The importance and value of biblical preaching is illustrated in the experience of Ezra: “Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). These three activities are most important, and so is the sequence in which they occur. Ezra began by applying himself to understand Scripture. Then he was committed to obeying Scripture. And the outcome was that he was able to teach Scripture: “Then he [Ezra] read from it [the law of Moses] in the open square that was in front of the water gate from morning until mid-day… So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading” (Neh. 8:3, 8).
Paul urges Timothy to engage in these same three activities. First, he appeals to him: “Study to show yourself approved…” The word “study” in the AV simply means to be diligent, the same term that is found later in the letter: “Be diligent to come to me quickly” (2 Tim. 4:9). Paul is indeed exhorting Timothy to study, but in the latter part of the verse, not in the first word. The meaning then is: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
However, it is not enough that Timothy study: “You must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of” (2 Tim. 3:14). To continue is to abide. In other words, the Scriptures define certain boundaries and Timothy is to stay within them by submitting to what he has heard. Paul adds: “All Scripture …is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God migh be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
But for Timothy, even obedience is not enough. The apostle anticipates a situation in which there will not be an interest in the Word of God. “The time is coming when they will not endure sound doctrine…” (2 Tim. 4:3). People will have itching ears, wanting someone to give them what pleases them. But Paul declares: “Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.” (2 Tim. 4:2).
In summary, Paul’s message to Timothy was: Be like Ezra! Give yourself to study God’s Word, to obey it, and then to preach it. I take these two examples as a biblical mandate for the preaching of the Word of God, and in particular for expository preaching.
Nature of Expository Preaching
“Expository preaching is the communication of a biblical concept derived from and transmitted through a historical, grammatical and literary study of a passage in its context”1 This is Haddon W. Robinson’s definition. Similar definitions are found in other books on preaching, but perhaps Scripture itself says it best in a statement about Ezra’s preaching: “They gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading” (Neh. 8:8). With that in mind, let me suggest six features of expository preaching.
Biblical in its Content
The first and foundational feature of expository preaching has to be that it is biblical in its content. Ezra was “expert in the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of His statutes in Israel” (Ezra 7:11) and sought opportunity to teach others about these things. Timothy was to rightly divide the Word of truth and to preach it. Since God had seen fit to communicate His message in written form, these men were responsible to understand that communication and to share it with others.
It does not follow that all biblically based messages are expository. Expository preaching is not the linking together of related Scriptures into a message, nor is it a survey of a passage, nor is it going through a section of Scripture and commenting on various truths. It is an attempt to come to grips with a particular passage of Scripture as a unit, in its context, and then communicate what is being said in that passage. The passage may be quite broad, as in the case of the book of Hebrews, which is basically an exposition of Old Testament teaching relating to the Levitical system and an explanation of how these things find fulfillment and reality in the Lord Jesus. Clearly there is a need for that kind of broad approach to Scripture. But there is also a need to focus on smaller sections: a book, a chapter, a paragraph or even a verse. What is important is not the size of the passage but that the message preached relates to a particular passage.
There are advantages in this for the preacher. He is forced to investigate the passage in its context. Also, he must listen to what Scripture is saying and allow it to dictate what is to be preached, thus placing himself under its authority. Moreover, it sets limits for him in that he is guided by the passage and in a sense constrained by it. If he has an idea, but it’s not in that passage, then it’s irrelevant for this particular message. He may in the course of preaching that message go elsewhere in Scripture, but only to validate or illustrate what is taught in the passage under consideration, not to get another idea.
It is not only a good thing for the preacher, it is also much easier on the audience. Jumping from one Scripture to another can be confusing; whereas, if the preacher sticks with a passage, takes his audience through it, and explains what it means, the hearers are better able to follow him and to revisit the Scripture and bring to mind what was said.
Faithful in its Interpretation
The first task of the preacher is to understand what the text means. “Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord.” To “seek” means to look into something carefully with a view to knowing it. It wasn’t something that came easily but required that Ezra prepare his heart to seek it.
The same was true of Timothy. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God,” “driving a straight furrow, in your proclamation of the truth,” as theNew English Bible puts it. It suggests a farmer setting his eye on a target at the other side of the field and moving towards it, thus cutting a straight furrow. It involves an overall grasp of Scripture so that we have a broad appreciation of the truth and of how Scripture fits together. But it also involves a careful attention to the details, the words used, the phrases, the context, the thought flow. All this calls for diligence.
It also calls for integrity and a willingness to submit our presuppositions to what Scripture says. We are not to read into the text what we feel or believe or would like to say. John Stott refers to this as imposition, not exposition.2 Our objective is to let Scripture speak. Eric Alexander said it well: “The Scripture is not our servant so that we use a text to say something we want to say. Rather we are Scripture’s servants to allow Scripture to say through us what God has to say.”3
Cohesive in its Structure
Expository preaching is not exegesis; it is not a collection of disjointed ideas; it is not a verse-by-verse commentary. It treats the passage under consideration as a unit and sees how the various parts contribute to the unit. Therefore, it is not enough that we look at the details and come to understand the words and phrases, etc. That has to be done. But the real challenge for the expository preacher is, “What is the point of this passage? How do the various details contribute to that?” And then, “What am I going to do with this passage? How am I to explain it? How am I going to structure a message?” Some maintain that we shouldn’t preach on a passage unless we can summarize the main idea in one sentence. Whether we would go that far or not, we need to treat the passage as a unit and give attention to structuring our remarks so that what we have to say fits together and comes across as an integrated message.
