Interpreting the New Testament Text: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis
480
Interpreting the New Testament Text: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis
480eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
With the explosive increase in availability of English Bible translations, the question can easily be asked, "Why bother with the hard work of biblical exegesis?" Computers can translate foreign languages and our English texts can take us very close to the original meanings, so why exegete? Answer: because the deepest truths of the Bible are found through the deepest study.
This book teaches the principles, methods, and fundamentals of exegeting the New Testament. It also has examples of textual exegesis that clearly and helpfully show the value of exegeting a text well. Any serious student of Scripture would benefit from utilizing this book in the study of the Bible.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781433519222 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Crossway |
| Publication date: | 10/20/2006 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 480 |
| File size: | 9 MB |
About the Author
Buist M. Fanning (DPhil, University of Oxford) is the department chair and senior professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, where he has taught for more than forty years. He is the author or contributor to many books, including Biblical Theology of the New Testament and the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. He and his wife, Jan, have four children and twelve grandchildren.
Daniel B. Wallace (PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and the founder of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, an institute purposed to preserve Scripture by taking digital photographs of all known Greek New Testament manuscripts. Dr. Wallace influences students across the country through his textbook on Greek grammar, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, as it is used in more than two-thirds of the nation’s schools for the study of Greek. His postdoctoral work includes work on Greek grammar at Tyndale House in Cambridge and textual criticism studies at the Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung in Münster. When he is not involved in scholarly pursuits, Dr. Wallace and wife, Pati, enjoy spending time with their boys and beagles.
Tim Savage (PhD, University of Cambridge; ThM, Dallas Theological Seminary) is a pastor, author, international conference speaker, and founding council member of the Gospel Coalition. He has served in churches in Arizona, Great Britain, and Texas. He is married to Lesli and they have two adult sons, Matthew and Jonathan. Tim is the author of No Ordinary Marriage and Discovering the Good Life.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Opening Questions
Definition and Philosophy of Exegesis
DARRELL L. BOCK
For many students, taking an exegesis course is walking into a foreign world. Not only is the language of study not their own but even the word exegesis gives the feel of entering an alien land. However, when it comes to biblical study, there are few courses more fundamental than exegesis. Working firsthand with an ancient text in its original language gives a kind of direct access to the message of the New Testament that nothing else does. So in this chapter we hope to introduce you to the concept of exegesis, why it is important, the philosophy that stands behind it, and its relationship to the disciplines of theology and hermeneutics.
1.1 Definition of Exegesis
The term exegesis has its roots in the Greek term ejxhgevomai, which means "to lead out of" and so it means to "read out" the meaning of the text. It is to explain or interpret a text. It has two senses: (1) exegesis is a product, such as a technical commentary, and (2) it is a method of study. In this second sense, one "exegetes" a text through the use of various methods this book will explore in an initial way. It is both an art and a science. Some elements of the exegetical process are as instinctive as an artist's work. The artistic exegete is able to ask the text the right set of questions and discern a passage's inherent conceptual unity with a clarity that also reveals a passage's depth. Exegesis also is a science, in that there are methods that can be applied to the text. These methods help the interpreter discover the information a text possesses. This volume hopes to discuss the methods of exegesis that make it a skill that can be taught, while also giving samples of exegesis that reveal what exegesis looks like in the hands of mature practitioners.
If we wanted to express the meaning of exegesis more precisely, we would define it as setting forth the authors'/text's meaning by interaction with the original language through the use of sound hermeneutics with a view to applying the text to the contemporary church and the world.
This definition has four key parts. First, the basic point in exegesis is to set forth the author's meaning as expressed in his text. The ambiguity of the definition in terms of the author/text makes the point that exegesis is not concerned with an author's state of mind or why he writes, as much as it is concerned with what he has said in the text he produced. Authorial intent has fallen on hard times in recent hermeneutical discussion for a variety of reasons, most of which relate to the difficulty of establishing what a standard of authorial intent means and discussion over how one can overcome the historical distance between an author and readers. Nonetheless, once one realizes that the pursuit of authorial intent is a function of validating or justifying between competing understandings and involves judgment as opposed to an airtight hermeneutical approach, much of the rationale for challenging the importance of pursuing the author evaporates. For it is a fact that we have a text because we had an author(s) who produced a text for us to seek to understand. Interpretation then very naturally should be concerned, at least initially, with what the author who produced the text sought to communicate through it.
