Shownotes
The Bible Changes You: Exegesis vs. Eisegesis and the Way We Read Scripture
In this episode, we’re unpacking one of the most essential practices in Christian life: how we read and interpret the Bible. At the heart of this conversation are two critical approaches—exegesis and eisegesis. Understanding the difference between them can shape how we experience Scripture, how we grow in faith, and how we relate to God's word. This episode offers a practical, thoughtful exploration of why the Bible must be read to discover God—not simply to confirm what we already believe.
Top Topics:
What Are We Really Looking for in Scripture?
We often come to the Bible with a personal agenda—seeking comfort, validation, or answers about ourselves. But the deeper question should be: What does this passage tell us about God? When we shift our focus from ourselves to Him, we begin to understand the transformative power of Scripture.
Exegesis vs. Eisegesis—Why It Matters
Exegesis means drawing meaning out of the text as it was originally intended. It involves understanding the historical context, the author's purpose, the genre, and how the passage fits within the broader story of the Bible. Eisegesis, on the other hand, happens when we read our own assumptions, desires, or cultural perspectives into the text. It often starts with what we want to believe and finds verses to support it. Understanding the difference helps preserve the integrity of God’s Word.
How Different Traditions Approach Interpretation
Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions all recognize the value of exegesis but apply it differently. The Catholic Church emphasizes interpretation within the magisterium and tradition. The Orthodox Church prioritizes the communal and liturgical reading of Scripture. Protestants often empower individual believers to read and study the Bible with the aid of context, commentaries, and community. Each approach reveals something valuable, but all caution against the dangers of personal interpretations that distort Scripture.
Why ‘Looking for Ourselves’ Can Be Misleading
It’s natural to want to find ourselves in biblical stories. But when we make ourselves the main character, we reduce the Bible to a self-help book with God in a supporting role. Instead, the goal is to look for God first. His mercy, holiness, patience, and faithfulness reveal more about who we are than any self-focused reading ever could.
Takeaways:
Reading the Bible through the lens of exegesis requires humility and a willingness to be shaped by God’s word—not the other way around. When we let the Bible speak on its own terms, we discover who God is and how He relates to His people. That revelation then helps us understand ourselves more truthfully. The Bible isn’t there to reflect our image back to us; it’s there to reflect God’s character and transform ours. By keeping God at the center of our reading, we’re drawn into the bigger story—His story—and find our true place within it.
This episode is an invitation to read the Bible faithfully, thoughtfully, and with the right questions. Not “What does this say about me?” but “What does this tell me about God?” When we get that order right, transformation naturally follows.
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Transcripts
How should we read the Bible, and what should we look at when we're reading the Bible? That's what we're going to talk about today.
Hi, this is Jill from the Northwoods, talking about steps in the Bible, one small step at a time. I talked last time about how to start reading the Bible. I have to tell you, I think the most important thing that you can do is read the Bible daily if you can—whether it's this podcast or someone else's podcast or a study on your own. We talked about that last week: how can we get started in reading the Bible?
Don't worry that it's not January 1st anymore. Just start. It changes lives. It changes your life. And it's the kind of thing that you want to have happen because you will find yourself, when you read the Scripture, maybe sometimes confused, maybe sometimes asking questions, but filled with the Holy Spirit and understanding the heart of God better.
We want to be grown into something. God is growing us into something, and we should learn more about what that is. It's important to work, and it's important in our day-to-day lives that we grow toward what God is building in us.
So, we open up the Bible, and we realize there's a lot of questions that we're asking ourselves—whether we're realizing it or not. And when we read our scriptures to ourselves, we're thinking about, “What is it I'm looking for in this?”
A lot of times people are looking to find answers or find ourselves. Or maybe we should be looking so we can find God in the scriptures. And there's two different approaches to reading the Bible that we're going to talk about today.
One turns the Bible more into a window—something we're looking through. And sometimes the other one turns it more into a reflection—not where we're trying to reflect God, which is what I hope we all do, but where we hope the Bible reflects us.
And that's the two differences between these words. There's exegesis, which means drawing meaning out of the text. And there's eisegesis, which means reading our own ideas into it.
This is what we're going to do. We're going to talk about this in practical terms that are going to be useful to you—not academic. They're big words, and I never really understood what those words mean. You see it all the time. I have Logos Bible Study, and if you watch a lot of the tutorials, people say, “Well, as you're trying to do exegesis…” and I'm like, “I don't know what that word means!”
So that's what we're going to talk about.
If you want to know the basics: exegesis is a careful process of drawing meaning out of biblical text, paying close attention to what the text actually says in its original context. And again, as much as I want to—and I'm more of a biblical literalist and want to do word-for-word—it doesn't always work out.
There are parables and language techniques in there. Like the phrase where it said that Moses had a long nose—that doesn't mean he has a long nose. It meant he was wise.
We want the true meaning of what it is in a particular passage, instead of bringing our own meanings. Like we have a meaning, and we're going to bring it in and fit our viewpoint of what the Bible says and form the Bible into our image. That is the opposite of how it should go. We are formed in God’s image.
So, you know, the question comes in: Who wrote this? The actual human being who got divine inspiration to write it? And to whom were they writing it? Why did they want to hear it? That's why I always try to talk about these churches. What was the problem going on? Why did Paul write this? Or what was Luke trying to get out of writing down the Gospels and Acts?
Think about this: what type of genre is it? There's law in the Old Testament. There's poetry in there—that's going to be a hoot when I get to that. I'm not much of a poet, and I know it. Sometimes there's narrative, a story being told. Sometimes there's prophecy going on. So, what exactly is the genre?
Even as someone who takes the Bible more literally, I still know that there is poetic language and parable language in the Bible. We kind of get misrepresented sometimes. There are things that are actually true, and then there are things that are true in their meaning. And we’ll find out as we get into the Bible in small steps.
Then, what would the original audience have understood with these words? Sometimes culture gets in the way. But, you know, there are times when people don't want there to be a virgin birth. Oh, they don't want miracles in the Bible at all. So they’ll say, “Oh, Mary was just a young girl. She wasn't a virgin.”
Well, back in those days, if you were a young girl who wasn’t a virgin—bad things happened. And in Matthew, when he wrote in Greek, he used the word parthenos, which literally means virgin. So, all the people you might hear bringing their own interpretation and saying, “Oh, she was just a young girl,”—it's not the case.
We have to take the Bible and interpret the Bible with the Bible, understanding it better. What would the original audience have understood? They would have understood: young girl = virgin. It might not be that way in this day and age, but it was in that day and age.
How does this passage fit with the rest of Scripture? We're trying to draw this information out. And like I said, we’re not trying to start with some modern understanding and then trace it back. You see that a lot where people say, “Well, God is love. And a loving God would let me do what I want.”
So they take what they want to be true, make it true, and draw meaning into the Bible instead of drawing it out of the Bible.
Exegesis is really asking: What did this text mean then? Before we ask, “What does it mean for me now?”
The Church uses exegesis as a responsible and faithful way of reading the Scripture, and there are different safeguards that we put in place to make sure we're doing that.
Now, here's where it gets a little more complex. The Catholic Church affirms exegesis, especially in historical and literary contexts, but it places it within a guarded framework. Scripture must be read in harmony with sacred tradition and interpreted in both directions—tradition interprets Scripture and Scripture informs tradition. The teaching authority of the Magisterium serves as the agency that interprets what Scripture means.
This means that individual interpretation might be welcomed—from a priest, bishop, or even the pope—but ultimately, it’s the Magisterium that holds interpretive authority. From a Catholic perspective, exegesis protects doctrine from drifting off course. It keeps personal interpretation from leading people into theological error.
The Eastern Orthodox Church also uses exegesis, but within the life of the Church. Scripture is read through the lens of worship, liturgy, and the teachings of the early Church Fathers. Personal interpretation takes a back seat to the historical and communal understanding. Their approach is less analytical and more theological and devotional. In their tradition, the most faithful reading of the Bible happens within a worshiping community.
Now, when it comes to Protestants—which is what I am—our tradition places a strong emphasis on being faithful to just the Scripture. Sola Scriptura—Scripture alone—as the highest authority. We encourage careful study, context, and historical research. But we also believe that the average person—me, you, anyone—can read Scripture and draw meaning from it.
That's one reason why Bible study is so accessible in Protestant churches. We think normal people, not just scholars, can read and understand Scripture through the help of the Holy Spirit. That’s not to say we go it alone—we value commentaries, pastors, study tools—but there’s this underlying belief that the Bible is for everyone, and we’re each invited to engage with it directly.
But that has its consequences too. It means there's fragmentation in the church. For example, one group says, “We don't believe in infant baptism,” and another says, “Of course we do.” So even among Protestants, different interpretations arise.
I think what we’re all hoping—Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox—is that we're reading the Bible faithfully, giving it the truth and respect it deserves. Because there are plenty of people out there who don't care what the Bible says. They believe it's not true, or it's mostly made up, or it was written hundreds of years later and has no real weight.
