Lexical and Exegetical questions
What is the difference between lexical and exegetical? I have not studied Greek or Hebrew and am looking for a way to understand and study the Hebrew and greek words and their meaning in passages of scripture. I think for now I will not try to do the Hebrew and Greek root word study on my own since there seems to be many complicated things such as tense and everything that you need to get it right. What is a good source of books that will provide detailed description from an expert on meaning of passages in the Bible. Is this what a exegetical commentary would do for me and if so what are some recomended exegetical commentaries. Thanks so much.
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kevinandnicole@mac.com said:
What is the difference between lexical and exegetical?
lexical deals with individual words. Think of a lexicon as a dictionary, giving you definitions of words. Exegetical has to do with explaining the meaning of a passage.
kevinandnicole@mac.com said:What is a good source of books that will provide detailed description from an expert on meaning of passages in the Bible.
Are you using Logos? If so, tell us what resources you already have and we can guide you into using those, or maybe suggest some that would complement what you have. If you aren't using Logos, take a look at some of their base products at http://www.logos.com/products/groups/products/base-products. Even the least expensive ones will give you good tools to get you started.
kevinandnicole@mac.com said:what are some recomended exegetical commentaries
There are different levels of exegetical commentaries-from basic ones that do a good job of explaining the thrust of a passage (I like the NIV Application Commentaries at this level) to much more detailed ones which require at least a little understanding of the original languages (Word Commentaries and Baker Exegetical are two series I like)
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Gary O'Neal said:
If you aren't using Logos, take a look at some of their base products at http://www.logos.com/products/groups/products/base-products. Even the least expensive ones will give you good tools to get you started.
BTW - If you go to this page, you might want to start at the bottom and work your way up. Don't let the prices of the top line packages scare you off. There really is a lot of value in these packages, but most of make it fine without running the Rolls Royce.
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Exegesis is the art and science of interpretation. It gathers together linguistic and literary observations to reconstruct the original meaning of the text. Lexical studies look at the use of a word and provide definitions. Lexical studies contribute to exegesis but are not the whole of it.
Any good commentary will do exegesis. Technical commentaries will show you how they reached conclusions about the passage (including interpretive options not chosen) whereas expositional commentaries tend to show less detail and focus mainly on the chosen interpretation.
The issue is that to understand technical exegetical commentaries (the ones that give the most detail) you really need a functioning understanding of Greek/Hebrew grammar and syntax. Otherwise you have no real way to evaluate the commentator's assertions. Commentary series like the New American Commentary and Pillar (to name a few) generally do good exegesis but can be (but not always) short on all the pertinent exegetical decisions made along the way. I really like the New International Greek Testament Commentary, but you need to know Greek to benefit from it.
The first and best choice would be to take Greek and Hebrew classes in grammar and syntax. However, if this is not possible I would recommend Greek for the Rest of Us by W. Mounce and Hebrew for the Rest of Us by L. Fields coupled with the wise counsel of Carson's Exegetical Fallacies.
Then you can use Bestcommentaries.com or another commentary survey to identify the best commentaries on each biblical book and use original language tools to evaluate what they say about the text (ideally after you've worked through it yourself).
Understand that studying the original languages is a hard but rewarding effort. I pray that God will guide you to a deeper understanding of his word.
Prov. 15:23
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This is an excellent way to get Biblical training at beginner and more advanced levels with free lectures one of which is Bill Mounce on Greek for the Rest of Us. (Greek tools-LAMP level).
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Thanks a bunch for all the good information to this question. Regarding Logos: I received the Mac Logos Bible Study package for Christmas with all the resources included with that package.
Thanks for the bestcommentaries.com, very helpful. I have done Beth Moore studies and she really likes the Erdmans Commentaries, but wowsers with the new electronic version that Logos hopes to have this Fall, that is a lot of money when you can't break it down and order a few books at a time.
Thanks for everyone time and advice they have given to respond.
Kevin
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I would ensure you are under a pastor that teaches from the original languages and exegetes, at least, in his study to prepare messages.
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