Hermeneutics
The process of interpreting the Bible. This is what we are learning in this website. It includes all
the rules, principles, theory, and methods of interpreting the
Bible. It covers the process from trying to understand the
original meaning of the verses to what it means to us today.
EXEGESIS
This is the process of interpretation where you are trying to find
the original meaning of the verse. It is finding out what was
the message that was heard by the original recipient of the
Bible. Example: Paul told Timothy "stop
drinking only water, and use a little wine...(1 Tim. 4:23 NIV).
Exegesis would attempt to find out what it really meant to Timothy
(not to us today). The original message was given to Timothy under a
specific circumstance. The background may involve issues that
are evident to both Paul and Timothy but are not mentioned in the Bible.
EXposition
Application of the Bible passages to modern times. This is the process that most of us do
will do with the verses of the
Bible. It is trying to find the application or relevance of the
Bible message for us today. It is the process that follows exegesis.
So here is the relationship of the terms
with each other: To understand the Bible properly we practice hermeneutics
by first applying exegesis because we want to find out the
original meaning of the Bible. Secondly, we do an exposition
of the text because we want to
apply the message to our lives today.
Notice that exegesis is
very
important because that is how we
learn and understand the original meaning of the Bible. If you
misunderstand the original meaning, I doubt that you will have the proper
application of the Bible in your life today.
Your comments are always welcome.
Please send your comments to Comments & Questions