But those things don’t hold up. If you want to read more about that, Wes Huff is your guy. He does a great job breaking down why we can trust the Bible.
Now, let’s talk about eisegesis—the opposite approach.
Eisegesis is when we bring our own ideas, assumptions, and desires into the biblical text. The word comes from the Greek, meaning “to lead into.” So instead of asking, “What is the text saying?” it asks, “How can this verse support what I already believe?”
Eisegesis often starts with a conclusion and then searches the Bible for backup. And most of the time, it's unintentional. People don't sit down and say, “I'm going to twist Scripture today.” But it happens when we take verses out of context, impose modern meanings on ancient words, or read emotionally instead of faithfully.
You’ll hear people say things like, “Well, God is love, so He would never say that,” or, “I just feel like this is right.” That’s eisegesis talking. It uses Scripture to justify personal positions instead of letting Scripture shape them.
Sometimes, when you ask, “Where does it say that?” people will answer, “Well, it’s kind of a mix of ideas,” or they’ll paraphrase something that’s not actually there. That’s a red flag.
Eisegesis often silences both the original meaning of the text and the voices of people who try to hold it up to the light. It can turn a meaningful passage into a proof text for personal behavior. For example: “God is love, and I love this guy, so it must be okay to live with him before marriage.” That’s using a beautiful truth—God’s love—to override what Scripture actually teaches about holiness and obedience.
Eisegesis starts with “How does this verse support what I already believe?” and exegesis starts with “What does this verse mean?”
Many Christian traditions warn against eisegesis. The Catholic and Orthodox Churches see it as private interpretation that risks theological drift and disconnection from the Church’s historical understanding. In Protestant circles, it's also heavily criticized. Many pastors have warned against turning the Bible into a mirror that simply reflects our own ideas back to us.
Instead of mirroring God, the Bible becomes a tool to mirror us. That’s backwards. And some churches even go as far as to say that human rationality is a fourth authority alongside Scripture, tradition, and experience. So if something doesn’t make sense to the modern mind, they feel free to throw it out—even if it's clearly taught in the Bible.
That’s a dangerous direction.
It’s not just about terminology or academic categories. Exegesis allows Scripture to challenge us. It changes us. It preserves the integrity of a text that has more historical and spiritual weight than any other document we’ve ever seen.
And it’s not just a book. It’s God-breathed.
That brings me to a quote from the show Firefly. There’s a scene where Book, the preacher, finds River cutting up a Bible. She says, “I’m changing this. It doesn’t make sense.” And he replies, “The Bible changes you. You don’t change the Bible.”
That really struck me.
When I was Jewish, my grandmother would say, “We believe this part is true.” And I’d ask, “What about the part right next to it?” And she’d say, “Well, I don’t think that part’s necessarily true. We can ignore that.”
And I always wondered, where do you get off the exit ramp? How do you decide which parts of God are true and which parts aren’t? Based on what? Your feelings?
You can’t just pick the parts of Scripture you like and toss the rest.
When I became a Christian, I was tired of that “choose your own adventure” Bible. I wanted something real. Something whole.
And I found that in Christ.
Anyway, the same thing I learned—one of the things I learned—when I spent the summer in Israel is that the Bible itself… because, you know, I'm an avid reader. And I ended up going to Israel with one book for a whole summer. I mean, I could probably finish a book a week, and I had just one book with me. So I ended up going to a lot of bookstores and buying books. I still have some of them.
One of those books was about the messianic predictions of the Bible in the Old Testament and in the ancient Hebrew writings. And at one point, I asked one of the Jewish men—who was very, very Jewish—I even got a chance to go to lunch in the ultra-Orthodox area of Israel, called Mea She’arim, and I asked them, “You know, the Bible talks a lot about the Messiah. Why was Jesus rejected?”
Now, this was me as an atheist. I was just curious. You're living in the town where Jesus walked, and I just wanted to know why. And they said, “Well, we just don't think of it the way other people think of it.”
And then I found out later that they were cutting parts of Isaiah out of the synagogue readings because those verses were leading people toward Jesus. And I just thought, that's you deciding what should and should not be in the Bible—not the Bible itself.
So like I said, eisegesis reinforces what we already think. It makes Scripture into whatever we need it to be. It turns the Bible into a bat—something to beat other people with—rather than a teacher that forms us into something better.
The Bible is meant to show us how to live, how to understand God, and how to follow Him. God tells us His story in the Bible, and it deserves to be quoted accurately and interpreted with integrity.
