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• Exegetical Fallacies
D. Carson

Baker Academic, 1996 - 160 pages

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Is it or Is it not the Word of God?

If the answer to that question is `yes, it IS the Word of God' and we REALLY believe that, how concerned should we be at interpreting and exegeting a Biblical passage correctly?! Would we not readily invite correction to avoid fallacies in our reasoning, whether obvious or subtle? D.A. Carson has written this helpful little book so that teachers of God's Word accurately handle the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). Carson presents useful real-life examples (including himself!) to explain each fallacy. We might be guilty of an exegetical fallacy if we:
1. approach the text as if we know what the text means already, but actually we are imposing our own thoughts on the text. (pg 24)...when we select the evidence to say what we want to say (pg 54, 93-94)
2. investigate and determine a meaning of a Greek or Hebrew word based exclusively on etymology, by the root(s) of the word. (pg 28-32)
3. read a late or modern use of a word back into earlier literature. (pg 33-35)
4. read an earlier word meaning (such as in classical Greek) into a later rendering of the word (pg 35-37)
5. read an unlikely, obscure meaning back into a word (pg 37-44)
6. assume that a word always has a certain technical meaning (pg 45), that synonyms are always identical (pg 49), or that a word has a certain meaning without appreciating its full semantic range (pg 55-56)
7. select a meaning of a word based its entire semantic range and reading it back into a specific context. (pg 60-61)
8. fail to appreciate the Semitic background of the Greek New Testament. (pg 61-62)
9. assume that one author's use of a word is equivalent, in all cases, to another author's. (pg 62-63)
10. assume that profound understandings of a text is possible by simple word studies alone. (pg 64)
11. fail to appreciated that "semantics, meaning, is more than the meaning of words. It involves phrases, sentences, discourse, genre, style." We must see how words relate to words & why one word is used instead of another word. (pg 64)
12. fail to appreciate the use of the aorist tense - it is undefined action with a poorly defined "semantic shape" compared to other tenses (pg 68-75)
13. assume that every middle voice is reflexive or suggests that the subject acts on itself (pg 75-77)
14. assume that classed conditions or definite articles exclusively dictate meaning (pg 77-84)
15. assume an "either/or" requirement for meaning when a "complementarity" approach might be acceptable (pg 90-92)
16. assume that, because `x' and `y' are alike in certain respects, they are alike in all respects (i.e. we fail to recognize distinctions) (pg 92-93)
17. fail to logically develop thought that necessarily and sufficiently leads to the conclusion (pg 95-101). It includes conclusions that do not follow from the evidence and arguments presented (pg 117-118)
18. assume that if a proposition is true, a negative inference from that proposition is also true (pg 101-102)
19. Think that one's own experience and interpretation of reality is the proper framework for interpreting the biblical text. (pg 103-105)
20. Fail to appreciate lack of precision in the Biblical text. (pg 106)
21. Appeal to emotion as a substitute for reason (pg 106-108) or make cavalier statements (pg 118) or abuse expressions such as "obviously." (pg 122)
22. overgeneralize or overspecify a text and, thus, go beyond that which is written. (pg 108-115)
23. use ideas, concepts, or experience that has no close relation to the text. (pg 115-116)
24. use arguments that may not technically be wrong, but are nevertheless faulty, equivocal, and unsatisfying. "They claim to deliver more than they can." (pg 118-121)
25. use an inadequate analogy (pg 121-122)
26. simply appeal to some authority (pg 122-123)
27. make arguments on meaning based on presuppositions. This includes the belief there is no real or single meaning. It also includes reading ones own personal theology into the text. (pg 125-130)
28. ignore the bible's obvious story line and "givens." (pg 130-131)
29. attempt to reconstruct the history behind the text in an uncontrolled fashion. (pg 131-133)
30. attempt to attribute causation or motivation. (pg 133-134)

In the last chapter, Carson briefly introduces other areas for further discussions of fallacy: Literary genre, New Testament use of the Old, arguments from silence, juxtapositions of text, statistical arguments, and figurative vs literal language. He concludes the book by encouraging the reader with a healthy balance of self-doubt and confidence (pg 142).


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exegetical fallacies

Product was purchased used. was in new condition. Excellent addition to my library.









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Exercise Care In Selecting Words

Exegetical Fallacies has a limited purview in that it does not consider brilliant exegesis, but woeful and fallacious errors. 'Ignorance is not a virtue', states DA Carson, Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. But don't be surprised if some of your favorite verses appear in this attempt to pay attention to biblical correctness.

