Exegesis is the process of drawing out the meaning from a text in accordance with the context. The goal of exegesis is to uncover the original meaning intended by the author.

Eisegesis, on the other hand, is the process of interpreting a text by reading ones own ideas or biases into it. This subjective approach is used to make a text conform to the interpreter’s own ideas or agenda, often disregarding the original context and meaning.

It should go without saying that exegesis should always be the goal of those who love God’s inspired words. Exegesis doesn’t require expert training, but it does require humility and effort. It is true that eisegesis can be easier, but that does not make it better. Reading one’s own desires, ideas, or hopes into a text can be tempting, especially if we approach the Bible with a strong preexisting ideological commitment. Sometimes it’s the urge to make a quick modern application, or to prove a quick point tempts us to use scriptures out of context.

Even so, good Bible students should always strive to think exegetically. ALWAYS. Exegesis is not a study method we should use only when it’s convenient. We must think exegetically all the time.

The problem with selective exegesis is that it opens to door for us to read our own, sometimes completely foreign, ideas into a text, thus making God’s word something different from what God actually said.

For example, it is not uncommon to hear Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them,” used to prove that wherever two or three believers are gathered for worship, prayer, or fellowship, that Jesus’s presence is assured among them. This in turn is used to suggest that small gatherings of only two or three Christians can have the same significance of assembling with the larger church.

However, if we would learn to think exegetically all the time, we could easily learn that Jesus never used this teaching in this way. This is Jesus’s final phrase in much longer teaching about reconciliation between brothers. In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus outlines steps for addressing a brother who sins, culminating in bringing the matter before the church if the individual does not repent. Verses 18-19 discuss the authority of binding and loosing given to the church. The promise in verse 20 (“where two or three gather in my name”) is specifically tied to the authority of gathered believers to make binding decisions in matters of discipline.

To make this text mean something God did not intend is to abuse the text, not use it. To avoid making such mistakes, one needs to learn to think exegetically, and to do so with every text.