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Biblical Exegesis

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 exegeomai 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 "...