Here are a few key points about interpreting Proverbs 22: - Proverbs are general observations or guidelines, not promises or absolutes. They describe common experiences but allow for exceptions. - Proverbs are often comparisons using "like" or "as." We shouldn't press the similarity too far or make it an allegory. - Proverbs are usually short statements meant to be memorable, not detailed theological treatises. We shouldn't read more into them than the author intended. - Interpret individual proverbs in light of the overall message of wisdom in the book of Proverbs and the Bible. Don't build doctrine on a single proverb. - Consider the context of the entire chapter to better understand

1. ICCM School of Missions

2. Exegesis – Course Overview & Schedule
Session Topic
Friday PM
1 Exegesis
2 Hermeneutics
3 Translations & Tools
Saturday AM
4 OT Law, Narrative & Prophecy
5 OT Psalms & Wisdom
6 NT Gospels & Parables
Lunch
Saturday PM
7 NT Acts & Epistles
8 NT Apocalyptic
9 Advanced Exegesis & Hermeneutics
Sunday PM
10 Review & QA
11 Exam
12 Close

3. Exegesis

4. Why?
Ezra 7:10 (NIV)
10 For Ezra had devoted himself
to the study and observance of
the Law of the Lord, and to
teaching its decrees and laws in
Israel.

5. An Approved Workman
2 Timothy 2:15 (NET)
15 Make every effort to present
yourself before God as a proven
worker who does not need to be
ashamed, teaching the message
of truth accurately.
(ESV) rightly handling the word of
truth.
(HCSB) correctly teaching the
word of truth.

6. What is Exegesis?
• “Ex” = “out of”
• “Egesis” = “to lead”
• Ex+Egesis = to lead out from the
Biblical text
• Exegesis:
The careful historical, literary,
and theological analysis of a
biblical text
• It’s an investigation…. What’s
going on here?
• It’s more art than science

7. Goal of Exegesis
• What did the Author Intend his
Original Readers to
Understand?
• What is God trying to tell us?
• How do we achieve this goal?
• Method
• Principles
• Guidelines
• Tools

8. What the goal is NOT! - Eisegesis
• Reading “into” the text, elements
and meaning that are not intended
or implied.
• We are all partially sighted
• No one is a blank slate
• We all bring some baggage
• Should take myself to the Word,
not bring the Word to me
• Submit to the Word, not submit
the Word to me
• “Wonderful things in the Bible I
see, most of them put there by you
and by me”

9. Eisegesis – Religious Bias
• Catholic
• Charismatic movement
• Jehovah’s Witness
• Mainline Church of Christ
• ICoC
• Traditions
• New Age / Mystic

10. Eisegesis – Cognitive Bias

11. Eisegesis – Cognitive Bias

12. Eisegesis – Cognitive Bias

13. Eisegesis – Cognitive Bias

14. Eisegesis – Cognitive Bias

15. Do You Interpret?
• “We don’t interpret the Bible,
we just do what it says”
• “We let the Bible interpret itself”
• Our Exegesis needs to recognise
and control our preconceptions,
biases and world-views

16. My Exegesis and Bias – Exercise – Philemon 1:6
(ESV) 6 and I pray that the sharing of
your faith may become effective for the
full knowledge of every good thing that
is in us for the sake of Christ.
(GNT) 6 My prayer is that our
fellowship with you as believers will
bring about a deeper understanding of
every blessing which we have in our life
in union with Christ.
(HCSB) 6 I pray that your participation
in the faith may become effective
through knowing every good thing that
is in us for the glory of Christ.
(KJV) 6 That the communication of thy
faith may become effectual by the
acknowledging of every good thing
which is in you in Christ Jesus.
(NET) 6 I pray that the faith you share
with us may deepen your
understanding of every blessing that
belongs to you in Christ.
(NIV) 6 I pray that your partnership
with us in the faith may be effective in
deepening your understanding of every
good thing we share for the sake of
Christ.
(NRSV) 6 I pray that the sharing of your
faith may become effective when you
perceive all the good that we may do for
Christ.
(MSG) And I keep praying that this faith
we hold in common keeps showing up
in the good things we do, and that
people recognize Christ in all of it.

