Throughout history there have been many people who have impacted the world through their preaching of God’s Word. There have been sermons that resulted in nationwide revivals, impacted the course of the church, and have brought about the salvation of many souls! Yet, there have also been sermons that have propounded heresies, cultivated lukewarmness, and led to the ruin of churches. What differentiates these two types of preaching? What caused God’s Word to impact so many people through some sermons and caused so much damage through others? The answer lies in the way God’s Word is handled. Those who have made an impact have used the Bible in the way it was meant to be handled. They took the Bible on its terms and then sought to apply it to people’s lives. This method of preaching is known as expository preaching.
A Brief Definition
Before we get into the importance of expository preaching, perhaps it would be helpful to put forth a brief definition. In his book Biblical Preaching, Haddon Robinson defines expository preaching as follows: “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, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher, then through him to his hearers.”[^1] In other words, expository preaching seeks to understand what the text meant to the original audience and then apply that principle to our lives today.
The Importance of Rightly Dividing
Is expository preaching important? The answer is a resounding “Yes!” The importance of expository preaching lies in direct correlation with the importance of God’s Word! Those who see the Bible’s importance seek to interpret its meaning. To misunderstand and misinterpret God’s Word reduces something powerful and impactful into something that can actually hurt or hinder people from growing in Christ! Misinterpreting Scripture can be compared to taking a powerful rifle and using it to pound nails; the original function has been rejected and any power is lost. The Apostle Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”[^2] To handle God’s Word inaccurately shows oneself to be a shameful workman. Satan’s scriptural interpretation provides a great example of this. In Luke 4:1-13, Satan used Scripture twice to try to get Jesus to sin. Did the problem lie with the Scripture? By no means! The error consisted of misinterpreting and twisting the Word of God. When preachers misapply God’s Word to mean what it does not mean, they are essentially interpreting Scripture in the same way Satan does.
The Source of the Preacher’s Authority
A preacher who gives up expository preaching gives up any authority or power he has as a preacher. The authority of the preacher does not come from himself or his own wisdom but from a correct understanding of God’s Word. When a preacher ignores the true meaning of the Word to instead preach his own word, he has become no better than any other human speaker. The preacher of the Gospel is different, not because of his style, but because of his source. Gospel preaching has a source that is completely unique. Every other kind of preaching has its origin only from the mind of man. The expository preacher, however, preaches divine truths found nowhere else but in God’s Word.
The authority of God’s Word over man’s is made evident even in the prophets throughout the Bible. Instead of speaking on their own authority, they spoke on God’s authority by preaching to the people the words that they had been given. In the same way, preachers only have authority so far as they expound and reveal the truths in God’s Word. People do not come to church to hear just another eloquent public speaker who can amaze them with his rhetoric. People come to church to experience the power of God through His Word that brings conviction and growth in holiness. This leads to another danger of abandoning expository preaching: the lack of growth in the hearers.
Christian Growth through Expository Preaching
If preachers believe (as the apostle Paul did) that “All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness”[^3] then the exposition of Scripture is the best way to help a believer grow in holiness. Growth in holiness does not come from psychological counseling, behavioral adjustment, or any other human means. True spiritual growth comes from the intake and application of God’s Word.
Expository preaching helps believers grow in two different ways. The first is that God brings about conviction through the faithful exposition of His Word. In Nehemiah 8:8-9, Nehemiah and those with him “read from the book, from the law of God, explaining and giving insight, and they provided understanding of the reading.” The result of such expository preaching was “all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law”[^4] In the book of Romans Paul spends the first three chapters expounding the Word of God to convict his hearers. True growth comes only as God’s Word exposes the sins of His people.
Listeners of faithful exposition will also grow in learning how to read and understand Scripture for themselves. Many throughout history have understood how to better interpret God’s Word through exposure to expository preaching.
Expository Preaching Brings Joy
The true exposition of Scripture also brings joy and exultation to those who love God’s Word. In the previous example from Nehemiah 8, the people were brought under a deep sense of conviction of their sin. However, in verse 12 it says that “all the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions, and to celebrate with great gladness, because they understood the words which had been known to them”[^5] Expository preaching produces exultation because it brings out the glory of who God is. As John Piper said during a message, “Preaching should not only awaken a satisfying sense of God’s glory in the people; it should also exhibit a satisfying sense of God’s glory in the preacher.”[^6] When a preacher rightly expounds God’s Word, it reveals the character and glory of God which results in worship from those who delight in Him. This is evidenced by the story of Philip expounding God’s Word to the Ethiopian. As Philip came up to him, he heard him reading from the prophet Isaiah but without understanding the text. Philip then “opened his mouth and beginning from this Scripture he proclaimed the good news about Jesus to him.”[^7] This results in the salvation of the Ethiopian. After Philip is snatched away by the Lord, the Ethiopian “went on his way rejoicing.”[^8] He was rejoicing because the character of God had been revealed through the proper exposition of God’s Word. The result of understanding God’s character was his salvation.
An Objection to Expository Preaching
At this point someone might object that expository preaching is not found clearly in the Bible. A critic might point to the preaching of Paul and Peter and claim that they did not directly expound a Scripture text. This objection is quite unfounded. While Jesus and the Apostle did not teach strictly verse-by-verse as many expositors do today, they did indeed exposit Scripture in their sermons by bringing out the meaning of the text. In Peter’s Pentecost sermon, he refers to multiple sections of Scriptures and gives a careful, reasoned explanation of their meaning. Paul did the same thing in his letters. One who reads Paul’s letters will quickly conclude that he was well-studied in the Old Testament and knew how to interpret it. He was not injecting his own thoughts into the text but was carefully reading and interpreting it.
The Preaching of Jesus
The greatest example of expository preaching in the Bible is Jesus. In Matthew 22 the Sadducees come to Him with a question about the resurrection of the dead. To show that the resurrection of the dead is biblical, he points to Exodus 3:6 and expounds it to them. In this case, the very tense of the words used was important for the correct interpretation. Right after this instance, he uses Psalm 110 to show that the Messiah had to be God rather than man. This shows again that understanding Scripture is important even down to the minute details. On the road to Emmaus another example of the expository preaching of Jesus can be seen. Luke tells us in Luke 24 that Jesus “beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”[^9] