In this section, we are going to cover and look at ten steps of exegesis (dertermining the original author’s intended meaning).

A. Identify the Genre (The Literary Form)#

The first step coincides with one of our principles and that is the first step of any interpretation is to identify the genre, to identify the literary form. You will misread a text if you do not correctly identify its form.

Identifying the genre is critical and important with any work of literature, because the genre determines the rules by which we understand the text. For this step, the question you ask is

Epistles (or letters) are interpreted differently than narrative literature. Poetry and proverbial literature have their own rules of interpretation. Truth is communicated differently in different literary forms.

For example,

1. Historical Narrative

• We are looking for historical facts
• We are looking for features of narrative like plot and characters

2. Parable

• We are looking for moral lesson
• We are looking for the truth from that story

3. Proverb

• We are looking for general truth that teaches us how to live life in light of God’s truth, God’s wisdom

B. Get the Big Picture#

Our second step of interpretation is to get the big picture and by that we mean to establish the historical and literary context of the document that is under study.

Inductively, we would read through the entire document seeking to establish the broader life setting of the book.

1. Historical Context#

The historical context means the life setting of the letter or the book. The best way to get the big picture is to read the entire letter or the entire book all the way through looking for its overall themes.

a. Epistle#

Read the entire epistle in one sitting in order to get the big picture and identify the author, the recipients, the occasion and purposes, the main themes.

Example: The letter to Galatians

• Author: The Apostle Paul.

Paul identifies himself as Paul in the first word of the book.

• Recipients: The churches in Galatia

• The occasion: The Galatians are apparently deserting the faith, are turning to a different gospel because of some false teachers.

• The purpose: To correct the churches, to call them back to the authentic faith, to authentic gospel of justification by faith alone.

• Main theme: Justification by faith alone

The danger of legalism - that is of trying to be saved by your own work. Another theme is of living in the Spirit and the power of the Spirit, rather than the power of the flesh.

b. Gospel#

Read the entire gospel (ideally in one sitting) in order to get the big picture and identify the author, the historical, religious, and political setting, the portrait of Jesus Christ presented, plot - especially the climax and resolution.

The point here is that following the plot, the narrative progression, is a key part of the historical and literally contexts, the historical context of reading a gospel.

c. Prophetic Literature#

Read the entire prophetic books in order to get the big picture and understanding the historical, religious, and political setting within Irael’s history, determining their central message, identifying the key themes.

There is another side of getting the big picture and that is reading the book deductively or confirming and refining the results that we have discovered by reading inductively.

2. Literary Context#

We also need to identify the literary context, the progress of the book as it moves through the argument that is developed or the plot as it is developed. The best way to determine that is to outline the entire book.

Method to outline the book#

1. Step 1: Break the book down into each of its main paragraphs

Your goal is to identify each paragraph and summarize each paragraph with a brief phrase, a short phrase.

2. Step 2: Group related paragraphs into sections

Your goal is to group the paragraphs by theme and then summarize the theme of each section.

3. Step 3: Group the seections into larger units

Look at those sections and see if they can be grouped together in even larger units.

4. Step 4: Reverse the process for step 1-3 to develop your outline

Take each of those larger units (Step 3) as a major point within your outline; and then each of the sections (Step 2) becomes a sub point; and each of those paragraphs then become your sub￾sub points.

Shortcuts for Getting the Big Picture#

• For historical context: use Biblical surveys, introductions, and dictionaries

• For literary cotnext: use Bible handbook (goes passage by passage and summarizes every section of a book) or commentary.

C. Develop a Thesis Statement#

Our third principle is to develop a thesis statement or big idea for the individual passage in one sentence.

Hints for developing the thesis statement:

1. What one theme gives this passage unity?

2. Look for a theme that occurs repeeatedly

3. Try outlining the passage

4. Test out a theme by asking “does every verse relate to this theme?”

5. Turn your subject¹ into a question and a complement² should answer this question

Example: Philippians 1

“Now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of good will. The latter do so out of love knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way whether from false motives or true Christ is preached and because of this I rejoice.”

What one theme gives this passage unity?

The advancedment of the gospel

A theme that occurs repeatedly

Paul says at the very beginning "I want you to know that what has happened to me has served to advance the gospel. And the advancement of the gospel is something that is repeatedly all the way through from beginning to end.

Outlining the passage

Identify the ways in which the gospel is advancing despite Paul’s imprisonement

Test the them

"Does every verse relate to the advancement of the gospel?". It certainly does.

Turn the subject into a question

The question is "How does the gospel advance?" and Paul answers that question.

D. Outline the Progress of Thought in the Passage#

We have already talked about outlining as a means of identifying the main idea or the thesis statement, but now we will talk about a few helpful points on how to actually outline the progress of thought.

Qualifications of a Good Outline#

1. Every point in a good outline must first relate directly to the big idea, relate directly to your thesis statement

2. Every good outline should clearly and accurately explain the progress of the argument in the passage, meaning you should be able to see how each point relates to the point made before it and after it.