17. Hindrances to Good Exegesis
• Prejudice/Preconceived Ideas
• Pride
• Laziness
• Wishful Thinking
• Clergy/Laity Attitude
• Desire to Be Like (and liked by) the World
• Proof-text Approach
• Appeal to Authority
• Assuming what is popularly believed is
true
• Lack of a plan
• Schismatic Attitude

18. Antidote
“The antidote to bad
interpretation is not no
interpretation, but good
interpretation, based on common
sense guidelines”
-- Worth p17

19. Good Exegesis – You Can Do It!
• Prayerful spirit
• Humble heart and mind
• Reverent awe
• Good tools
• Inquisitive, curious mind
• Common sense
• A little imagination
• Some Hard Work

20. Method of Exegesis - CoFoCoFu
• Context:
Who said it When and Where?
• Form:
How did he say it?
• Content:
What did he say?
• Function:
Why did he say it?

21. Exegesis Workflow – Survey Text
• What does it say?
• Read the whole book
• Read, re-read, read different
translation or language
• Take notes
• Get the big picture, overall
message, big idea, topic
• Read an introduction to the
book
• Inductive & Deductive Reading

22. Context – 360 Degrees in 3D
Who said it and Why did he say it
When and Where?
• Historical, Social, Cultural,
Geographical, Chronological
• Religious, Covenant
• Characters – Author & Audience
• Literary - e.g. Therefore … Look
at what came before

23. Context - Boundaries
• A text cannot now mean what it
never meant
• Do not allow the implicit to
define the explicit
• A lack of context is the chief
cause of most heresy
• Ignoring context is dangerous –
it can be a salvation issue!

24. Context - Exercise
• Matthew 4:6 (NIV)
“If you are the Son of God,” he said,
“throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels
concerning you, and they will lift you
up in their hands, so that you will not
strike your foot against a stone.’”
• Luke 23:42-43 (NIV)
42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember
me when you come into your
kingdom.” 43 Jesus answered him,
“Truly I tell you, today you will be with
me in paradise.”
• How is this misused in some Christian
groups?
• How did that happen?
• Why do we know this is wrong?

25. Form – Genre (How did he say it?)
• Narrative
• Legal / Law
• Prophecy
• Poetry
• Wisdom
• Parable
• Epistle
• Apocalyptic
• Literary styles

26. Content – Digging In
• Don’t read things into the story
• Don’t forget who is the hero
• Verbs, nouns, adjectives
• Contemplative reading
• Meditative reading
“It is not in the interest of
extravagant ambition that we trouble
ourselves with this detailed
exposition, but we hope through
such painstaking interpretation to
train you in the importance of not
passing over even one slight word or
syllable in the Sacred Scriptures.
For they are not ordinary utterances,
but the very expression of the Holy
Spirit, and for this reason it is
possible to find great treasure even
in a single syllable.”
- John Chrysostom 4th Century AD

27. Content – Ask lots of questions
• Don’t expect all questions to be
answered
• What, who, when, how, why,
where
• What are the key terms and
images?
• Anything that may be explained
by looking elsewhere in the
book?
• Are there any literary or
rhetorical devices and if so, what
it their effect?
• Does the text include appeals to
tradition or Scripture, such as
stories, beliefs, laws, and well-
known historical figures?
• If I’m in the community receiving
this letter, what am I being urged
to do?
• If I join the Psalmist in prayer or
song, what are we imagining
about God?
• If I am among this crowd
encountering Jesus, what do I
see, learn – how do I view Him?

28. Function – Collate - Synthesize
• What is the purpose?
• How does it fit into the meta-
narrative?
• What is the big picture?
• What is the big idea stated in a
single sentence?
• ASPECT
• What moral is being illustrated?
• What doctrine is being illustrated?
• What should I avoid? (bad
example)
• What should I imitate or practice

29. Apply It! – Why we do exegesis
“And now the end has
come. So listen to my piece of
advice: exegesis, exegesis, and yet
more exegesis!”
- Karl Barth, in his farewell to his
students before his 1935 expulsion
from Germany

30. Hermeneutics

31. Hermeneutics
• Luke 24:27 (NIV)
And beginning with Moses and
all the Prophets, he explained to
them what was said in all the
Scriptures concerning himself.
• Greek god Hermes - herald and
messenger of the gods
• Hermeneutics - the theory and
methodology of interpretation
• Contextualisation – bringing the
text into my contemporary
context

