Exegesis vs Eisegesis | Matt Pearson

In this edition of Pastor’s Notes, Matt Pearson, pastor of Clearview Baptist Church in Franklin, Tennessee, breaks down these two approaches to interpreting Scripture and offers a simple way to remember the difference. He also explains how exegesis relates to expository preaching, the role of topical preaching, and the danger of making a passage say something it was never intended to say.

• Transcript

  Matt Pearson: Exegesis vs. Eisegesis

  Hey, my name is Matt Pearson, and I'm the pastor of ClearView Baptist Church in Franklin, Tennessee.

  For a few moments, I just want to talk about two words: exegesis and eisegesis.

  I'll begin with a little story.

  I had never heard either one of those terms until one of my first classes in seminary. I was newly married, and my wife and I, who both grew up in Alabama, moved to New Orleans so I could attend New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

  I had heard from various people that seminary sometimes "messes people up," but I didn't think much about it.

  In one of my very first classes, the professor kept using these words. He would say things like exegesis and eisegesis. I'm literally panicking, thinking, I just moved my wife to a school that believes in a different Jesus.

  I thought, I only know of one Jesus, not "ex-Jesus" or "is-Jesus." I'm sweating, thinking we're going to have to leave this school and move somewhere else.

  To my great relief, I discovered those are actually real theological terms that describe what we do with Scripture.

  The goal is to practice exegesis, which means drawing out what's actually in the passage of Scripture.

  Here's how I remember it: EXE = EXIT.

  You're taking out what's already there.

  Ask questions like, Why did the Holy Spirit inspire Paul to write what he wrote in Ephesians chapter 3? Your goal is to draw that meaning out. That's what every Bible teacher and preacher should strive to do.

  On the other hand, you don't want to practice eisegesis.

  I remember it this way: "I" goes in.

  Eisegesis is taking your own ideas and putting them into the text.

  Now, you certainly want to apply the text to yourself, but you don't want to insert yourself into the text before you've understood why the Holy Spirit inspired it in the first place.

  That can become dangerous because we often think we already know what the passage means or what we want it to say.

  It takes hard work, but the goal is to practice exegesis first, discovering the Spirit's intended meaning, and then applying that truth to yourself or your congregation.

  For those of you studying the Bible personally, leading a Bible study, or preaching to a congregation, I'd encourage you to work hard at exegesis. Figure out the Holy Spirit's intended meaning and draw it out of the text rather than putting your own assumptions into it.

  One area where this really plays out is in the difference between expository preaching and topical preaching.

  Expository preaching simply means exposing what's already there.

  Just as exegesis draws meaning from the text, exposition exposes what's already in the passage.

  For example, if I'm preaching Ephesians 3, especially Paul's prayer in verses 14 through 21, an expositional sermon asks, What's the main point of this passage? How do all the surrounding verses support that central idea?

  Whether I walk through the passage verse by verse or organize it a little differently, my responsibility is to faithfully communicate what the text is saying.

  Traditionally, expository preaching often means preaching through an entire book of the Bible. A pastor may begin in Galatians chapter 1 and continue verse by verse until finishing Galatians chapter 6.

  That's a very different approach from topical preaching.

  In a topical sermon, a pastor might notice the congregation is struggling with temptation and decide to preach on what the Bible says about temptation. He'll gather passages from throughout Scripture, looking at different stories and verses that explain temptation, its dangers, and how we fight against it.

  There's nothing inherently wrong with topical preaching.

  The danger comes when we don't study each passage in its original context. If we're not careful, we can make a verse say whatever we want it to say instead of what God intended it to say.

  That's why it's so important to understand the context before applying a passage.

  So when it comes to exegesis and expository preaching, the goal is to draw out and expose what's already there in the text.

  With eisegesis, and sometimes with topical preaching if we're not careful, we can unintentionally impose our own ideas onto the passage and make it say things the Holy Spirit never intended.

  So I'd simply encourage you to be careful. Let Scripture speak first, and then allow it to shape your life and your teaching.