Two Kinds of Outlines: Parallel and Progressive#

a. Parallel Outline#

A parallel outline is where each of the sub points is parallel to one another generally answering some question about the thesis statement. To develop a parallel outline, turn the thesis statement into a question.

Example: Philippians 1:12-18

The question: In what ways is the gospel advancing despite Paul’s imprisonment?

• Introduction: The advance of the gospel despite Paul’s imprisonment

• Point 1: The gospel is advancing through Paul’s testimony to the palace guard (v. 13)

• Point 2: The gospel is advancing through the courage given to others to proclaim it (v. 14)

• Point 3: The gospel is advancing despite the false motives of some (v. 15-16)

• Conclusion: The most important thing of all is that Christ is preached (v. 18)

b. Progressive Outline#

A progrerssive outline progressively develops the flow of the argument or the progress of the story. Each point must still direcly relate to the thesis statement, but there is progress rather than parallel.

Example: Romans 12:1-2

Thesis statement: In light of God’s free gift of salvation, Paul calls believers to presenet themselves as living sacrifice in God’s service.

• The command to present your bodies as a living sacrifice (v. 1a)

• The reason to present your body as a living sacrifice (v. 1b)

• The means of presenting your body as a living sacrifice (v. 2a)

• The result of presenting your body as a living sacrifice (v. 2b)

E. Consult Secondary Sources on Your Passage#

Our fifth step of exegesis is to consult secondary sources, especially good commentaries, in order to go beyond a surface reading of the text. Good commentaries will be your best secondary resource for serious study in preparation for teaching and preaching.

Expository Commentaries#

Expository commentaries are exegetically focused commentaries whose goal is to identify the author’s original meaning of the text in its original context.

A commentary is a work which comments on a particular book of Scripture. Commentaries will deal with the progress of thought in the book.

Different Types of Commentaries#

List the different kinds of commentaries:

• Devotional commentaries: focus on application of the text

• Homiletical commentaries: focus on helping the preacher prepare a message

• Expository commentaries: seek a middle road between practical and technical

• Technical or Critical commentaries: tends to be focused on detailed study of the Hebrew or Greek text, a detailed study of historical, cultural, social, religious background

Evaluating and Choosing Commentaries#

1. Is the commentary well organized and easy to use?

2. Does it provide a good introduction to the book including the literary genre, historical context, purpose and occasion?

3. Does the author discuss interpretational problems?

4. Does the author give a fair and balanced treatment of problems or is the author clearly biased in one particular direction?

5. Does the work comment on each verse or is it only section by section?

6. Is there a bibliography to pursue further research in the commentary?

7. Does the author exhibit awareness of recent works related to the issues in the book or is it only older works that are cited?

8. Does the author document his or her sources, especially references to ancient writers or customs?

9. Does the author include hints for application or contextualization as part of the work?

10. Does the commentary follow the main theme or argument of the book well relating each section to the flow of the book or are there just many scattered exegetical comments?

Tips for Using Commentaries#

a) Do not let using a commentary replace your personal Bible study. The ext itself, not a commentary, is always given priority.

b) Do an inductive study of the passage prior to consulting a commentary.

c) Consult more than one commentary, particularly on problem passages.

d) Beware of simply seeking a commentary who agrees with you.

e) Watch out for the theological biases, both those of the commentator and also your own.

F. Analyze Syntactical Relationships#

Analyze Syntactical Relationships means examining the sentences and hwo they relate to each other. It means identifying the main clause of each sentence and the subordinate clauses and identifying the function of those subordinate clauses.

G. Analyze Key Terms and Themes#

Analyzing key terms means doing word studies.

H. Resolve Interpretive Issues and Problems#

Step 8 is to resolve interpretative issues and problems related to the essential meaning of the text. Every passage will raise interpretive questions. It is important to discern which problems are essential to resolve.

The key principle for discerning what is an essential issue is does it affect the essential meaning of the text. Is it going to change your thesis statement? Is it going to change your main points of your outline? Is it going to change the way you approach, teach and apply the text?

Principles for Resolving Problems#

First principle is there are no unique principles to solving problems; it really is a matter of doing good interpretation. The basic principles we have set out for exegesis apply directly to solving problems.

• Principles like identify correctly the literary genre

• Principles like carefully examnine the literary and historical context.

• Consult outside sources, but always check their proposals against the text.

• Keep an open mind. Neither the traditional solution nor the one that best fits your theological persuasion may be the correct one.

• Pray about the passage. The Holy Spirit is the one who illuminates Scripture

I. Evaluate Your Results From the Perspective of Wider Contextual and Theological Issues#

Evaluate our results in the context of the theology of the Bible as a whole.

J. Summarize Your Results#

Finally, a summarizing step that simply says summarize your results, revise and refine in light of the nine previous steps, with particular attention paid to the thesis statement, outline and progress of the passage.