32. Hermeneutics - Time Travel

33. Contextualisation – Relativity
Cultural Eternal
2 Tim 4:13 (NIV)
bring the cloak that I left with
Carpus at Troas, and my
scrolls, especially the
parchments.
2 Timothy 2:3 (NIV)
Join with me in suffering, like
a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

34. Hermeneutic Method
• Exegesis – What it meant
• Interpretation – What it means
for me
• Contextualisation – How to
share with you what it means to
me / us / you
• Rule 1 – A text can’t mean now
what it never could have meant.
• Rule 2 – When we share
comparable life situations with
the setting in the Bible, God’s
word is the same for us too

35. Hermeneutics – More Guidelines
1. Every passage has one meaning.
2. The most obvious meaning is usually the
correct one.
3. Always allow the author’s explanation to
stand.
4. Always interpret a passage within the
context of the passage, the book, and the
situation.
5. An interpretation of a passage should
conform to the environment of the author.
6. Rightly divide books by dispensation,
covenant and setting.
7. Interpret every passage in the light of all
others.
8. One passage will often explain another.
9. Let plain passages interpret difficult ones.
10. All passages on a subject must be studied
before a conclusion is drawn.
11. Observe the proper balance of scriptural
truth.
12. Passages should be interpreted in harmony
with the idioms contained.
13. Rightly divide the language (grammar and
figures of speech).
14. Correctly distinguish the figurative from
the literal.
15. Know the meaning of sentences, phrases
and words.
16. Rightly divide books by type of literature
(poetry, apocalyptic, historical, doctrinal,
etc.).

36. Translations & Tools

37. Tools
• Other good translations
• Concordance - Complete,
exhaustive or analytical
• Bible dictionary / handbook
• Topical Bible / Study Bible / Survey
• Greek / Hebrew interlinear Bible
• Greek and Hebrew lexicon
• Commentaries - Homiletic and
Analytic
• History, especially Church History
• Early Christian (1st – 2nd Century)
• Later Christian Literature
• Populist Christian literature

38. Translations – Types / Styles
• Read the introduction
Types / Styles
• Word for Word = Literal = Formal
Equivalent
• Phrase for Phrase = Dynamic
Equivalent
• Thought for Thought =
Paraphrased = Free
• Retelling

39. Translations - Continuum
NASB New American Standard Bible (1971; update 1995)
AMP Amplified Bible (1965)
ESV English Standard Version (2001)
RSV Revised Standard Version (1952)
KJV King James Version (1611; significantly revised
1769)
NKJV New King James Version (1982)
HCSB Holman Christian Standard Version (2004)
NRSV New Revised Standard Version (1989)
NAB New American Bible (Catholic, 1970, 1986 (NT),
1991 (Psalms)
NJB New Jerusalem Bible (Catholic, 1986; revision of
1966 Jerusalem Bible)
NIV New International Version (1984)
TNIV Today’s New International Version (NT 2001, OT
2005)
NCV New Century Version
NLT1 New Living Translation (1st ed. 1996; 2nd ed.
2004)
NIrV New International reader’s Version
GNT Good News Translation (also Good News Bible)
CEV Contemporary English Version
Living Living Bible (1950). Paraphrase by Ken Taylor.
Liberal treatment of ‘blood.’
Message The Message by Eugene Peterson (1991-2000s)

40. Translations - Which is the Best?
It Depends... Probably more than one.
What is the goal?
• To do a deep and detailed study in order
to do Bible teaching?
• To deepen our own personal knowledge
of the scripture?
• Reading the scripture to allow an entire
section have an impact.
• Reading scripture in public? (what
public?)
• Studying out, defending and explaining a
doctrine?
• Reading for inspiration and to give
personal faith?
• Doing a word study, Doing a topical study,
etc….