Don Carson asserts that unwarranted notions can be costly. Theologians have developed an extensive vocabulary to combat this phenomenon. Grouping the erroneous assumptions into four categories, Carson combines the theological import of each fallacy to its specific area of exegesis. There are, to his reckoning, 1) Word-Study Fallacies 2) Grammatical Fallacies 3) Logical Fallacies 4) and Presuppositional and Historical Fallacies.

Carson mitigates the necessity of this type of study when he identifies that the generation of conservative Christians before the present one, faced charges on the reliability of the Scriptures, but with the advent of rapid technological advances, the skills and demand for precise and well constructed defenses of the faith have increased, and the need to be conversant with the ever-increasing database of critical Christian knowledge is imperative to biblical scholars as himself. Mistakes common to all believers are perpetuated by the overwhelming availability of vaunted and popular Christian literature, and the tyranny of untested assumptions is proliferated by our failure to cope with being robbed of the emotive, psychological advantage we assume we have gained by attaching foreign meaning and unusual interpretations to the God-breathed Word. Carson does much to correct the naivety of exegetes in the pursuit to discover the grammatical meaning of words and phrases of Scripture. Insisting that only by inductive study and proper contextualization can we exact proper conclusions, he indicates that a working knowledge of Greek and Hebrew plays a much more important role than often suggested. The lack of comparative materials also suggests that these studies are the realm of the most learned, as their thoroughness constitutes the closest thing to gaining a proper understanding of the intent of the words.

'A third level of the same problem was painfully exemplified in three articles about the blood in Christianity Today (Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, 'Blood: The Miracle of Cleansing'; 'Blood: The Miracle of Life'; 'Life in the Blood' - all issued 1983). What a wonderful picture (we were told) of how the blood of Jesus Christ purifies us from every sin, 1 John 1:7. In fact, it is nothing of the kind. Worse, it is irresponsibly mystical and theologically misleading. The phrase 'the blood of Jesus' refers to Jesus' violent, sacrificial death. In general, the blessings that Scripture show to be accomplished or achieved by the blood of Jesus, are equally said to be accomplished by the death of Jesus (e.g. justification: Rom 3:21-26; 5:6-9; redemption: Rom 3:24; Eph 1:7; Rev 5:9). If John tells us that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ purifies us from every sin, he is informing us that...' p 35 The efficacy of the cross is subjected to crass application and denudes the glory of redemption.

'Manson suggests that Rom 1-3 'is really an elaborate confession of sin for all mankind, with its climax at 3:23', and that it 'is followed immediately by a description of the death of Christ which can be properly understood only by being brought into relation to the ritual acts of the high priest on the day of the atonement' - this being apparently a reference to the 'in His blood'. This, too, is difficult to accept.' Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross p 191

Exacting semantics and accomplished linguists are required to overturn these kind of fallacious teachings. Says Carson: 'In some instances an intrinsically unlikely or ill-attested meaning receives detailed defense and may even become entrenched in the church.' p 38 Explaining how this is done, he provides acute critical insight: 'First, they argue that translators of the Septuagint and New Testament writers have invested agape love with special meaning to provide an adequate expression by which to talk about the love of God; and only this accounts for the word's rapid rise to prominence in our literature. But this argument has been overturned by the diachronic study of Robert Joly, who presents convincing evidence.' p 51 The problem at church level is how to unlearn the intricate web of deceit spun by those whose popular views serve their agenda in gaining converts and financial profit.

'But my concern at the moment is his selective use of biblical evidence. He turns to John's writings and cites those passages which in some way relate knowing God or believing in God to keeping God's commandments and loving others. But he fails to cite those many passages, both in John's writings and elsewhere, that show there is also propositional content to Christian belief. The fallacy lies in his implicit supposition that the presentation of selective evidence constitutes proof.' p 54 Sufficient evidence that even a learned scholar is capable of the most common menace of 'proof-texting'.

'One of the most common errors preachers make in the area of literary genre occurs in their handling of Proverbs. A proverb is neither a promise nor case law. If it is treated that way, it may prove immensely discouraging to some believers when things do not seem to work out as the promise seeks to suggest.' p 137

See Carson's excellent presentation on deception from pp. 112 -115.


