I recently ran into an egregious eisegesis of the Greek word “Pais” (pah-heese) in Matthew’s Gospel account of the Roman Centurion whose servant boy, whom he loved like a son, was gravely ill.
A TV Preacher seemed to think the “Pais” was a Military Aide. (Though I could find NO example of this definition from Strong’s or Vine’s), so his interpretation was his own idea. (Eisegesis).
A homosexual site on the internet claimed that, according to Classical Greek sources, it meant that the “pais” was a teenage homosexual lover. Again, this was not supported by either Strong’s or Vine’s, but merely conjecture to suit an agenda. (Eisegesis again!)
I solved the issue by doing a search and found the parallel story in the Book of Luke (A Greek Physician who knows his own native language!) and Luke used the word “doulos” which means “lowly servant”. This confirmed the ORIGINAL meaning of “Pais” in Matthew, and verified that what I accomplished was EXEGESIS.
When conjecture, extra-Biblical Sources, and agenda-driven politics interfere with Exegesis, it becomes Eisegesis!
And the same standard should be applied to all, whether they have good intentions or not! The TV Preacher probably wanted to reach military families with his conjecture, so his intentions were good, but his scholarship was wrong.
The other guys...well, what can I say?
Agendas are powerful things. We should always check to see who is driving ours. Good illustration, extra credit A for you.