into the trap of mistaking our understanding with the original intent of the passage. If we miss the original intent, we in turn miss the intended application as well. In order to keep from falling into this trap, we first must understand what exegesis and hermeneutics are and how we are to best perform them. Exegesis comes before

In short, exegesis is reading the meaning “out of the text” rather than reading your meaning “into the text.” In order to understand Biblical passages through exegesis though, we must must first understand how to perform it rightly. The process of exegesis can be broken down into two categories: context and content. Context is the time and place that the original author is writing in and directly affects how they write, just like the situations around us affect who we are. Context also includes the type of form that the author wrote in whether it be a poem or a letter or other. In order to rightly understand the context. We must study the historical context of the book and learn what was going on around the time it was written as well as why the book was written

As touched on before, proper hermeneutics can only be accomplished after proper exegesis. If you do not understand the correct meaning of the text there is no possible way that you can correct apply the author’s intended moral principle to your life. When performing hermeneutics, one must be careful to not to use a passage incorrectly by using its apparent application to fit our needs. Doing so changes the whole meaning of entire passages. On the contrary, we must remain diligent in applying the intended application of passages as revealed through careful exegesis and hermeneutics. Gordon Fee, in How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth, sums is up perfectly by saying, “A text cannot mean what it could never have meant for its original