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Superb Supplement to Serious Biblical Study. Buy I

`Exegetical Fallacies' by research professor of New Testament, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, D. A. Carson, is a marvelous book for professionals and serious amateurs who wish to make a mark for themselves in the fields of Biblical research, exegesis, hermeneutics, and pastoral service. With some caveats, it is also invaluable for anyone who simply wishes to study the Bible for themselves, and does a lot of reading in commentaries on scripture.
For the casual reader, please be prepared for some heavy duty study, thinking, and travelling to your best dictionary. It is not for naught that the author describes the book as a supplement to seminary level courses on Biblical exegesis. The author deals in some of the more arcane points of very technical subjects such as New Testament Greek vocabulary and grammar, theories of historicism, logic, rhetoric, and last but certainly not least, the Christian faith. As a rank amateur in the study of Greek, the author lost me at several points, and I did not fully appreciate his observations on the theory of writing history. However, I have serious academic credentials in the study of philosophy and logic, so I was in an excellent position to weigh his statements in those areas.
In spite of that rather heavy caveat, I still think this is a worthwhile book for practically anyone who reads works on the Biblical exegesis, since there are many points which any intelligent layman can easily understand. The author cites the danger of `distanciation' when doing a critical study of the Bible. This is the problem of weakening or losing faith by studying the scriptures with the same critical eye and the same analytical methods one may apply to the writings of Homer, Plato, or Euripides. I can appreciate the problem, but I own experience is that critical Bible study is not only necessary for correct understanding; it is actually a far stronger catalyst to faith than almost any other spiritual exercise. With some reservations, this is one of the things at which our Jewish friends really excel. So, the risk is there, but the rewards to faith for critical diligence far outweigh the risks.
The first chapter, `Word Study Fallacies', deals with cases which the lay reader, unfamiliar with Greek, will find easiest to understand. A simple example from a modern language may illustrate this `type'. If one took the translation of the German word `kindergarten' literally, one would assume it was a place where children were put to work raising carrots, pansies, and zucchini. The word is a compound of the German words for `children' and `garden'. And, in their inimitably poetic manner, the Germans turned this into a word for where children, not vegetables, are raised. One of the most distressing lessons from this chapter is the suggestion that some of the most authoritative theological dictionaries (compiled in Germany, of course) are guilty of some of these errors. Carson's description of these fallacies will not enable you to spot them immediately, but he does offer hints at how to sniff them out. One of my favorites, which I actually encountered in a class on `Matthew' is the meaning of the Greek word for `hypocrisy'. The instructor seriously warned us that this word simply did not mean for the ancient Greeks what it means to us today. It was actually a term, she said, from Greek drama, where the chorus or narrator presents an interpretation of the action on the stage. This is all true, but it is not how Matthew used the term. The evangelist used the term in a sense which is very similar to what we understand today. Of course, I was delighted to find that a good theological dictionary actually spelled this out, distinguishing classic Hellenic Greek usage from later Hellenistic usage in the New Testament.
The second chapter, `Grammatical Fallacies' gets far deeper into that Greek sentence construction and some of the more arcane facets of that great mystery, the aorist tense. Up until now, I have had not a clue about this construction, yet I constantly see Biblical commentators basing interpretations on the fact that a verb is `in the aorist tense'. Carson does not fully explain this technical subject, and this is one reason why the book is a supplement to course material which does explain the matter. Of course, we poor laymen must do what we can to catch up.
The third chapter, `Logical `Fallacies', is my cup of tea. This is what we study in a philosophy curriculum. Carson does a pretty good job of distinguishing formal from informal fallacies, although I suspect his language is borrowed from the linguistic discipline, rather than from the texts of the Logic teachers. I thought his description of four different meanings of `logic' may be slightly misleading. My unabridged dictionary has but one principle meaning of `logic' and one distinctly minor one. But this possible lack of rigor does little to reduce Carson's excellent descriptions of some of the more interesting formal in informal fallacies. To be clear, an introductory logic course DOES cover `informal' fallacies which are not purely the realm of `mathematical logic'. These are things like `ad hominom' arguments and arguments from authority. Interestingly enough, Carson does not mention `ad hominom', so I may conclude writers of exegesis do not indulge in them.
The fourth chapter `Presuppositional and Historical Fallacies' enters the world of historical writing, where I am again out of my element, but I found them illuminating anyway. I even found Carson's name of a fallacy, `cavalier dismissal' someone committed in a comment one of my reviews.
The author is humble about minimal scholarly notes, but I found they were quite good. My only regret is that the author did not offer suggestions on texts for studying Greek lexicography and grammar and symbolic logic.



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Excellent book.

This book is invaluable. I learned things here that I had never heard anywhere else that truly helps with interpreting the word of God.


reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9



Assuming that the reader possesses a working knowledge of Greek, this book identifies the common grammatical, lexical, cultural, theological, and historical mistakes Bible exegetes can make. In Fundamentalist Journal, Robert Yarborough reviewed Exegetical Fallacies this way: "Carson has furnished a pithy and practical manual of many of those mistakes to which all of us who deal with the text in earnest fall prey." Paperback.


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