41. Online Tools – Software - Apps
• https://lumina.bible.org/bible/
• https://www.studylight.org/
• 107 Commentaries
• 6 Concordances
• 27 Dictionaries
• 8 Encyclopaedias
• http://africainternational.org/

42. OT Law, Narrative & Prophecy

43. Narrative

44. OT Meta-Narrative

45. Three Levels of Narrative

46. Principles Specific to OT Narrative
• Don’t forget God is the hero
• Don’t read things into the story
• Little doctrine
• Meaning may be implied and not
taught directly
• Little Allegory
• Specific Context
• Clear Meaning
• Set each narrative in context of
God’s redemptive plan for
humankind

47. OT Prophecy
92%
5%
2%1%
OT Prophecy
Contemporary New Covenant
Messianic Unfulfilled

48. Prophets – Form and Function
• Doers - more recorded about
what they did than what they
said
• Collections - oracles, like
parables or pericopes in NT
• Covenant-Enforcers - what Israel
had already agreed to
• Unoriginal message - God’s
message
• Original methods - metaphor,
symbolism, acting, poetry, etc ....

49. Prophets - Style
• Promise
• Lawsuit
• Woe
• Apocalyptic
• Poetry

50. Sensus Plenior

51. OT Psalms & Wisdom

52. Psalms - Form
• To God
• About God
• God’s Word to Us

53. Psalms - Function
• Help us to express ourselves to
God
• Consider God’s character and
being
• Consider God’s ways

54. Psalms - Principles
• Poetry
• Metaphor
• Hyperbole
• Repetition
• Parallelism
• Musical
• Unit

55. Psalms – Types
• Lament
• Individual / Communal
• Thanksgiving
• Individual / Communal
• Praise
• Salvation History
• Celebration & Affirmation
• Covenant renewal
• Royal Psalms
• Enthronement Psalms
• Songs of Zion or the City of Jerusalem
• Wisdom
• Trust

56. Psalms – Exegesis Questions?
• What Type?
• What Pattern?
• What Function?

57. Wisdom – The Books
• Ecclesiastes
• Proverbs
• Job
• Song of Songs
• Some Psalms

58. Wisdom – What is it?
• Wisdom is the ability to make
godly choices in life
• Knowledge
• Information

59. Wisdom – Types
• Speculative = working out what
‘wisdom’ means in the particular
situations of the individuals
involved
• Monologue: Ecclesiastes
• Dialogue: Job
• Proverbial: Proverbs
• Lyric: Song of Songs
• Points on poetry: careful about
interpreting too literally

60. Ecclesiastes – Two Exegetical Approaches
• Cynical
• Foil (deterrent)
• Solomon already messed up
• Dissatisfaction
• Points away
• Existentialist

61. Wisdom - Job
• Characters?
• Form?
• Function?

62. Wisdom - Proverbs
• Form?
• Function?
• Beware of …

63. Wisdom – Proverbs - Exercise
• Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)
6 Train up a child in the way he
should go; even when he is old he
will not depart from it.
• Proverbs 16:3 (NIV)
3 Commit to the Lord whatever you
do, and he will establish your plans.
• Proverbs 15:25 (NIV)
25 The Lord tears down the house
of the proud, but he sets the
widow’s boundary stones in place.
• Proverbs 25:24 (NIV)
24 Better to live on a corner of the
roof than share a house with a
quarrelsome wife.
“A stitch in time saves nine”
“Look before you leap”

64. Wisdom – Song of Songs
• Function?
• 2 Views
• Context?
• Ethical / Moral

65. NT Gospels & Parables

66. NT Meta-Narrative

67. Gospels
• Form?
• Three Types of Teaching
• Explanations / Narrative
• Imperatives
• Parables
• Function?
• Context
• Who?
• To Whom?
• Why?

68. Gospels – One Story, Four Dimensions

69. Gospels – Why?

70. Gospels – Literary Context
• Pericope
• “sitz im leben”
• Think Horizontally
• Think Vertically

71. Gospels - Hermeneutics
• Example is command?
• Descriptive is prescriptive?
• The Kingdom – Jewish vs New
covenant view
• Are they New Covenant books?

72. Gospels – “The Incident”

73. Parables - What is a Parable?
• “A weapon of controversy”
• Told and Heard better than read
• Punch-line
• Not allegory!
• Provoke - Impact - Response

74. Parables - Types
• True parable
• Similitude
• Metaphors & Similes
• Epigram

75. Parables - Exegeting
• Identify the audience
• Find points of reference
• Don’t over-analyse, not allegory
• Context
• Kingdom
• Contextless

76. Parables - Exercise
Luke 11:5-8 (NIV)
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose
you have a friend, and you go to him at
midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three
loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a
journey has come to me, and I have no
food to offer him.’
7 And suppose the one inside answers,
‘Don’t bother me. The door is already
locked, and my children and I are in bed.
I can’t get up and give you anything.’
8 I tell you, even though he will not get
up and give you the bread because of
friendship, yet because of your
shameless audacity he will surely get up
and give you as much as you need.
Exegesis Questions
• Context?
• Style / Type?
• Punch-line?
• Provoke - Impact – Response?