Although the reader has to construe what the text affirms — and much attention in recent hermeneutical study is given to how a reader reads — the purpose of exegesis is to articulate what the author expressed, since the text is the "voiceprint" of an author. Even when we do not know an author's exact identity, as is the case in a book like Hebrews, we can still examine his text for his meaning. One other element in this first portion of the definition is worth noting. It is the fact that the location of the apostrophe in "authors" follows the "s," so we speak of the authors' meaning. Here we allude to the fact that the New Testament ultimately is seen theologically to have two authors, the human author and the divine author who inspired the text. Often the importance of this distinction is not significant to exegesis, but what it does affirm is that there is an ultimate unity to the New Testament — its theology — and that the theological task ultimately moves in a canonical direction. An appreciation of the dual authorship of Scripture often is excluded in more confined definitions of exegesis, where only the historical setting of the human author is the concern. Such an appreciation of the complexity of biblical authorship raises its own unique problems in reading Scripture and makes it quite unlike reading any other book. There is a unity that exists among its human authors that the divine authorship provides. In addition, God knows where Scripture is going as a whole in a way that the Bible's human authors did not appreciate. All of this means that good exegesis pays attention not only to the meaning of a passage in its "book" context but in its "canonical" context as well, where the correlation of texts across authors becomes an important concern.
The second key portion of the definition is the specification that exegesis involves work with the text's original language. In the case of the New Testament, this means the Koine Greek of the text. Whereas those who interpret the Bible may work with the English or their own primary language, exegesis has generally been reserved for those who can interact directly with Greek. Knowledge of the language allows one a direct access to the expressions of the text and its lexical, grammatical, syntactical roots that working through a translation does not permit. Though it requires much labor to learn a language, the "payoff" is in gaining a level of access to the text and the way it structures itself that a mere use of one's native language cannot attain.
The third element of the definition appeals to the use of sound hermeneutics. Here we read a text with sensitivity to its vocabulary, its grammatical expression, its historical setting, its literary genre and expression, its sociocultural context, and its theological scope. Much of this book discusses the methods that help one read with such sensitivities. Sound hermeneutics means making well-considered judgments about the text. In a world of competing interpretations, appreciating the process of validating a reading is one of the most important of exegetical skills to develop. Here learning how to ask the right questions of the text and how to pursue the answers, as well as being aware of what the text is not addressing or answering, is part of both the skill and the art of exegesis. Sound hermeneutics and careful interpretation involve a series of judgments. The careful exegete appreciates that dimension of exegesis and what the process of judgment means for the decisions made about how the text reads.
The final element of the definition states the ultimate goal of exegesis. In one sense, this movement to application is not part of the more technical definitions of exegesis, which focus only on explaining the text. However, the character of the Bible itself is not merely to inform us about the past or even about God's work in the past, but to move its readers to be responsive to God and to live well and wisely as a result (2 Tim 3:16-17). So a more complete definition of exegesis, at least in terms of its function in the church, is to lay solid groundwork for application that is biblically informed. Therefore we shall have a chapter that discusses the movement to application that grows out of exegesis. Such movement to application is not always as easy or straightforward as some think. Exegesis is a good way to be sure we are not engaged in reading into the text (eisegesis) what is not there by being sensitive to the scope and setting of a given text. By carefully reflecting on the meaning of a text and the scope of what it addresses, we are in a better place to apply the text in ways that do not go beyond its intention.
As we have already suggested, exegesis deals with the terms of the text and presupposes the work of textual criticism in determining what the actual wording of the text is. Then the message of the text is pursued by working with the lexical terms and their usage through the examination of the terms in word study and through attention to the grammar expressed in the text. The contexts of how this expression appears in its historical, literary, and theological concerns are also important features to examine within exegesis. So we will have chapters examining these various levels of study and the process of making judgments about which of the possible meanings of a text is most likely its meaning. For the goal of validating the text exegetically is to set forth why one of the many possible ways to construe the text is in fact most likely the meaning that the author desired to convey. Once this exegetical meaning is in place, then the move to exposition and application can be made.
In sum, exegesis as a process has three basic outcomes: (1) to understand the message of the text, (2) to articulate why one thinks that is the text's message — both as a whole and in its particular details — (validation), and (3) to prepare for application(s) rooted in that biblical message.
The tools of exegesis include the Greek text, multiple translations (to surface options and exegetical disputes), a concordance (for word study), grammars and grammatical aids, extrabiblical texts (to help gain an understanding of the historical and cultural setting), lexicons and theological word books (to help with terms), and commentaries, especially technical commentaries (to serve as discussion partners about what the text means). Subsequent chapters will go into more detail about how each of these areas and the tools that go with them contribute to the exegetical process.
1.2 Why Exegesis Is Important
For those in Christian ministry, it is perhaps transparent that exegesis is important because understanding the meaning of the biblical text is one of the central responsibilities of someone who ministers and preaches the Word of God. Teachers in the church have a stewardship that makes exegesis a central element of ministry in seeking to serve God faithfully (2 Tim 2:15; Jas 3:1). There are several other reasons why exegesis is important.
