Exegesis: How to Study God's Word

Introduction

The Bible is God’s Word, and there is no other book from God (2 Timothy 3:16-17). God gave His Word to His church because of His great love to her, so that she would know His will, for preservation and propagation of truth, and for the establishment and comfort of her against corruption and the evils of Satan (Proverbs 22:19-21). Sadly, many Christians today do not spend much time in God’s Word. In 2018, there was a study that showed most professing Christians did not read God’s Word daily. One reason this is case is because many have not been taught how to study God’s Word. The study of God’s Word is called Exegesis, where you dig out God’s original meaning of a verse or verses. So, this what this article will cover, how to study God’s Word.

Prayer

The first thing is to begin with prayer. Prayer is first because the Bible is not like any other book, but it is God’s Book, and it takes the Holy Spirit to give us God’s intended meaning for each verse that He dictated (Ephesians 1:17-19). Prayer is not for God, but for the Christian seeking to grow in His knowledge and obedience to his Lord (Matthew 28:18-20). So, when you pray, pray for God to humble you to His Word, for the Holy Spirit to open your mind to understand His Word, and for you to obey what God has said (Psalm 119:18).

Theological-Historical Context

The second part of studying Scripture is to understand the Theological-Historical context of the book and verses being studied (2 Peter 1:20-21). As all Scripture is God’s spoken Word (Theological part), God spake His Word in a specific historical time period, from over 40 different amanuenses, in three different languages, in several different literary genres, and to His church in different geographical areas (Historical part). Therefore, when you come to God’s Word, you cannot interpret God’s Word correctly when you cast your own cultural characteristics into the original context. To understand the historical context of the book and verse, you can go to the introduction in most commentaries because they go over some of the historical context. Also, you can read Bible history books, archeology books, and Old and New Testament Survey books. Lastly, good commentaries, especially those before the 1900s, give good historical notations when they are exegeting the verse.

Literal and Grammatical Context

The third part of Biblical interpretation is the grammatical context (2 Timothy 2:15). This includes the study of the original languages (Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic). The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and Aramaic, while the New Testament was written in Koine Greek. Pastor and Doctor William Cunningham, says this in his book Theological Lectures : on Subjects Connected with Natural Theology, Evidences of Christianity, the Canon and Inspiration of Scripture,

It is of great importance that you should be deeply impressed with the conviction that the sense (meaning) of Scripture is but one, and that this one sense (meaning) is to be discovered and ascertained only by a careful and exact investigation of the literal and grammatical meaning of the words as they stand. There they are ; they are God's words. He has given them to you, that by ascertaining their meaning you may know His will ; and therefore all the powers of your mind, wielding and applying all the materials which are fitted to con- tribute to effect this object, should be brought to bear upon them. (Pg. 587)

It is clear that the original languages are to be studied. When you study the language in the verse, you need to study each particular word (lexicology), the sentence structure (syntax), and the argument structure in the surrounding paragraphs (rhetoric). English translations are good to use, but the English translations do not always show the full meaning of the original words due to the translators wanting the translation to read well in English. Also, the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic languages are more Inflected than English. Inflection is the particular change in words depending on how they are grammatically acting in a sentence. Each word has a particular meaning of its own, and this meaning within the context of the verse deals with its grammatical parts: Part of Speech (Noun, Verb, Conjunction, etc.), Person (1st, 2nd, 3rd), Tense (Present, Aorist, Imperfect, etc.), Mood (Indicative, Imperative, Participle, etc.), Voice (Active, Middle, Passive), Case (Nominative, Vocative, Genitive, etc.), Number (Singular, Plural), and Gender (Masculine, Feminine, Neuter). An example of inflection in English is this: Ephesians 2:8-- For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. You can see the "you" changed to "yourselves". It changed as the "you" received the grace of saving faith, while the possessive "yourselves" indicates that we do not possess saving faith on our own, but it is God's gift.

Rhetorical Argument/ Interpretation

For the fourth part of how to study Scripture, is the further study in the grammatical context. Specifically, it is the further study of the syntax or the arrangement of God’s argument. In this area, the things to look for are these: who spoke, to whom was it said, what was spoken about, how was it spoken, and why was it spoken. It is very important to state again, that you are exegeting the text, meaning pulling out the original meaning. This means that you are doing a letter by letter, word by word, phrase by phrase, clause by clause, and sentence by sentence consecutive study of God’s Word. The grammatical parts tell you how the word relates to the other words, in order to extrapolate God’s particular denotation of the sentence. At this stage, you are interpreting the verse. Once you figure out the meaning, you will understand what doctrine is taught, what false teaching is refuted, and the applicative duties to be believed or obeyed (Deuteronomy 10:12-13). Wherefore, your analyzation of the words and sentence structure is to figure out what doctrine and application is God prescribing there.

