Paul instructed Timothy to “preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:2). In essence, he was telling him to give voice to the message already contained in the Scriptures. Timothy’s responsibility was not to make the Bible interesting by adding something to it. He was to faithfully proclaim what God had already said. Preach what is there without embellishing it!

That is the difference between exegesis and eisegesis. Exegesis seeks to draw the meaning out of the text. It asks, What does the Scripture actually say? What did the author intend? What did these words mean in their historical and literary context? Eisegesis does the opposite. It brings an idea to the text and then attempts to make the text say it. Instead of allowing Scripture to shape our conclusions, we begin with our conclusions and recruit Scripture to support them.

Recently, someone sent me a video in which the speaker connected Ishmael with modern-day Iran and then connected the “wild donkey” imagery of Genesis 16:12 with the Democratic Party. There are immediate problems with both claims. Modern Iran is predominantly Persian, not Arab, and Scripture does not identify the Persian people as descendants of Ishmael. More importantly, the “wild donkey of a man” language in Genesis 16:12 has absolutely nothing to do with the symbol of a twenty-first-century American political party. The donkey in Genesis existed thousands of years before either the United States or the Democratic Party. Whatever our political convictions may be, that meaning simply isn’t in the text.

And that is the problem with eisegesis. Once we allow ourselves to make Scripture say something merely because the connection sounds clever, dramatic, prophetic, or politically satisfying, there is virtually no limit to what we can make the Bible “say.” The question is not, “Can I make this verse fit my idea?” The question is, “Is my idea actually found in this verse?” There is an enormous difference.

Paul told Timothy to be a workman who was “rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The preacher is a workman, not an inventor. We do not manufacture meaning; we discover it. We do not give Scripture our message; Scripture gives us its message.

That requires discipline. It means paying attention to context. It means asking who wrote the passage, to whom it was written, why it was written, and what the words meant when they were written. It also means being willing to surrender an exciting interpretation when the text will not support it. Sometimes the most spiritual thing a Bible teacher can say about an interesting idea is, “That isn’t what this passage is talking about.”

Scripture does speak to our world. Its truth confronts every culture, every political ideology, every generation, and every human heart. But before we can faithfully apply the Bible to our world, we must first understand what the Bible actually says. Application may cross centuries, but meaning does not change with the headlines.

Our calling is not to make the Bible say something relevant. The Word of God is already relevant. Our calling is to read what is there, understand what is there, preach what is there, and live what is there. Paul’s charge remains as necessary now as when he first gave it to Timothy: “Preach the Word.”

Nothing less–and nothing more! ©

–PGR