There is a recognition even within the biblical text that some of the other texts written by biblical authors are not easy to understand. 2 Pet 3:16 calls some of Paul's writings difficult to understand. This difficulty means that sometimes effort and reflection need to be given to the text in order to ascertain its meaning.
Interaction within the Christian community and with those outside of it requires that the interpreter appreciate not only what is believed but how one determines that this understanding of a text is more adequate than another reading of it. A corollary to this is that the existence of false teaching also requires that one consider how to read the text accurately. The ability to explain how readings that undermine the text actually fail to represent the meaning well is an important skill for one who teaches in the church or gives instruction about its most sacred text (Tit 1:9).
The goal of the Spirit in inspiring the text is to lead the child of God into an adequate walk with God (2 Tim 3:15-17). Such a spiritual understanding of fellowship with God is supported by a serious engagement with the meaning of the inspired text. In a sense, one can well say that the Spirit works with the Word as a significant element of how he forms us spiritually, and a proper understanding of the text is a key tool used to get us there.
1.3 A Philosophy of Exegesis: Appreciating How to Read Texts, Readers, and the Role of Communities
A proper philosophy of exegesis involves more than applying a bunch of rules to how we read the text. There needs to be an appreciation for what the writer of a text gives us and how the way a reader reads impacts what is seen in the text. In other words, the hermeneutics that goes into understanding a text involves reflection on the procedures one applies to the text, what we often understand as hermeneutics. However, a full appreciation of exegesis also considers how we as readers approach texts and how that impacts our reading. This aspect of hermeneutics considers the process of how and from what social, ideological, and/or ethnic location one reads and engages texts — the more philosophical side of hermeneutics. Both aspects of the hermeneutical process, what the text yields and what the reader sees and why, need attention by the careful exegete.
The beginning and most fundamental point for exegesis is a serious and careful consideration of the text and what the author sought to communicate through it. The author is the communicative agent most central to the interpretive task. The author produced the text, and articulating the meaning that author produced is the basic goal of the exegete. Such a view is not naïve or unaware of recent philosophical discussion. Rather, it is a recognition that an author deserves respect for having produced a text for readers to understand. Although many who work in hermeneutics today have banished the author from a central role in exegesis and have given a primary place to readers, such a move is not the most effective way to approach exegesis. A text is the recorded product of an author so that even if the author's identity is not known or the author is dead and unavailable, the text gives access to the author's expression and thought. This goal of determining the author's meaning through the text is the pursuit of a what. It is what the author seeks to affirm that is the goal of the exegete, not a reproduction of a state of mind, as some who criticize authorial intent characterize the view. The reasons why the author speaks are also important, but only to the extent that they help us determine the scope, context, and content of what is said. Expressed in this way, the fundamental and indivisible linkage between the author and the text the author produced receives recognition as the most basic element of interpretation. In this way, even though we may not know the identity of the author, we still meet his presence and message in the text.
In making this affirmation, however, the reader is not banished to irrelevance in the interpretive process. Nor does the affirming of such a goal for exegesis mean there is a lack of recognition that getting to the author's meaning can be difficult and often is a matter for genuine discussion and debate. Exegesis is fundamentally a process that involves multiple judgments. A change of mind here and there can result in a very different reading of the text. However, it is important as we exegete that we are agreed as interpreters that the starting place for our dialogue is what the author of the text initially affirmed, because without such agreement it is difficult to know what we are discussing when it comes to treating issues of what the Bible meant and means.
On the other hand, readers read and are responsible for construing meaning. Interpretation is always a dialogue between interpreter and text. What a reader sees and how a reader reads is determined not only by what is in the text but by how the reader is prepared to read by his or her culture, theological perspective, personal background, and appreciation of the text's setting. As much as we may wish to try, we cannot make ourselves blank slates as readers when approaching a text. We are better off appreciating how this influences our reading than to pretend we can entirely neutralize these factors. Modern hermeneutical discussions have highlighted this feature of hermeneutics, maybe even exaggerated it. However, the role of readers was underappreciated previously and also needs attention as one thinks theoretically about the process of interpretation. Readings of the Bible in a pre-Copernican world would inevitably read texts on creation differently than we do. The amount of background we bring to the reading impacts how well we read. Many of the chapters in this book are designed to make the exegete more sensitive to the many levels in which one can get a better grasp of background, whether it be how Greek words are used, how customs worked, what the values of the first-century culture were, or how the author presents the argument. The goal of such methods is to make us better readers as we seek to recover the author's meaning.