Almost every major Christian tradition insists that Scripture be read carefully and humbly. And that idea struck me again while I was listening to Terry Lee Cobble. We just started a brand new year, and she was explaining why she structured her Bible reading plan the way she did.
And I realized I’ve dabbled in that same space, maybe unintentionally. We often read the Bible looking for ourselves in it. And I've done that too. I did a whole “mirrors” study because I want us to see people like us in Scripture—see how they responded to God, how they stayed faithful, and what we can learn from them.
But there’s a danger in constantly asking, “What does this say about me?” rather than, “What does this say about God?”
Terry made a great point: we should be looking for God in the stories—for His guidance, reassurance, direction, and comfort. And yes, the stories resonate with us. We relate to their fear, their doubt, their failures. We see ourselves in David's fall, Peter’s impulsiveness, Martha's anxiety. There’s value in that.
But ultimately, the Bible speaks about human experience so that we can see God’s faithfulness—not to flatter us or make us feel like the hero of the story.
When we read Scripture and make ourselves the main character, the Bible turns into a self-help book, with God playing a supporting role. And I’m not saying the Bible doesn’t help us improve—but God is the main character from Genesis to Revelation.
Every book, every story, points to who God is, what He’s done, how He keeps His promises. The people in the stories—whether heroes or failures—reveal God’s nature. They’re not there to boost our self-image; they’re there to show us God’s consistency, His mercy, and His holiness.
The stories are descriptive, not prescriptive. They show what happened—they’re not telling us what we should do in every case. Just because David married Saul’s daughter doesn’t mean that’s a directive for us. It's not always an endorsement—it’s often a cautionary tale.
So, if you find yourself playing the hero in every story, you may be misreading Scripture.
Exegesis redirects our focus: not “Where am I in this passage?” but “What does this show me about God’s character? What problem is He solving? What promise is He fulfilling? How does this move the bigger story forward?”
It doesn’t remove us from the text—but it repositions us. We are not the focal point—God is.
Exegesis helps us look through ourselves at ourselves. It lets the Bible change us.
As Book said, “The Bible changes you. You don't change the Bible.”
And when you really think about it, God is always the center—always the main character. Every story shows God's holiness, His mercy, His call to us. He forgives, and asks us to forgive. He is faithful, and calls us to trust.
The order matters.
If we begin with ourselves, Scripture becomes a reflection of our own opinions, a validation of our own behaviors. It becomes a slogan, a motivational poster, or a personality quiz.
But if we begin with God, something amazing happens.
We still find ourselves—but we see ourselves honestly. When we recognize God’s patience, we also see our own impatience. When we observe His generosity, we realize our own selfishness. When we look at His holiness, we’re confronted with our own sin.
And that’s freeing. It allows grace and truth to do their work.
Jesus is the center of it all. He didn’t come to give us better lives, better self-esteem, or to help us manifest our dreams. He came to reveal the Father and give us the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus told stories, He always pointed people back to God’s Kingdom—God’s priorities, God’s mercy, God’s authority. And the closer people got to Jesus, the less obsessed they became with themselves. The more transformed they were.
Think of Paul—how arrogant he was. And who he became. Peter, too. I don’t know these guys personally, but you get the idea.
So when you’re reading the Bible, instead of asking, “Where do I see myself in this passage?” ask, “Where is God in this passage?” Listen. Let the text speak. Let it shape you.
Then, ask how your life fits into His story—not how God fits into yours.
That keeps the Bible from shrinking into a personal self-help book. Instead, it connects your life to something eternal.
The Bible isn’t asking you to find yourself—it’s inviting you to lose yourself. Long enough to truly see God. And in doing so, you'll find more of yourself than you ever could by making it all about you.
Scripture is not a mirror that flatters. It’s a mirror that reveals God. And once you see Him clearly, you finally start to see yourself more clearly, too.
So I think that’s the idea behind all of this. I just wanted to give some other ideas when it comes to Bible studies and the proper way to go.
I do have a viewpoint when it comes to the Bible. We all do when we read it. We all have something built and shaped by our church, our upbringing, or our personal points of view. But what I’m really hoping is that whenever we read the Bible, we start by asking: Who is God?
That’s the most important thing.
So, I hope that helps. Please remember that you can email me at jill@startwithsmallsteps.com. You can see all the different podcasts I have at jillfromthenorthwoods.com. I’m still working on that website a little bit.
And you can just put a comment right here. I’d love to hear from you, and I answer everybody.
Thanks so much, and have a good day.