Today we often hear the term exegetical preaching. But what exactly does this mean? What is exegesis? Exegesis could simply be referred to as: the process of drawing out of a passage or verse what is contained therein. The great enemy to exegesis is eisegesis, which is reading into a passage what is not there, by forcing one’s own thoughts into the passage and making it say something which it was never intended to say. You may have guessed it, that much of the preaching today is far from exegetical, but rather is eisegetical, men imposing their own thoughts, ideas, forced modern day applications, and agendas into the text, instead of letting the text do the speaking.

It is important to note however, that the forerunner to exegetical preaching is exegetical study. You can’t have the former without the latter. You can’t have exegetical preaching simply by picking up a commentary or two, or clicking a few buttons in the computer program. It’s not that easy. I don't want to discourage anyone from pursing the exegetical study of the Word of God. It really is not that difficult, but does require certain tools and discipline. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

These are some notes I took while reading Dave Black's book, "Using New Testament Greek in Ministry". I feel he does a great job of simplifying the task of exegesis.

Exegetical Process

I.    Discovering the Text

        A.      Historical Analysis
Author, audience, date, occasion, purpose, cultural and sociological influences, other related background matters.

        B.      Literary Analysis
Canonical – place in Bible itself
Remote – paragraphs, chapter, or even entire book
Immediate – verses or paragraphs that immediately precede or follow the text

II.    Understanding the Text

        A.      Textual Analysis
Attempt to determine the original wording of a document – Textual Criticism

        B.      Lexical Analysis
Determine the meaning of the words in the text – Word study

        C.      Syntactical Analysis
Involves attention to clauses and other unites that are larger than individual words. Also includes matters of tense, voice, mood, person, number, and case of individual words. Helps to determine an author’s thought patterns. Syntax is concerned with the meaning of words in their combination with other words.

        D.      Structural Analysis
Concerned with the ways clauses and larger thought units are placed in relation with each other. Cannot be translated into another language, because translators must use the grammatical system of the target language. Diagramming a passage can be helpful in determining its structure.

        E.       Rhetorical Analysis
RA is an attempt to clarify our understanding of the biblical text through a study of its literary techniques.

The Bible and specifically the NT is filled with warnings to professing Christians. We are reminded of Paul telling the Colossians "do not be taken captive...", and to the Corinthians "do not be deceived..." In a day where teaching and preaching is so often sought after by men both old and young though, there is a warning to which we should give heed and is found in James 3:1.

UBS/NA
Μὴ πολλοὶ διδάσκαλοι γίνεσθε, ἀδελφοί μου, εἰδότες ὅτι μεῖζον κρίμα λημψόμεθα.

Translation
Do not (or let not) many (of you) become teachers, my brethren, knowing that stricter judgment we will receive.

As a Christian reading the Scriptures, I have understood this verse and passage to be a warning, but have not taken it any further than just that. I had never considered the question of whether or not this negative imperative is a suggestion or command though. That is, not until reading it in my GNT. In English I usually read the ESV which states, "not many of you should become teachers...".  In contemporary English this could be understood as a mere suggestion, at least that's how I understood it. The NAS says it this way, "Let not many of you become teachers..." which carries more of a command.

Every good preacher or teacher wants to present the Scriptures in their original context and give the application for the modern listeners. We call the processes of discovering the original meaning, context, and application exegesis. Anytime exegesis takes place the exegete must go back to the original language to determine what is really being said, among other things. An Exegetical Fallacy (EF) is when the original language is misunderstood, misused, or misapplied to say or teach something that was not intended by the language.

The issue of Exegetical Fallacies stemming from a misuse and/or misunderstanding of Biblical Greek is deeply relevant and far too common in our day. These fallacies happen more often than most of us recognize. The scary thing is that so many people assume that they are excluded from them. When EF are being committed, they are usually done by a sincere, well meaning pastor or teacher, who genuinely is trying his best with the tools he has to communicate from Greek what he believes is being said. This person usually does not have any idea that they are teaching a fallacy. More so, it is thought that if someone has a Biblical Hermeneutic and sound "Reformed Theology", then they are protected for the most part from exegetical fallacies. This could not be farther from the truth. In fact, these fallacies may be as common in Reformed pulpits as they are elsewhere. Indeed, those often responsible for committing the fallacies which follow are those who do not have a working knowledge of Biblical Greek, but rather attempt find the meaning of the Greek through computer programs, lexicons or dictionaries, or some other means, but have not actually studied the language and learned it for themselves. In short, they are fully dependent on second-hand sources.

The best and most thorough treatment of this topic is D.A. Caron’s wonderful book Exegetical Fallacies. I have used the same designations as Carson as well as citations and paraphrases throughout. This little book should be carefully read by everyone who preaches or teaches the Word of God. If you have read it, then there is probably not much new below. Nevertheless, I will attempt to mention a brief list of some of the most common EF today.

I usually do not use transliterations of the Greek alphabet, but since the words referred to are commonly heard today and are already somewhat familiar to those without Greek, for the sake of clarity, I will use transliterations here so that there is no misunderstanding.

1. The Root Fallacy

This fallacy is based on the assumption that a word always derives its meaning from the parts or components of which it is made. This says that a word’s meaning, regardless of its other parts, always can be determined by its root. (Exegetical Fallacies, p. 29)

Examples:

Sanctification is without a doubt one of the most essential doctrines taught in the Scriptures. All Christians would agree on that. We know that a person is sanctified positionally when they are justified, they are consecrated, or set apart for the Lord. But, narrowing it down a little more, how are we sanctified progressively throughout our Christian lives? Jesus says in John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth” (ESV). Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality” (ESV). The writer of Hebrews says in 12:14, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness/sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.” (ESV) Sanctification is undeniably a necessity in the life of the believer. Without progressive sanctification and growth in holiness, there can be no assurance that justification has taken place. Okay, so we know that we are sanctified through the Word, and that our sanctification is God’s will. And, we know that sanctification is necessary if we are to enter into glory. But, there is one more verse to comment on regarding this, one which cannot fail to be mentioned. It does not use the word “sanctification”, but it certainly is talking about it. Let’s look at it:

2 Corinthians 3:18 ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντες ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν δόξαν κυρίου κατοπτριζόμενοι τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα μεταμορφούμεθα ἀπὸ δόξης εἰς δόξαν καθάπερ ἀπὸ κυρίου πνεύματος.