77. NT Acts & Epistles

78. Acts – Exegesis and Hermeneutic
• Exegesis
• Context?
• Form?
• Function?
• Hermeneutic
• Three Guidelines
• Teachings Are to be Understood
• Universal Commands Are to be
Obeyed
• Examples Are to be Considered
• Main purpose of the book for
people today?

79. Acts – Exercise - Decision making in the church
• Acts 1:15-26
• Acts 6:1-7
• Acts 13:1-4
• Acts 15:1-29

80. Epistles – The One-sided Phone Call
• Context?
• Historical Context
• Geographical Context
• Literary Context
• Who were the people?
• What were the places?
• What was the problem?
• What was the plan?
• Form?
• Function?

81. Epistles – Exercise – 2 John
• Context
• Who writes?
• To whom?
• 1 John?
• Who is the lady?
• How do you know?
• Function – Why?
• What’s going on?
• Occasion?

82. NT Apocalyptic

83. Apocalyptic – Form – An Apocalypse
Apocalypse
A genre of revelatory literature
with a narrative framework, in
which a revelation is mediated by
an otherworldly being to a human
recipient, disclosing a
transcendent reality which is both
temporal, insofar as it envisages
eschatological salvation, and
spatial insofar as it involves
another, supernatural world.

84. Apocalyptic – Form - Terminology
• Eschatology
• The doctrine of last things
• Subject matter of apocalyptic
writing
• Apocalyptic
• To cause something to be fully
known — ‘to reveal, to disclose, to
make fully known, revelation.’
• “The Apocalypse” = “The
Revelation” = An unveiling
• A big thing before and at the time
of Jesus.

85. Apocalyptic - Form - Features
• Wild symbolism
• Mainly predictive of future
• Dualistic ideas
• Popular literature
• Oppressed and Hopeless

86. Apocalyptic – Function - Purpose of Message
• Be alert and Watch closely
• Don’t panic
• More to encourage than predict
• Things are bad, will get worse
• You don’t know exactly where
you are on the way
• But God is in control and it will
be okay in the end
• So persevere and be confident

87. Apocalyptic – Context – Two Ages
Already
• We’re there!
• Starting point is the resurrection &
pouring out of spirit - Paul
• Jesus is first-fruits. It’s happening.
• Therefore we can have deliverance
from present evil age.
• Have the Holy Spirit. Guaranteed.
Sealed
• Joy in suffering because of
confident hope.
But Not Yet
• Oops, no we’re not; well, then again ….
• It’s been inaugurated, not consummated.
• Jews saw history going fine until things
getting worse and worse until God
intervenes and brings in new age.
• Disciples expect this cosmic end and good
people transported up to new realm.
• Instead what happened was ‘Jesus event’.
• Unexpectedly, history continues. We
function now on two planes. There will
be an end, however.
• D-day / VE Day analogy. Paul and John’s
language moves from one to the other
depending which part he is emphasising.

88. Revelation – Context
• Who? How do you know?
• When?
• To Whom? How do you know?
• Theme?
• Function?
• Form? (Genre)
• How do you know?
• Why?

89. Revelation – Context – Geography

90. Revelation – Context – Geography

91. Revelation – Context – Geography

92. Revelation – Context - OT
• OT Imagery, allusions, quotes
• Historical background
• Daniel, Isaiah, Psalms, Zechariah,
Ezekiel

93. Revelation – Approaches to Exegesis - Fulfilment
• Praeterist
• Then Till Now
• From Now On
• Radical view
• Moderate view
• Spiritually, always
• Blend all four views? We don't
know every detail

94. Revelation – Exegesis – Sequence
• Literal Time Scheme?
• Time Markers?
• Parallelism / Overlap?

95. Revelation – Exegesis – Numerology
• Symbolic / Metaphoric use
• Context tells you what means
• 3 = always been number of God
• 4 = created universe
• 7 = completeness (3 + 4)
• 6 = antichrist because one short of 7.
• Intensify by adding, multiplying or
repetition or squaring or cubing
• 3 X 4 = 12 even more complete than 7.
• 144,000 – 12 x 12 x 1000. An
innumerable number. Talking chosen-
ness, completeness ….

