Exegesis vs. Eisegesis

There is an abundance of words we come to learn throughout the extent of our lives, especially as Christians. The terms "exegesis" and "eisegesis" are, as one pastor I know likes to say, "$5 seminary words." In different terms, the average daily Christian has never had any need of understanding what these words are, mean, or where they came from. Unfortunately, there could perhaps be no more crucial of words for us to grasp when we approach the ancient literature of the Bible.

Exegesis, simply put, is extracting what is already present in the text. On the flip side, eisegesis is inserting what we think or want to be present in the text. While it is of course ideal to pursue exegesis, it is inevitable that we will occasionally fall into the mistake of eisegesis. The important part is understanding when we do, and how to correct ourselves. In order to clarify how these concepts work when we read scripture, let's use an example text to demonstrate.

Matthew 18:20

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Many see this verse and immediately jump to the conclusion that it refers to the matter of the special presence of Christ during times of corporate prayer. Such an interpretation is actually --believe it or not -- a product derived completely from eisegesis. Matthew 18:20 has absolutely nothing to do with prayer at all! How is it then that so many say that it does? Firstly, they look at the verse by itself, isolating it from the full passage it belongs to. In the Gospel of Matthew, as well as other forms of Jewish literature, there are chunked sections of writing which are pressed together in layers, many of which are even smaller than the chapters we assigned to them. In this case, the chunk of scripture to which this verse belongs is Matthew 18:15-20: a scene in which Jesus is speaking with His disciples on an unseemly topic -- church discipline.

Wait. What?

That's right! The first step of our exegesis involves context, and this includes both circumstantial as well as textual. The circumstantial context is the who, what, when, and the where, whereas the textual context deals with the actual words on the paper. In this particular case, the textual context reveals to us that verses 18-20 are tethered to verses 15-17, offering to us a complete picture of church discipline as it accords to Jesus's commands. An additional form of context to consider might be that of historical/cultural context, which in this case would help us to see that the details of church discipline laid out in this passage pay homage to Jewish Old Testament Law which handles matters of judicial order (Deuteronomy 19:15). To be brief, this will essentially come to alter our understanding of "two or three." You see, Jesus is not speaking of Christians gathering in corporate prayer. Rather, he referring to judges -- Christians who come together to reach a decision about an unrepentant member of the body who will not admit to their sin. If those judging the defendant have followed the steps (Private confrontation v.15, Witnessed Confrontation v.16, and Assembly Confrontation v.17) and the brother remains unrepentant, then they have the assurance of God's guidance in their decision to cut off the brother from the fellowship, as he has proven by his unrepentance to not be a brother after all. This is a difficult passage, and a harsh reality, but we must understand God's grace is intended to move us to repentance and ultimately separate us from our sin.

An example of this can be found in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5.

Do you see the difference? In the eisegetical view of the scripture, we not only receive a shallow meaning from the text, but we receive something that is totally incompatible with our greater theology. How can our numbers (whether it be 1 or 1,000), alter the presence of God? Did Christ not say to His disciple's "Lo, I am with you always?" Did David not declare in Psalm 139 that even if he makes his bed in the depths of Sheol, God is there? It doesn't work when we view this scripture out of its context. When we take a deeper look, however, we see a text that gives us applicable instructions on how to run the church that are rooted in a theological truth which resonates deeply inside of us.

That is the power of exegesis.