Doctrine and Application

The final part of exegesis is grasping the doctrine taught, understanding the false doctrines refuted in the verses, and obeying the commands given in the verse (Matthew 28:19-20). Depending on the genre and grammar of the text exegeted, this can be easy or difficult. The doctrine taught in the text comes from the propositional statements of the words and phrases that were examined. The refutation of false doctrine come from the same, as well as the application. Doctrine is what is to be believed and affirmed as, while practice is the application of the doctrine from the text.

Example of Exegesis

Philippians 4:13-- παντα ισχυω εν τω ενδυναμουντι με χριστω

My Translation: In all things, I am strong in Him, Christ enfurnishing strength to me.

KJV Translation: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Prayer: Pray for God to reveal His meaning of these verses to you in humility. Pray that you will understand what God commands of you in this verse, whether something to believe (doctrine) or something to do (practice). Pray for God to reveal sin in your life to repent from, which can be false doctrines believed also unrighteous thoughts, words, or deeds done. Pray for God to grow you in greater knowledge of Him and what He requires of you, from this verse.

Theological-Historical Context: God inscribed the Epistle of Philippians through the Apostle Paul, while he was in prison around A.D. 55-61. He was prisoned either in Rome or Caeseria during the writing of this Epistle, along with Colossians and Ephesians. The Philippian church was one that God used to Paul to establish (Acts 16:6-40). Philippi was a Roman colony during this time. Philippi was a prominent city, for it was on the Egnation Way, an important multi-national trade rout. This meant that Philippi was significant city, and it was heavily Pagan with all the Roman idol shrines. It had a theater, a large public square, and sports arenas.

Literal and Grammatical Context:

παντα(all things)--[Adjective, Accusative Neuter Singular]--Modifies "I am strong", referring back to verses 10-12 and later 14-18, which encompasses the lists the Apostle Paul gives (your care for me has flourished again (v.10), content in whatever state (v.11), to be full, to be hungry, to abound, and to suffer need ( v.12), you communicated with my affliction (v.14), no church communicated with me as concerning giving, but you (v.15), in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need (v.16), but I desire fruit that may abound on your account (v.17), I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you (v.18).

ισχυω (I am strong)--[Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular]-- "I am strong" is the modified verb, that acted in the things above. The Apostle is the one acting in this verb, but it is Christ who is working in Paul as the cause of Paul being strong.

εν (in)--[Preposition]-- Prepositions stand in relation to nouns and verbs, and they further define and explain how a verb’s action is related to a noun. The word (εν), means (in) or (inside), referring to the state and sphere of something. Thus, "in" here explains that the Apostle Paul is joined to Christ, and is in Christ's Kingly rule and grace, so that the Apostle lives and moves totally in Christ.

τω (His)--[Article, Dative Masculine Singular]-- The Greek article here is marking the subject of the upcoming verb. The article is referring to (χριστω- Christ), for He is acting here in the verb, and χριστω is in the same lexical case as τω. You can tell it is the same lexical case because of the (ω), the Greek letter Omega, in both words.

ενδυναμουντι (enfurnishing strength)-- [Verb,Present Participle Active, Dative Masculine Singular]-- Christ is the One who is acting here, as was seen by the τω above. The verb in the Dative case shows the effecter of the action. So, Christ is acting towards the Apostle Paul by giving him strength. The verb is also a Present Participle, showing Christ's progressive continuous action to Paul.

με (to me)-- [Possessive Pronoun, Accusative 1st Person Singular]-- The word (με- me) is working as the direct object of the verb here. The direct object is the receiver of verb's action, so the Apostle Paul is receiving the enfurnishment of strength from Christ. Paul is talking about himself receiving Christ's strength, since the word is a 1st Person Possessive Pronoun.

χριστω (Christ)--[Noun, Dative Masculine Singular]-- Christ is the subject of the verb above, as we already talked about. It is probably weird for you to see the subject at the end, but this is common Koine Greek sentence structure. Many times when translating Greek to English, you have to adapt the sentence structure to English. So (χριστω- Christ), is working as the Dative of Agency, as we saw above

Rhetorical Argument/ Interpretation:

Paul in the prior and subsequent verses declares his afflictions and provisions in his gospel ministry (verses 10-18). So, the “all things” are these things and every area of life, and his “strength” comes from Christ to endure hardships for obeying Christ. (παντα--In all things), this is a concise summary of the lists Paul stated (your care for me has flourished again (v.10), content in whatever state (v.11), to be full, to be hungry, to abound, and to suffer need ( v.12), you communicated with my affliction (v.14), no church communicated with me as concerning giving, but you (v.15), in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need (v.16), but I desire fruit that may abound on your account (v.17), I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you (v.18). Many people today, wrongly take this verse out of its context, and say that they can do whatever they want through Christ. But, now you can see what the "all things" really means. "all things" in this place entails everything within Paul's gospel ministry work, as you can see in greater detail in these places (2 Corinthians 11:22--12:12; chapters 13-28 in Acts).