Clearly this calls for considerable time and effort. People used to say of Alexander McLaren, the great 19th century expositor, that he had a golden hammer with which he used to tap a text and it fell into three divisions. Eric Alexander observes, “It is more likely that he spent a great deal of time meditating on the text, and that the structure and clarity of his address was the product of an enormous amount of hard work.”4 Some object that such preparation potentially interferes with the Spirit of God directing in the presentation of a message. But the Holy Spirit is able to assist in the preparation as well as in the presentation, and we should look to Him to do both.
Clear in its Explanation
The word “expository” doesn’t occur in the New Testament, but a word that could be translated “expound” occurs four times in the book of Acts. It is used in Acts 11:4; 18:26; and 28:23, always in the sense of explaining something. Stephen uses this same word when he refers to Moses being “cast out” (Acts 7:21). The New King James renders it this way: “When Moses was set out., the little ark was discovered among the bulrushes; they brought it to the princess; and Moses was set out. He had been hidden, but now he was exposed to view so that others saw him. To expound, then, is to take what is hidden, open it up, and make it clear. That’s what Ezra did: “They gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading” (Neh. 8:8). What the audience heard was clear!
Given that this is the task of expository preaching, it is worth remembering what another has said: “What is not clear to me before I preach will certainly not be clear to anyone else when I’m finished!”
Relevant in its Application
John Stott writes about the preacher as a bridge builder,5 someone who lives in two worlds and reaches out to both. He lives in the world of the biblical text: that involves thinking about what it meant to the people to whom it was first written and attempting to understand it in its context. He also lives in the world of today with real people in real situations with real problems. It is not a question of being biblical or contemporary; he must be both. The message must be biblical but must do more than pass on information. It is a message, something which relates to the listeners and motivates them to respond appropriately.
On occasions Ezra had the joy of seeing his audience respond positively (Neh. 8). They realised that Scripture taught something that they had not been adhering to, and they sought to put that right.
Of course, the response is not always positive. Paul reminds Timothy of that. The message may have a disturbing element, exposing wrong doing and calling for corrective action. It may not be what the audience wishes to hear, but Timothy was still to preach it (2 Tim. 4:2-4).
Systematic in its Pattern
Many fine preachers have not and do not teach the Scriptures systematically. Spurgeon apparently didn’t. It may have had something to do with the fact that when he was a youngster (so the story goes), he listened to a preacher who droned on through the Epistle to the Hebrews for years. Spurgeon wrote: “I don’t know what it did for the Hebrews, but it sadly bored one Gentile lad.”
On the other hand, Martin Lloyd-Jones preached for fourteen years on the Epistle to the Romans! I don’t doubt that there was great blessing in this for those who were privileged to hear him.
Every assembly can benefit from a basic diet of systematic, chapter-by-chapter exposition of Scripture. Among the benefits of this are the following: it means that over time there is a comprehensive, balanced coverage of Scripture; it helps prevent us from our following fads or our own hobby horses; it forces us to deal with the subjects that arise in the text, including awkward subjects that we might be tempted to ignore; and it allows us to deal with sensitive topics as they come up, and none can take issue with the preacher for doing so, because he is dealing with the passage assigned to him.
Some Implications for the Expository Preacher
Having said all of this about preaching, some comments about the preacher are in order.
First, he needs to recognise that preaching involves effort: “Ezra devoted himself…” (Ezra 7:10, NIV). Paul tells Timothy, “Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them” (1 Tim. 4:16). Expository preaching makes great demands on time and energy, involving as it does earnest prayer, careful exegesis, prolonged meditation, and accurate interpretation. Those who are gifted of God and called of God to this ministry should be prepared to give themselves to it as a priority. The men who worked on the Westminster Confession took turns to preach to the others and were thanked for their pains, not the pains they inflicted but the pains they had taken to make the Word of God plain.
Secondly, it requires submission. James warns us, “Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgement” (Jas. 3:1). That is a serious consideration. The preacher’s study of the Word of God ought not to be merely an intellectual exercise or something in which he engages because he has been asked to give a message. His first motivation should be that he might come to a deeper appreciation of the character of God so that he might worship Him and a deeper understanding of the will of God so that he might obey Him.
Thirdly, preaching needs divine unction. When we have done our best to preach God’s Word, the fact of the matter is that our best is not good enough. It is the Spirit of God who convicts and enlightens and we are totally dependent upon Him. Eric Alexander comments on this: “So it is possible to be homiletically brilliant, verbally fluent, theologically profound, Biblically accurate and orthodox, and spiritually useless. That frightens me. I hope it frightens you too.”6
But then finally, the preaching of God’s Word imparts joy. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes, “To me the work of preaching is the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which one can ever be called.”7 Later in the same book he refers to “the romance of preaching”: “There is nothing like it. It is the greatest work in the world, the most thrilling, the most exciting, the most rewarding, and the most wonderful.”8
END NOTES
1. Haddon W. Robinson, Biblical Preaching, p. 20
2. John Stott, I Believe in Preaching, p. 126
3. Eric Alexander, Plainly Teaching the Word, at the Spiritual Life Convention in Toronto, in 1989
4. Eric Alexander, Plainly Teaching the Word, at the Spiritual Life Convention in Toronto, in 1989
5. John Stott, I Believe in Preaching, p. 135
6. Eric Alexander, Plainly Teaching the Word, at the Spiritual Life Convention in Toronto, in 1989
7. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preachers and Preaching, p. 9
8. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preachers and Preaching, p. 297