Many of us are familiar with reading scripture and getting something from it, while others seem to be quite adept at making scripture say what they want it to say. These two ways of interacting with Scripture are known respectively as exegesis and eisegesis (ex-ee-GEE-sis and ace-ee-GEE-sis).  Almost every experienced Bible reader and practically all the New Testament scholars have concluded that there are no other ways to experience the Word of God, but there are other prepositions beside ek and eis (εκ, εις) that might define the reader’s experience with the Bible.

In and out; εις and εκ/εξ

Both exegesis and eisegesis have disappointed readers because finding meaning can be challenging due to general literacy, translation variations, and the traditions of every denomination or grouping. One of the other alternative ways to gather meaning from the Bible is to have another book

Simple eisegesis can be recognized when people read a passage from the New Testament or Old Testament and try to apply a 21st century environment to the reading. For example when one reads the word candle and pictures the modern candle that is made of tallow and wick instead of an oil container and a wick, one is reading into the scriptures something that is not there.  Another simple example is the reading of the Old Testament that public executions cleanses the land of sin (crime) and lobbying for capital punishment.

The speaking text

While the work of translating the ancient documents into our modern languages continues frantically, aiming for the point where all of the languages on the planet are hosting the word of God, people handicap themselves by creating preferences such as reading only the King James version or reading only modern languages translations, hence readers are not receiving the guidance from their leaders to properly engage with the Scriptures. Here are two examples of the text speaking with precision and inaccuracy.

“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall IN NO WISE pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18)

The phrase IN NO WISE is an attempt to bring the reader to recognize the double negative – not not –  in the Greek manuscript, ου μη, ou me.

“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:18)

All translations of the Bible have value and some are downright despicable for ignoring grammar. The most egregious example of reading the text and not getting it is when people place entire books as the filters for the glorious words of the Bible. Latter Day Saints, do it. Jehovah’s Witnesses do it.  Seventh-Day Adventists do it.  Is God’s word so obscure that, when translated into our modern languages, you need another book to tell you what God is trying to say to you? The practice makes a joke of the preeminence of Christ as incarnate and written word. Make no mistake the apostolic messaging is not opinion; it is foundational. Nothing compares. Count yourself departed from the faith if you take pride in another supposed source of God’s life giving word.

Words unique to Yeshua of Nazareth

Another critical example of reading the text and not getting it occurs when we fail to realize that the word of God itself has the capacity to transform us, and its effectiveness is not restricted to us reading things into it or us depending on it to speak to us. Consider the use by Jesus of the phrase “my word”or “my words”and how the saying might have led a reader to conclude that Jesus’ words were necessarily the words of the prophets. When Jesus means his own words the Greek indicates it by not using the popular enclitic pronoun mou, μου, meaning “of me” = my.

“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38)

Here Jesus is talking about his own words to his generation, not the words spoken by others in his name. In Mark 8:38 tous emous logous, “my own words” is different from the following which contains tous logous mou.

“He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. (John 14:24)

Let’s return to the concept that people are able to place entire non- Biblical books as filters on the scripture for an evaluation of how dangerous that approach can be. There is no room for believers to have books of their own production competing with what we have come to recognize as God-breathed or inspired. When it comes to God’s word people will find no leeway or mercy when they revere some other thing(s).

The third way to experience Scripture

Before I introduce approach #3, I invite you to ask your trusted AI app or knowledge base if there are effective alternatives to exegesis and eisegesis. In addition to the resolute negative answer to the question you will find that artificial intelligence reports propose that other approaches to scripture are merely fanciful or speculative.

We habitually put a lot of thought and effort into finding meaning from the Scriptures but the critical achievements of our interaction with the Biblical material are beyond meaning for the purpose of working the word. and may not even be dependent on our understanding of the text. To experience the Word of God one must step out of oneself and allow the Word to do its work.

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. (James 3:1)

Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. (1 Timothy 1:5-7)

Reading the Bible for transmitting vs experience

By seeing we gain experience, as Israel did with the bronze serpent and as believers do by looking at the elevated Christ and by seeing the light in Jesus’s face. Experience is more important than knowledge. We must conduct our Bible reading with a goal of a face to face with the author and object of the Scriptures. The more we do the better for our witness. We come to scripture to see Jesus, not the prophet or disciple. How often that happens in the sense that Christ and the reader are transfixed is a matter of looking past the temporal to see the eternal. This is throughgesis: more beneficial than exegesis and the nemesis of eisegesis.