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.

In the past I’ve talked about the reasons someone should study Greek. I’ve also talked about the correct motives for studying Greek. Actually, you'll find those two topics strung throughout this website. Here I’d like to share some simple thoughts about reasonable goals in Greek study. If we don’t set goals for ourselves, we are likely not to make much progress. That is especially true of myself. The following is an extract from Dave Black’s wonderful book “Using New Testament Greek in Ministry”.

• R-1 is elementary proficiency. Anyone can achieve this goal – which involves a knowledge of the Greek alphabet and a very basic understanding of some of the language aids available today.
• R-2 is limited working proficiency. At this stage you can read uncomplicated but authentic prose in Greek that contains common words and basic sentence patterns. You will still rely heavily upon on dictionary.
• R-3 is professional proficiency. Here you can grasp the essentials of standard but uncomplicated prose without the use of a dictionary.
• R-4 is full proficiency. At this final stage, you can read anything written in the foreign language without a dictionary. A very large vocabulary is the key that unlocks the door to this level.

A Few Thoughts:

R-1 is basically what a lot of pastors and Bible study leaders do. It is to learn enough to conduct word studies and use computer programs. As one friend once told me, it is learning enough Greek to "be dangerous". I would discourage anyone from pursuing this type of study. This kind of study boils down to using a concordance and/or a computer program. Most exegetical fallacies stem from people who really do not know or grasp the language, but rather pick up enough to "be dangerous" and make claims about Greek which are often incorrect. For more on this, please this post: Exegetical Fallacies

R-2 is the stage where most students are who have had at least one year of Greek, or completed an introductory Grammar book such as those from Bill Mounce or Dave Black. This is a good place to be, but by no means a place to rest and become content.

R-3 is, according to Dave Black, the place where many seminary and Bible college professors are. At this stage one may read the GNT daily in a devotional way, but still comes across the occasional word or phrase that must be looked up. This is attainable after 2-3 years of study, if the student is diligent and consistent.

R-4 should be the goal for all Greek students. It will take much dedication, consistency, and time to reach this place, but it is possible. I would say about 5+ years for the serious, devoted student. The thing which really seperates R-3 from R-4 is vocabulary. The only way to bridge the gap is daily reading.


So what are your goals? Where are you at right now? Right now I am trying to move on from R-2 to R-3. The only thing hindering me is myself, the lack of discipline and consistency.