\nPuritan theologian William Perkins wrote that preaching “has four great\nprinciples: to read the text distinctly, from canonical Scripture; to give\nit sense and understanding according to the Scripture itself; to collect\na few profitable points of doctrine out of its natural sense; and to apply,\nif you have the gift, the doctrines to the life and manner of men in a simple\nand plain speech.”<\/p>\n\n
\nThere is something refreshingly simple about that. Our aim as preachers is\nnot to be the most erudite scholar of the age. Our aim is not to titillate\nand amuse. Our aim is not to build a big church.<\/p>\n\n
\nOur aim is to take the sacred text, explain what it means, tie it to other\nscriptures so people can see the whole a little better, and apply it to life\nso it bites and heals, instructs and edifies. What better way to accomplish\nthis end than through expository<\/em> preaching?<\/p>\n\n\n \nSome use the category “expository preaching” for all preaching that is faithful\nto Scripture. I distinguish expository preaching from topical preaching,\ntextual preaching, and others, for the expository sermon must be controlled\nby a Scripture text or texts. Expository preaching emerges directly and\ndemonstrably from a passage or passages of Scripture.<\/p>\n\n \nThere are a number of reasons why expository preaching deserves to be our\nprimary method of proclamation.<\/p>\n\n If\nyou are preaching on what the Bible says about self-esteem, for example,\nundoubtedly you can find some useful insights. But even when you say entirely\ntrue things, you will likely abstract them from the Bible’s central story\nline. Expository preaching keeps you to the main thing.<\/p>\n\n Especially if\nyou’re preaching a long passage, expository preaching teaches people how\nto think through a passage, how to understand and apply God’s Word to their\nlives.<\/p>\n\n If you are faithful to the text, you are certain your message\nis God’s message. Regardless of what is going on in the church—whether it\nis growing or whether people like you—you know you are proclaiming God’s\ntruth. That is wonderfully freeing.<\/p>\n\n All true preaching is properly applied. That\nis of extraordinary importance in our generation. But expository preaching\nkeeps the eternal central to the discussion.<\/p>\n\n You\nstart working through text after text, and soon you hit passages on divorce,\non homosexuality, on women in ministry, and you have to deal with the text.<\/p>\n\n In the last fifteen years of his life, John Calvin expounded\nGenesis, Deuteronomy, Judges, Job, some psalms, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings,\nthe major and minor prophets, the Gospels in a harmony, Acts, 1 and 2\nCorinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and the pastoral\nepistles.<\/p>\n\n \nI’m not suggesting we organize ourselves exactly the same way. But if we\nare to preach the whole counsel of God, we must teach the whole Bible. Other\nsermonic structures have their merits, but none offers our congregations\nmore, week after week, than careful, faithful exposition of the Word of God.<\/p>\n\n\n D. A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical\nDivinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.<\/p>\n \n 1996 by Christianity Today\/LEADERSHIP journal<\/p>\nBenefits of exposition<\/h2>
1. It is the method least likely to stray from Scripture.<\/h2>
2. It teaches people how to read their Bibles.<\/h2>
3. It gives confidence to the preacher and authorizes the\nsermon.<\/h2>
4. It meets the need for relevance without letting the clamor for relevance\ndictate the message.<\/h2>
5. It forces the preacher to handle the tough questions.<\/h2>
6. It enables the preacher to expound systematically the whole counsel\nof God.<\/h2>