Theological Term of the Week: Eisegesis

eisegesis

The practice of reading meaning into a text of scripture when interpreting it.

• From Inductive Bible Study by Richard Alan Fuhr Jr. and Anreas J. Kostenberger, page 30:

Often readers approach the Bible with an agenda, using it to support various doctrines (whether orthodox or heretical), proof texting along the way. Others will use the Bible as a springboard for various points of interest, focusing on an aspect of the text without asking what the author was really trying to say in the original context… . [A] better way to read Scripture is to approach it on its own terms and to allow it to speak for itself. 

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Eisegesis
2. Simply Put: Exegesis and Eisegesis

Related terms:

• biblical hermeneutics
• exegesis
• literary genres of the Bible
• mirror reading

Filed under Scripture

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Theological Term of the Week: Codex

codex

An ancient book “created by taking a stack of papyrus or parchment leaves, folding them in half, and binding them at the spine”;1 plural: codices.

• From scripture:

When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. (2 Timothy 4:13 ESV)

• From Canon Revisited by Michael Kruger, pages 251-253:

Understanding the early Christian preference for the codex may … provide some illumination about an interesting passage from 2 Timothy where Paul says to Timothy “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.” Paul makes a curious distinction here between “the books” and “the parchments,” suggesting they are two different kinds of writings.  Scholars widely regard [the books] as a reference to books of the Old Testament, most likely on scrolls. We do not know how many of these Old Testament books Paul had in mind, but it must have been limited to a reasonable number that Timothy could have borne during his travels.

But what is Paul referring to when he mentions “the parchments”? The term membranas [parchments] is significant because it is not a Greek word, but a loan word transliterated from the Latin membrana. The history of this term in the first century makes it clear that it is a reference to a parchment codex… .

As for the content of the codices which Paul mentions in 2 Tim 4:13, a number of suggestions have been made over the years.  Given that Paul distinguishes these codices from the Old Testament writings, many scholars have rightly argued that they likely contained some sort of Christian writings. This may have included a variety of things such as excerpts of Jesus’ teachings or early Christian testimonia (Old Testament proof texts supporting Messianic claims about Jesus)… . However, one of the most compelling possibilities is that these notebooks contained (among other things) copies of Paul’s own letters. 

If these “parchments” in 2 Tim 4:13 contained copies of Paul’s letters in a codex, then this opens up fresh insights the development of the New Testament canon.  … [T]his scenario provides a compelling explanation for why some letters of Paul were preserved for the church and some letters were ultimately lost (1 Cor 5:9). The answer appears to be that some letters were lost because Paul, for whatever reasons, did not make a personal copy of them before sending them out. Thus, they were not available when Paul’s completed letter collection was circulating more broadly to the churches.

Learn more:

1. Reading the Papyri: What is a codex?
2. Wikipedia: Codex

Related terms:

• autographa
• canon of scripture
• manuscripts
• New Testament apocrypha

Filed under Scripture

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Theological Term of the Week: Perspicuity of Scripture

perspicuity of scripture

The teaching that the ordinary reader can understand from scripture what God requires of them for salvation as long as they are willing to seek God’s help to understand and obey it; the truth that “the knowledge necessary unto salvation, though not equally clear on every page of Scripture, is yet conveyed to man throughout the Bible in such a simple and comprehensible form that on who is earnestly seeking salvation can, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by reading and studying the Bible, easily obtain for himself the necessary knowledge.”1 Perspicuity does not mean that the scripture contains no passages that may be difficult to understand or that all passages are equally clear. This doctrine is also—and prehaps more commonly—referred to as the clarity of scripture.

• From scripture:

… from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness … . (2 Timothy 3:15-16 ESV)

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4 ESV).

• From The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 1, Section 7:

All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.

• From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham, page 206-207:

A number of crucial distinctions must be made. There are varying degrees of clarity in the Bible. First, this is intrinsic to Scripture itself, since “all things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves” (WCF 1.7)… .

Second, the relative clarity of Scripture also depends on the capacity of the reader: “all things in Scripture are … not alike clear unto all” (WCF 1.7). Some readers are less able to understand than others, whether by lack of knowledge or education, lack of Christian experience, or a decifit of intelligence… .

However, the Protestant doctrine of the perspicuity, or clarity, of Scripture acknowledges these difficulties but nevertheless asserts that the saving message is clear.

Learn more:

1. Simply Put: The Perspicuity of Scripture
2. Got Questions: What is the doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture?
3. Emma Saying: How to pronounce perspicuity
4. Burk Parsons: The Perspicuity of Scripture
5. Mark D. Thompson: The Clarity of Scripture
6. Kevin DeYoung: The Clarity of Scripture

Related terms:

• analogy of faith
• authority of scripture
• exegesis
• illumination
• sola scriptura

Filed under Scripture

1 From Introductory Volume to Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, page 167.

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.