96. Revelation – Exegesis – Anything Simple?
• What can we take literally?
• Symbolism simplifies what we
cannot grasp.
• Taking it seriously means being
ready
• Look for teaching about same
subject in other genres (Paul,
Jesus ….)

97. Revelation – Exegesis – Meta Narrative
• Oppressed church
• Persevere – suffer like Christ
• Judgements – Inspire
repentance
• Hope – darkness will not prevail
• Christ is the centre of triumph

98. Advanced Exegesis & Hermeneutics - Traps, Biases, Fallacies, Problems

99. Problem Passages – What to do?
• Be content with our lack of
understanding; therefore, be less
dogmatic
• Even without certainty of details, we
can still know the point of the whole
passage (“baptizing for the dead”
passage of 1 Cor 15 addresses
resurrection issues rather than
baptism issues)
• Still ask “What can be said for certain”
• Consult a good, balanced commentary
• Admit when you are only guessing
• Rather than determining truth, ask
what are the consequences of
different interpretations?

100. Hermeneutics – Applying the Guidelines
1. Every passage has one meaning.
2. The most obvious meaning is usually the
correct one.
3. Always allow the author’s explanation to
stand.
4. Always interpret a passage within the
context of the passage, the book, and the
situation.
5. An interpretation of a passage should
conform to the environment of the author.
6. Rightly divide books by dispensation,
covenant and setting.
7. Interpret every passage in the light of all
others.
8. One passage will often explain another.
9. Let plain passages interpret difficult ones.
10. All passages on a subject must be studied
before a conclusion is drawn.
11. Observe the proper balance of scriptural
truth.
12. Passages should be interpreted in harmony
with the idioms contained.
13. Rightly divide the language (grammar and
figures of speech).
14. Correctly distinguish the figurative from
the literal.
15. Know the meaning of sentences, phrases
and words.
16. Rightly divide books by type of literature
(poetry, apocalyptic, historical, doctrinal,
etc.).

101. 1. Every Passage Has One Meaning
• Our job is to discover that meaning.
• What is the meaning of Ps 16:8-10?
Use Acts 2:25-27
• 2 Cor 6:14

102. 2. The most obvious meaning is usually the correct one.
• John 3:3-8
What does “born of water and the
spirit mean?
• Eph 4:5,6
What is the “one baptism”?

103. 3. Always Allow the Author’s Explanation to Stand
• 1 John 3:6 No one in Christ continues
to sin.
• Daniel 11: vs. 2-4 The kings of the
North and the South are Greek kings.
• Jn 2:19-21 What is Jesus talking
about?
• Psalm 82:5-8 What does “gods”
mean?
• 2 Tim 3:17 2 Tim 2:13
Look for the explanation in the
1. immediate context
2. that “chapter”
3. that book
4. that author
5. the whole Bible.

104. 4. Always interpret a passage within the context of the
immediate passage, the book and the situation
• Context, Context, Context…..
• John 9:31
• Matthew 18:20
• Revelation 3:20
• Matt 12:30 vs Mark 9:40
• 1 Cor 11:2f vs 1 Cor 14:33-35
It shall greatly help thee to
understand Scripture,
If thou mark not only what is spoken
or written,
But of whom,
And to whom,
With what words,
At what time,
Where,
With what circumstances,
Considering what goeth before
And what followeth.

105. 5. The interpretation should conform to the environment of the author
• 1 Tim 2:8-15
• 1 Tim 3 vs Titus 1 Qualities of
Elders
• Mark 10:23
• 1 Cor 8:4

106. 6. Rightly divide by dispensation, covenant and setting
• Patriarchal
• First Covenant
• The Second Covenant
• The thief on the cross
• Acts 15:24-29 Two covenants
meet.
• Romans 9:13-21
Predestination?
• Be aware of progressive
revelation.

