The plea of those who set the style for contemporary preaching is that our age needs biblical preaching. The American culture, however, presents difficulties so tremendous as to make true biblical preaching almost impossible. This article will develop the predicament of preaching and then present practical techniques on how to surmount some of the difficulties.
Preachers of different sorts call their preaching biblical, and so the term must be pinned down.
The preaching with the weakest claim to be called biblical is that based on biblical ethics. Only the behavior patterns of a Christian ethic as presented in the Bible are considered relevant to the present age. Biblical theology is neglected as fit only for a less sophisticated era.
The second level of biblical preaching is that which uses the scriptural material as a springboard for a discussion of current problems of life, using modern cultural patterns and language. The words of the text are applied directly to the problem, and the difference between preachers is the choice of text.
The third level is actually a subdivision of the above. The text is developed using mostly biblical illustrations, and the sermon is liberally laced with quotations of familiar Bible verses.
The fourth level is that of the doctrinal preacher who develops logical statements of faith on the basis of clearly applicable Bible verses. The weakness of this preaching is that generally the preacher examines only the Scriptures which clearly uphold his position. The difficult passages are ignored or glossed over by some rhetorical sleight of hand. Doctrinal preaching can very easily become philosophical or creedal preaching rather than biblical preaching.
These levels are progressively more biblical. Some men who carefully do their exegetical homework for each sermon have come close to biblical preaching.
The problem is the American culture. Our cultural patterns are so different from those of biblical times as to make biblical preaching almost impossible. A description of the American culture is beyond the scope of this article, but Max Lerner gives a concise and accurate picture of its fullness and complexity in America as a Civilization. As Lerner finally concludes, this American culture is a materialistic one—though perhaps not in its on-paper ideals. And a great modern culture can be very pervasive.
Facing Modern Materialism
The world view held during biblical times was quite different from that held by modern America. The universe of pre-modern times was a two-level world, with both the spiritual and the material enjoying reality; even the eggheads on Mars Hill were reached by an argument based on the reality of the spiritual universe. America’s world is a one-level materialistic one.
The American culture is the cause of another specific problem for biblical preaching because of its commitment to modern science. Without modern science, American materialism would not exist. One of last fall’s issues of this magazine was concerned with evolution. CHRISTIANITY TODAY was at odds with the culture here. The culture has for the most part settled this question for itself—man evolved.
For the scientifically oriented intellectual the problem involves much more than just the question of evolution. Some form of theistic evolution still can posit God as in control of the universe. But present-day physical and social science uses as an intellectual and conceptual tool probability theory. Probability theory says that a class of events or things can be accurately described, but individual events or things are random in the class. Probability theory has become extremely sophisticated and is used to discover and describe almost all modern knowledge. Such a doctrine is contrary to the traditional theistic world view of a sovereign God who rules in the lives of men.
American culture is so far away from the ancient cultures that doubt arises as to the possibility of biblical preaching. If a preacher preached completely in biblical thought patterns, would men be converted? Or would the people dully sit through the sermon understanding very little?
Some find a common ground of Scripture and modern culture in the sinful nature of man. William Golding, in his currently popular novel Lord of the Flies, presents man as being as savage and brutal as do any of the prophets. But Golding presents man as man, while the prophets tell about man before God. The id of Freud is not the sin of Scripture.
The fifth level of biblical preaching can be described as preaching in the thought patterns of the Bible. Modern archaeology, sociology, anthropology, and psychology have presented resources enabling man to learn biblical thought patterns and thus to preach in them. A touch of irony is notable here: scientific methodology and the specific disciplines of modern science which have driven our culture away from biblical thought patterns are also the tool by which we can learn about these ways of thinking.
Absolute biblical preaching is most likely an impossibility, because the sermon could never be free from the cultural conditioning of both preacher and listeners. But the possibility of deliberately seeking to adopt the biblical patterns of culture—although the adoption can not be complete, millennia having passed—does exist.
The premise upon which preaching gains its power is the direct witness of the Holy Spirit to the Word both in the preacher and in the listener. To have the Spirit in power the preaching must be thoroughly biblical, even to the point of changing some of the styles of popular modern preaching.
If Americans are so hopelessly out of touch with biblical culture, is there any possibility of biblical preaching? Biblical preaching has to be possible or the cause of Christ is lost. The old-fashioned (but not extinct) prophecy preachers offer proof that biblical preaching is possible. Unbiblical notions from wretched exegesis, prejudice based on ignorance, and crudeness of preaching can never take the power out of this preaching, because it grounds itself in the radical eschatology of the Bible. Conservative preachers preach Christ’s person and work. But this Christ is in and of history. The eschatology preachers preach a Jesus who is now about to break up history. The continuing existence and success of this kind of preaching is encouraging to hopes for truly biblical preaching.
A Matter Of Courage
For the preacher biblical preaching is a matter of courage. Since messages of this sort do not tickle the ego of the listeners, they may not bring professional advancement. Can the preacher cut loose from the cultural moorings of our materialism and trust the Spirit of God to move? The preacher must back up this kind of preaching with prayer that the Spirit of God will bring faith and willingness to submit to the Scriptures. He must set up priorities in his own life so he can have time to immerse himself in God’s Word. The busy work and the crowded schedule have to go.
To preach biblically, the preacher must submit himself to the discipline of the Bible. This involves a commitment deeper than a creedal position. Creeds are very fine as practical instruments for the organization of a religious body and as an elementary teaching device, but biblical preaching must go beyond the creeds. A creed is brief and simple by human design. The Bible is discursive and complex from God’s revelation.
The above might be construed to mean that this writer is in full sympathy with those who have no creeds, but this is not so. The non-creedalists come in two varieties, those who have such a paucity of doctrine as to make a creed impossible and those who say that they believe only in the Bible. The non-believers could not do biblical preaching, while the great majority of the second group have a clearly formulated set of categories by which they interpret and preach the Christian faith. Therefore, the lack of a creed in the usual sense of the term is no particular guarantee of biblical preaching. Since the Bible is the judge of creeds rather than creeds of Scripture, biblical preaching is superior to creedal preaching. Creeds, written or unwritten, have a practical use in the life of the Church, but not as a substitute for the inspired revelation.
For biblical preaching, the preacher must study the best biblical scholarship. He does not have to accept everything he reads, but he had better read a goodly amount, much of it from outside his own little theological corner. The myth which Bultmann rejects may be exactly the stuff a truly biblical preacher is after. In many ways the New Testament theology in the writing of Bultmann, Cullmann, Dodd, Stauffer, and Wilder is tremendously valuable for preachers. Brilliant scholarship must be considered whether or not one agrees with it. The past two decades have seen a flood of conservative scholarship of value, and these men must be read.
Some might want to explore the possibility of seeking to restate the biblical concepts in contemporary thought patterns, but the language of liberalism should show the danger of this. Accommodation is very difficult. The only possibility for the biblical preacher is the Bible and the Spirit.
The possibility of biblical preaching is explained and justified by the first three chapters of First Corinthians, where the wisdom of the world is compared to the foolishness of the Cross. The power of the Cross is the Spirit of God. The Gospel has never in its history faced challenges equal to the materialism of modern culture. The members of this materialistic culture may not be able to understand the Cross by using scientific categories, but the Spirit of God can open the understanding of the heart of man.
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