(ισχυω εν τω-- I am strong in Him)-- First, the Apostle states that his strength is from Christ, not of himself. This is of great necessity, as it shows the Apostle's absolute dependence upon Christ, as Christ is the supplier of all the graces necessary to bear fruit in obedience to Him (John 15:4-17). Second, it presupposes the saving union between Christ and His elect, the "one flesh" union of the elect being the inseparably joined to Christ as their Head and Husband (Ephesians 1:22; 5:23). This union is what the, εν τω--(in Him), in part means. Third, εν τω--(in Him) means Christ communicates His redemption to His elect, in their justification (Romans 8:30), adoption (Ephesians 1:5), and sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30). You see all three in this verse. But particularly, you see sanctification because the Apostle is "strong" or "can do" all things in Christ, which this means Christ effectually worked in Paul the strength and desire to obey all of the Commands of God, in the hardships he faced above.

Christ's communication of His effectual work to Paul is seen in the last words of this verse, ενδυναμουντι με χριστω-- (Christ enfurnishing strength to me). Christ here, supplies the Apostle with the grace of loving obedience to His Commands (Philippians 2:12-13). From this, we see that Paul is not able to obey God in his own strength, for Paul cannot preach the Word of God (Philippians 1:20-21), do pastoral care (Philippians 2:1-18), endure the persecution he faced (Philippians 1:12-19), and rejoice in hunger and need (Philippians 4:12). This effectual work is called sanctification, whereby God works in the believer, from the time he was born again, infusing his mind, affections, and will to hate sin and love God (Galatians 5:13-25).

Doctrine and Application:

Doctrine:

1. God’s sanctification of His saints unto glory. God, when He saves a man, He does not leave the man to do whatever he wants. God has given His Law as the standard for righteous living, and the Lord works in the believer to hate sin and to obey God's Law (Ezekiel 36:25-27). This is the doctrine called Sanctification. Sanctification is the effectual work of God in His elect, called, regenerated, and justified saints, where He purifies them by His Word from the corruption of sin, and He transforms them into His image through His internal work of applying His Word to make them love Him in obedience to His Law as summarized in the 10 Commandments (Romans 6:6-13).

2. Christ is His saints Mediator. Our verse said "I am strong in Him", and this means that the Christian is held tightly by Christ because he is a member of His church, and Christ is the Christian's Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5). The doctrine of Christ as Mediator is that Christ interposes between God and man for His church, for a mediator is a reconciler of two parties that are at enmity with each other. Mankind became at enmity to God when Adam and Eve sinned, as Adam is the head of everyone because everyone has inherited a sinful nature through him and is cursed by God for this and their own sins (Romans 5:10-19). Contrarily, Christ is the Head of His church, as her Meditorial: Prophet, Priest and King (Ephesians 5:23-27).

3. Christ strengthens His saints for advancing His Kingdom. In this verse, Christ gives inward strength to Paul so that he can do the work of an Apostle. The Apostles were no greater men than any other Christian, but God gave them the special office of Apostle, to be first hand witnesses and inscribe the New Testament (2 Peter 1:12-21). The Lord Christ also appointed other offices in the church: prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, ruling elders, and deacons (Ephesians 4:11; 1 Timothy 3:8; 1 Timothy 5:17). Apostles, prophets, and evangelists do not exist any more, but the four other offices are perpetual offices until Christ returns. Christ strengthens the men in these offices to do the work of shepherding His church, so that each member of the church will be built up to stand firm in the faith and not back down when persecution arrises (Philippians 1:27-30). Christ is always with His church, never forsaking her, as He advances His Kingdom of Grace through the nations by His church, He strengthens the officers to be the spearhead of this advance. Pastors are the spearheads of the attack, and they are the defensive fortification for the church when the church comes under attack from false doctrine, persecution, and godless behavior within (1 Thessalonians 2:9-16).

Application:

1. Turn to Christ in repentance and faith if you are not a Christian, because you are under God's wrath for your sin (Romans 1:18).

2. Stand strong in Christ when evangelizing and facing opposition. There will be times when you want to cower down and not boldly proclaim God's Word, but Christ is with you and He has given you the strength to proclaim His Word (1 Peter 3:15). Do not look to your weakness, but to Christ as your strength because He will give you all the strength needed to obey everything that He has commanded you to do (Matthew 28:20).

3. Do not focus on the things of this world, but seek Christ for joy and strength. Seeking the things of this world (popularity, money, and so on), are the opposite of obedience to God. You will not be strengthened or happy in the things of this world because they always fail and are idols, as Jeremiah says-- Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.