107. 7. Interpret every passage in light of all others
• Acts 2:21 explained by Rom 10:9, 2
Tim 2:19

108. 8. One passage will often explain another
• 1 Thess 4:15-17 Is there room for a
rapture here? 2 Pet 3:11-13
• Harmonize Prov 26:4 and Prov 26:5
• Harmonize Ex 20:5-6 with Ezek 18:20
• Harmonize Prov 13:25 with Psalm
73:1-5

109. 9. Let plain passages interpret difficult ones.
• 1 Cor 15:29 Q: What does it not
mean?
• Romans 8:28-30 Does this justify a
strict predestination? See Hebrews
6:4-6, 10:19-32
• Ezekiel 18:25-29 Rev 20:13,14

110. 10. All passages on a topic should be studied before a conclusion is reached.
• Jn 14:14 James 4:2,3 5:13-16 1 John
5:14,15 (on prayer)
• Use John 3:16 for salvation?
• Rom 10:9 Is confession with your
mouth sufficient, alone, for salvation?
(it is with your mouth that you confess
and are saved) Consider 2 Tim 2:19

111. 11. Observe the proper balance of biblical truth
• Eph 2:8-10 vs James 2:24 (faith
and works)
• Phil 2:12 and 2 Cor 13:5 vs 1 Jn 5:13
Romans 8:37 and Hebrews 10:19
(assuring vs. assured)
• Predestination vs Free Will
• Romans 9:19-21, Romans 8:29 vs.
Deut 30:19,20

112. 12. Passages should be interpreted in light of idioms contained in them.
• Like a camel through the eye of a
needle. Mark 10:25
• Luke 22:31 Satan wants to sift you
like wheat
• Could 1 Cor 11:13 “with her head
uncovered” be an idiom?

113. 13. Rightly Divide the Language (grammar, figures of speech)
• Anthropomorphisms Psalm 44:3
• Personification Psalm 114:3
• Hyperbole Psalm 51:5 Matthew 9:47
Psalm 22:6
• Irony, sarcasm Galatians 5:12
• Simile Matthew 3:16 Isaiah 53:6
• Metaphor Matt 26:26 Luke 13:32
• Allegory Ephesians 6:11-17
• Metonymy 1 Cor 11:25
• Synecdoche Deut 8:3
• 1 Cor 11:27 Unworthy or
unworthily?
• Matthew 16:18 masculine vs
feminine

114. 14. Correctly Distinguish the Figurative from the Literal
• How do we know a passage is
figurative?
• An implied absurdity Luke 9:60
Mal 1:2-3
• When literal interpretation implies
a contradiction or inconsistency.
John 11:25-26
• When it requires a clearly immoral
conclusion Matt 18:9
• When the context implies it or the
author says so. Jn 2:18-20
• Common sense. John 4:10-15
• Apocalyptic literature works very
differently

115. 15. Know the meaning of words, phrases and sentences.
• Websters vs Greek vs Biblical
definition.
• Church
• Flesh
• Soul
• Bread
• Spirit
• In interpreting passages, look for key
words and define them carefully
• 1 Cor 11:2-16 head (v. 3) authority (v. 10)
• Rom 8:5-11

116. 16. Rightly divide books by type of literature.
• Poetry
• Loaded with metaphor, hyperbole, etc. Look
for the feeling, not the doctrine. Ps 51:5
• Proverb
• Principle, not promise or command. Prov
13:24, Prov 22:6
• Historical
• Look for the practical application Acts 6:3
• Doctrinal
• Can be most carefully analyzed
• Apocalyptic
• Assume figurative unless the context
demands literal
• Type/Antitype Interpretation
• If a NT writer says a particular
passage in the Old Testament is a
foreshadow / prophecy / prefigure /
type, then it is. Jn 3:14
• If an Old Testament passage works as
a foreshadow / prophecy / prefigure /
type both in the general sense and in
the specifics, then it is probably
legitimate.
• If one already knows that a general
event in the Old Testament is a
foreshadow / prophecy / prefigure /
type, then it is safer to assume that
the details are foreshadows as well.
Gen 22:1-11.

117. Ten Common Fallacies of Exegesis
1. Pre-understanding Fallacy
2. Incidental Fallacy
3. Obscurity Fallacy
4. Etymological Root Fallacy
5. Illegitimate Totality Transfer
Fallacy
6. Selective Use of Meaning Fallacy
7. Maverick Fallacy
8. Greek Scholar Fallacy
9. Any Verse Can Fit Any Situation
Fallacy
10. All Scripture Reads the Same
Fallacy

118. Reference Slides