Messianic Prophecies from the Bible: Links to Several Posts

Recently, there has a major burst of interest in the post on this blog about the messianic prophecy of the Star of Bethlehem.  Christians traditionally have believed that the Old Testament is full of references to Jesus and prophecies about Him.  Jewish scholars, of course, deny this and accuse Christians of misinterpreting scripture.  They say that we take words and phrases out of the context of the surrounding text.  Essentially, they are saying that we are practicing eisegesis.

Eisegesis (εἰς, eis, Greek = “into.”) is the process of interpreting a text or portion of text using one's own presuppositions, agendas, or biases. This is commonly referred to as reading your prior suppositions into the text.

Christian biblical scholars stress the need to practice exegesis of biblical texts and not eisegesis.  (Exegesis ἐξηγεῖσθαι (exegeisthai) The English meaning of this Greek word is “to explain,” or “to interpret.”  The idea is that the interpretation comes from within the text. This comes from the etymology of the word: ek (out) plus egeisthai (to lead), “to lead out.”

So, when Christians search the Old Testament for messianic prophecies about Jesus, are we guilty of practicing eisegesis?  The short answer is no and this is because Jesus Himself told us to do this.

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39

“For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.” John 5:46

“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27

Listed below are the messianic prophecies discussed so far on this blog.  There will be others.  Click on the link to go to the post.

The Star of Bethlehem

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2012/07/messianic-prophecies-from-bible-star-of.html

He Will be Called Out of Egypt

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2010/02/messianic-prophecies-from-bible.html

He is the Light of the World

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2010/02/messianic-prophecies-from-bible_24.html

Herod’s Slaughter of the Children of Bethlehem

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2010/03/messianic-prophecies-from-bible.html

He Will Be from Nazareth

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2010/04/messianic-prophecies-from-bible.html

They Will Give Him Vinegar for His Thirst

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2010/06/messianic-prophecies-from-bible.html

A Prophecy Not Yet Fulfilled

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2010/07/messianic-prophecies-from-bible_29.html

He Will be Sold for Thirty Pieces of Silver

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2010/10/messianic-prophecies-from-bible.html

He Will Bring Light to the Lands of Zebulon and Naphtali

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2011/09/messianic-prophecies-from-bible-he.html

He Will Die Among the Wicked But be Buried With a Rich Man

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2012/01/messianic-prophecies-from-bible-he.html

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2012/05/messianic-prophecies-from-bible-he.html

God Has a Son

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2012/04/messianic-prophecies-from-bible-what-is.html

  

His Body Will Not Decay

http://saintsontheloose.blogspot.com/2012/12/messsianic-prophecies-acts-1610.html

Missing Something

On a calendar, we switched the page from March to April.   The next page said October, then November, then December. There was no sign of April through September.  This is the way that many people read their Bibles.

Many people don’t seem to realize that the Bible is one book.  They read only the New Testament.  They ignore, reinterpret, or “re-imagine” passages which are uncomfortable or which do not fit into their philosophy of life.

Definition: Hermeneutics

Reading books about biblical interpretation, one often comes across the word “hermeneutics.”  The word comes from the Greek word ἑρμηνεύω (ermeneuō, "translate", or "interpret").  Hermeneutics is the science of the interpretation of written texts and theories about how this should be done.

Some writers think that the word derives from the name of Hermes, the messenger of the Greek gods.  Hermes, in ancient Greek mythology, was the inventor of language and speech.

A specialized subset of the science is Biblical Hermeneutics, the study of the interpretation of the text of the books of the Bible.  Obviously for believers, the scriptures are more than just “text,” but a reverent study of the scriptures should include a study of everything about the scriptures.  An attempt must be made to understand the books of the Bible as one would other texts.

When was the text written? Where was it written?  By whom was it written?  To whom was it written?  What was the historical situation in which it was written?  Is it poetry, history, allegory, a song, a sermon, an expository treatise, or something else?  What was the original language and what special characteristics does that impart to the meaning of the text? 

Book Comment: The Epistles to the Philippians and to Philemon

The full title of this book published in Edinburgh in 1897 is A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles to the Philippians and to Philemon. The writer was Marvin R. Vincent, the Baldwin Professor of Sacred Literature in Union Theological Seminary in New York, New York. In this book, Dr. Vincent defends the Pauline authorship of the letters.


The book is quite technical and requires at least a rudimentary understanding (like mine) of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. Dr. Vincent examines the Greek text of both books, word by word, phrase by phrase, and describes the usages of the words in other literature of the same time period. He discusses various possible interpretations of certain words and passages and gives his reasons, based on Greek grammar, lexicology, and consistency of biblical interpretation, for making the translations which he does.

Vincent makes many interesting observations, such as the following on Philippians 1:5:

“For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;” (ἐπὶ τῇ κοινωνίᾳ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἡμέρας ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν). τοῦ is the definite article “the,” so, literally, this is “the now.”  Vincent says this is “only in Paul,” which may mean that Paul was the writer who introduced the modern idea of “the now.”

This is a commentary which respects the Scriptures it examines. As he says in his preface to the book, "The main object in this commentary has been to exhibit St. Paul's thought in these two letters ..."

Definitions: Exegesis and Eisegesis

All of the numerous approaches involved in biblical interpretation actually reduce down to two; exegesis and eisegesis.  These are not actually hard concepts to understand when you look into the etymology of the words involved.  Etymology is just a fancy word for the study of word origins.  The origin of the word "etymology" is from Greek, meaning "true word."

The word "eisogesis," from the Greek "to lead into," means to carry a preconceived meaning into the biblical text and then looking for proofs.  I think that many systematic theologies make this error, forcing their conclusions into the text rather than letting the text speak for itself.   Examples are Marxist, feminist, capitalist, extreme Calvinist, extreme Arminian, historical, New Age, social justice, liberation, and many cultic theologies.  These suspect theologies tend to ignore any biblical texts which don't fall into line with the point they are trying to make.  Often Bible verses are quoted entirely out of context and sometimes only a portion of the verse is quoted.  In modern terms, think "cut and paste."

"Exegesis" (from Greek words meaning "to lead out;" reading theology out from the biblical text; letting the text speak for itself) while praying for illumination by the Holy Spirit is the preferred method.  Any doctrinal statement in this method of interpretation must be consistent with the totality of scripture and should take into account the original intention of the text rather than our modern concerns.

Messianic Prophecies from the Bible: Jesus is the Light of the World

 This may or may not be a messianic prophecy.  My feeling is that it is not, because that could imply that Jesus is a created being. That would be inconsistent with the many other biblical references which teach that Jesus is pre-existent.

Some people feel that the first use of a word in the Bible establishes that word's meaning for the rest of the Bible.  This is highly doubtful and is an unfounded assumption.  Interpretations of words and phrases in the Bible must be derived from the surrounding textual and historical context, from the most usual usage of the word, and from their consistency with the rest of the biblical revelation.

Examples abound of people making unfounded assumptions about biblical words and phrases and, as a result, going off in heretical directions.

Old Testament:

”And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that [it was] good: and God divided the light from the darkness.”

Genesis 1:3-4

New Testament:

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12