There is somewhat of a mild debate going on in the church I attend. One brother with a degree in theology, understanding of Greek etc, always gets on to the evangelist about not exegeting the scriptures. From my perspective I agree with him, but most people tend to dismiss the lack of exegesis. After all, the evangelist is not teaching something evil, just something that might not completely be taught in the text he's reading from. Any thoughts you might have would help!
Great question! It is unfortunate that so many people are willing to compromise sound exegesis. It is a slippery slope once when we start using biblical texts out of context. I see this as putting words in God's mouth, and not something I would be comfortable doing. It seems to me that if what you are teaching is a biblical truth, then you should use the scripture that is actually making that point. If the only way you can support a particular "true" teaching is by pressing an unrelated scripture into service, you might want to carefully consider why you think that teaching is true. For more on this please see How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, by Fee & Stuart.
All that being said, we need to give lots of grace to our leaders. Most of them have not had formal training in exegesis. And personally, I don't want to be "that guy" that keeps nagging the evangelist. I do want to be an encouragement and resource he feels comfortable coming to as he grows in this area.
IBTM Research Team