One creative role the reader has as an exegete is when the move is made to set up application, because only the reader lives in the world in which the text is to be applied. This means that as one seeks how to apply the Bible to modern questions about how one deals, for example, with television, movies, stem cell research, and other more modern questions, it is the reader's appreciation of how a text works and how it relates canonically to other texts on the theme that pulls the reader into a reflective yet creative theological process of seeking out the full theological perspective of Scripture. The issue of distinct cultural settings and contexts also enters into the reflective process at this point. So a reader is another important part of the process.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Interpreting the New Testament Text"
by .
Copyright © 2006 Darrell L. Bock and Buist M. Fanning.
Excerpted by permission of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Preface,
Contributors,
Abbreviations,
Introduction,
Part One: Exegetical Methods and Procedures,
1. Opening Questions: Definition and Philosophy of Exegesis,
2. Laying a Foundation: New Testament Textual Criticism,
3. Grammatical Analysis: Making Connections,
4. Sentence Diagramming, Clausal Layouts, and Exegetical Outlining: Tracing the Argument,
5. Lexical Analysis: Studies in Words,
6. Validation: Exegetical Problem Solving,
7. Background Studies: Grounding the Text in Reality,
8. Narrative Genre: Studying the Story,
9. Epistolary Genre: Reading Ancient Letters,
10. Apocalyptic Genre: Visions and Symbols,
11. Scripture Citing Scripture: Use of the Old Testament in the New,
12. Theological Analysis: Building Biblical Theology,
13. Showing the Relevance: Application, Ethics, and Preaching,
Part Two: Exegetical Examples and Reflections,
14. Mark 1:1-13: Introducing the Gospel of Mark I. HOWARD MARSHALL,
15. Mark 1:1-15: The Paradox of Authority and Servanthood NARRY F. SANTOS,
16. Mark 7:27: Jesus' Puzzling Statement JOEL F. WILLIAMS,
17. Acts 8:26-40: Why the Ethiopian Eunuch Was Not from Ethiopia EDWIN M. YAMAUCHI,
18. Romans 15:9b-12: Gentiles as the Culminative Focus of Salvation History DON N. HOWELL, JR.,
19. Galatians 3:10-13: Crucifixion Curse and Resurrection Freedom DAVID CATCHPOLE,
20. Ephesians 2:19-22: The Temple Motif SCOTT S. CUNNINGHAM,
21. Ephesians 5:26: The Baptismal Metaphor and Jewish Ritual Baths HELGE STADELMANN,
22. Philippians 2:6-7: The Image of God and the Cross of Christ TIMOTHY B. SAVAGE,
23. Colossians 1:12-20: Christus Creator, Christus Salvator E. EARLE ELLIS,
24. James 1:19-27: Anger in the Congregation DONALD J. VERSEPUT,
25. 1 Peter 2:2a: Nourishment for Growth in Faith and Love W. EDWARD GLENNY,
26. 3 John: Tracing the Flow of Thought HERBERT W. BATEMAN IV,
What People are Saying About This
“Interpreting the New Testament Text is a contemporary application of Paul’s charge to Timothy to study to present himself to God, approved as one who correctly handles the word of truth. Highly recommended!”
—Andreas J. Köstenberger, Director, Center for Biblical Studies and Research; Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Founder, Biblical Foundations
“This ‘how-to’ guide provides significant step-by-step help for first-year seminarians. It should prove very helpful.”
—Klyne Snodgrass, Professor Emeritus of New Testament, North Park Theological Seminary
“Not only an excellent textbook but also a useful refresher for pastors and teachers engaged in the weekly study of the text for ministry.”
—Clinton E. Arnold, Dean and Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
“Covers the exegetical landscape admirably.”
—B. Paul Wolfe, Former Associate Professor of New Testament, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Headmaster, The Cambridge School of Dallas
“A comprehensive, thorough, and excellent guide to exegetical method that I am happy to recommend with enthusiasm!”
—Donald A. Hagner, George Eldon Ladd Professor Emeritus of New Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary; author, Matthew (Word Biblical Commentary)
“Fanning and Bock have compiled an all-star cast of lucid writers on exegetical method with like-minded writers illustrating good interpretations of texts and themes. It’s really two books for the price of one, with each made better by the other!”
—Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary
“This excellent collection of essays provides a solid foundation for all whose goal is to hear and obey God’s Word.”
—Mark L. Strauss, Professor of New Testament, Bethel Seminary San Diego
“A tool that takes you into the best New Testament classrooms for the simple price of one volume.”
—David Wyrtzen, Adjunct Professor for Doctor of Ministry Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary; Pastor Emeritus, Midlothian Bible Church