On the Preaching of Theology

For the past several decades the Church has shown a growing interest in theology and, with that interest, an increasing demand that theology occupy a larger place in the content of the preacher’s message. This new interest is not confined alone to those who have always insisted upon the value of rightly dividing the Word of Truth, but is found among those who have disparaged creeds and theology for more than a generation.

The realization that the whole fabric of a moral civilization hangs upon something more than the pro nouncements of ethical codes is being forced upon the consciousness of the Church by the tragic failure of a message devoid of theology to construct either a spiritual Church or a moral society. Chaos faces the world; disintegration confronts the Church. The bankruptcy of man is driving the Church away from Athens to Jerusalem, from rationalism to revelation. “What saith the Lord?” This is the growing cry of the hour!

The Necessity Of Theology

As we survey the situation we are confronted immediately with the fact that theology is a necessity. The structure of the human mind demands it. The mind by which we apprehend truth demands thought, and by thought we mean systematic thought. God made man a rational creature; therefore he must think.

The attempt to divorce man’s religious life from his reasoning nature is an absurdity. This is proved by those who decry creeds. In their denial of creeds they are compelled by logical necessity to announce a creed. “I do not believe in creeds” is but an affirmation of belief (which is a creed) in a negative form. It could be stated, “I believe creeds are not worth holding.” But theology and creeds will cease to be only when man ceases to be man. Those who say “it makes no difference what you believe” give expression to the poverty of their own thinking, and are really guilty of contradicting their own natures. Can it be that with some this is but a subterfuge to cover their opposition to Christian truth and their unwillingness to submit to the wall of Jesus Christ?

Is it not strange that men will recognize the place of the physical and psychical sciences in life, but attempt to rule out the one science necessary to unify and give meaning to all knowledge—even the science of God? Let us not unconsciously fall into that error by slighting theology in our preaching. Let us not forget that among the sciences theology is still queen.

Theology is an absolute necessity in the development of character. For character is determined by ethical and spiritual ideas. “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he” is adamantine certainty. As the ancient quatrain sings it:

Sow a thought and we reap an act.

Sow an act and we reap a habit.

Sow a habit and we reap a character.

Sow a character and we reap a destiny.

The logic is faultless. Thought is the prime factor, the inaugurator of life’s destiny.

To live morally one must have some knowledge of right and wrong. To exercise faith in God one must have some knowledge of him. To accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord one must know something about him.

The Heart Of Theology

While there are many theologies (for men do think about God), we are concerned only with Christian theology. This we find in the written Word and supremely in the One who is the living Word which was with God and is God, even Jesus Christ our Lord.

There is such a vast range of truth in the Christian revelation that we must find the central and unifying idea which is the doctrine of God. All truth finds its meaning and unity there. Our idea of God conditions and determines all of life. From the values of human nature to the ethics of vivisection, from the modes of worship to the attitudes toward murder, from the value of sacrifice to the morality of a church bazaar—our thought will be conditioned by our idea of God.

As the idea of God is theology’s dominant note, the point of its clearest revelation becomes the central place of our preaching. That point we find in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again we are faced with such a wealth of truth that we must seek the nub of it all. Where does Christ give to us his supreme revelation of God? The answer is always the Cross. There the Beloved wrought out our redemption, in his precious blood, and in so doing gave us the clearest possible revelation of the mind and heart and will of God. Our theology, therefore, must be Cross-centered. Our preaching must be Cross-centered. Our living must be Cross-centered. Let us preach all phases of Christian truth, but let us never forget to make the Cross our center and circumference, our Alpha and Omega. Such preaching will always possess sanity and balance, and will result in permanent fruit. “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14).

Preaching Theology

Having seen the necessity for theology, and having discovered the heart of theology, the question arises: how shall we preach it?

As to method, I would suggest that one might follow the example of Dale of Birmingham and deliberately and directly preach labeled doctrinal messages. A series of sermons on the great ideas of the Church, such as God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, sin, repentance, faith, man, atonement, regeneration, sanctification, the Second Coming, heaven and hell, cannot fail to bless both the preacher and the people.

Such an orderly presentation is of greater value than the hit or miss system, or rather lack of system, of mentioning one of these subjects now and then in any kind of sermon. Such preaching of doctrine harmonizes with the principles of teaching, conforming to the laws under which the mind operates. Moreover, our people ought to know the biblical meaning of those great terms. Today there is too flimsy a use of those great words. This is due in large measure to a careless disregard for the logical principles of definition. The result has been vagueness in thought with resultant confusion in living. Positive living can only arise from positive preaching, and that can only come from clear apprehension of truth, which is the result of clear thinking. Therefore, let us “gird up the loins of our mind,” meditate within the eternal truth, and preach doctrinal sermons.

Some may prefer the technique Phillips Brooks mastered, namely, the preaching of doctrine without labeling it, or saturating a sermon with theology. In his immortal lectures on preaching he concludes his analysis of the weakness of non-doctrinal sermons with these burning words:

The truth is no preaching ever had any strong power that was not preaching of doctrine. The preachers that have moved and held men have always preached doctrine. No exhortation to a good life that does not put behind it some truth as deep as eternity can seize and hold the conscience. Preach doctrine, preach all the doctrine that you know, and learn forever more; but preach it always, not that men may believe it, but that men may be saved by believing it.

Another method, expository preaching, which many believe is the ideal, possesses the values of the former minus its weaknesses. Such pulpit masters as Donne, Maclaren, and Morgan considered it the ideal. One thing of which we may be certain is this: it is impossible to expound the Word apart from the preaching of doctrine. Were we to have a generation of thoughtful, expository preaching, it would change the character of the Church. What a pity we have neglected such preaching in our American pulpit, and what a price we have paid on account of it.

Let us consider also the manner in which we should preach theology.

We must preach with vision. Vision is not foresight nor hindsight, but seeing the Invisible. “The things of the Spirit of God are spiritually discerned.”

We must preach with conviction. Conviction is power. Conviction is life. We have too many opinions and too few convictions. Opinions are valuable but they never started, sustained, or consummated a moral conflict. Even right opinions fall short of life. Nothing is so dead as a dead orthodoxy. Opinions may be stillborn convictions. They may be emerging convictions. Conviction is the reaction of the whole personality to an idea. Conceived in the mind and grasped by the heart, it issues forth into life in the dynamics of the will. Convictions are tyrannical, imperious, imperative. Not I may, but I must, is the logic of conviction. We may hold opinions, but we may not hold convictions. They hold us!

We must preach doctrine with passion. Without holy feeling the preaching of theology is a perilous and dangerous undertaking. Preaching apart from passion is worthless. Anyone who can think upon the great themes concerning God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ and not be stirred in the depths of his soul has no place in the Christian pulpit. This is no plea for clamor and ranting; misbehavior of that sort grieves the Holy Spirit and is an impertinence to sincere emotion. Holy emotion under the control of the Holy Spirit may be revealed by the quiet speech of S. D. Gordon, or the majestic eloquence of Brooks; by the tranquil beauty of Jowett, or the blazing fire of Sunday.

Let us awaken to the awful solemnity of our calling, and with eyes fixed upon that

… Sacred Head, now wounded,

With grief and shame weigh’d down,

Now scornfully surrounded

With thorns, Thine only crown,

let us preach as dying men to dying men the Word of God.

END

Clarence S. Roddy is Professor of homiletics at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Formerly Professor of English Bible at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, he has served as Pastor of the First Baptist Church, Portland

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