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Course 101
Biblical Exegesis I
Content
and
Context
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
We have stated the Exegesis means
“exposition or explanation.” Biblical exegesis
is the process which involves the examination
of a particular text of scripture in order to
properly interpret it. Exegesis is a part of the
process of hermeneutics, the science of
interpretation that endeavor to discover the
historical meaning of the biblical.
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
1. What did the biblical author mean?
Meaning what was the content. What
is contained in the words themselves?
What do the words express?
i.e. what is the subject or the topic?
Content and ContextExegesis therefore answers the
following questions:
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
2. And also why did the author say what he said?
Meaning what was the literary context.
What was it that the author intended his
original reader to understand? Literal context
is primarily concerned with the intentionality
of the author messages to the original hearer.
Content and Context
Exegesis therefore answers the following question:
Content and Context
•Content demands that we study the
grammatical meaning of the writing thus driving
us the true discovery the meaning of the writing.
•Context demands the study of the reason
behind the author’s meaning for the writing thus
driving us the historical intent of the author to
the original hearer.
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Content and Context
Question: "Why is it important to study theBible in context? What is wrongwith taking verses out of context?"
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Answer: It's important to study Bible passagesand stories within their context.Taking verses out of context leads toall kinds of error and misunderstanding
Content and Context
Understanding context begins with four principles:
1. Literal: Meaning what it says…2. Historical: Or the setting or the events of the story.To whom is it addressed, and how it wasunderstood at that time…
3. Grammatical: The immediate sentence andparagraph withinwhichawordor phrase is found…
4. Synthesis: Comparing your passagewith otherparts of Scripture for a fuller meaning...
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Content and Context
•Context is crucial to biblical exegesis in that it is
one of its most important fundamentals. After
we account for the literal, historical, and
grammatical nature of a passage, we must then
focus on the outline and structure of the book,
then the chapter, then the paragraph. All of
these things refer to "context."
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Content and Context
•Taking phrases and verses out of context
always leads to misunderstanding. For instance,
taking the phrase "God is love” (1 John 4:7-16) out
of its context, we might come away thinking that
our God loves everything and everyone at all
times with a gushing, romantic love.
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Content and Context
•But in its literal and grammatical context, “love”here (1 John 4:7-16) refers to agape love, the essenceof which is sacrifice for the benefit of another, not asentimental, romantic love.
• The historical context is also crucial, becauseJohn was addressing believers in the first centurychurch and instructing them not on God’s love perse, but on how to identify true believers from falseprofessors.
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Content and Context
• True love – the sacrificial, beneficial kind – is
the mark of the true believer (1 John 4:7), those
who do not love do not belong to God (1 John 4:8),
God loved us before we loved Him (1 John 4:9-
10), and all of this is why we should love one
another and thereby prove that we are His (1
John 4:11-12).
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Content and Context
• Furthermore, considering the phrase "God is
love" in the context of all of Scripture
(synthesis) will keep us from coming to the
false, and all-too-common, conclusion that God
is only love or that His love is greater than all
His other attributes, which is simply not the
case.
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Content and Context
•We know from many other passages that God
is also holy and righteous, faithful and
trustworthy, graceful and merciful, kind and
compassionate, omnipotent, omnipresent and
omniscient, and many, many other things. We
also know from other passages that God not
only loves, but He also hates.
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Content and Context
•The Bible is the Word of God, literally "God-
breathed" (2 Timothy 3:16), and we are
commanded to ready, study, and understand it
through the use of good Bible study methods
and always with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit
to guide us (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Content and Context
•Our study is greatly enhanced by maintainingdiligence in the use of context because it is quiteeasy come to wrong conclusions by takingphrases and verses out of context. It is notdifficult to point out places that seeminglycontradict other portions of Scripture, but if wecarefully look at their context and use theentirety of Scripture as a reference, we canunderstand the meaning of a passage.
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I
Content and Context
•“Context is king” context drives us to the true
meaning! To ignore context is to put ourselves at
a tremendous disadvantage.
Course 101: Biblical Exegesis I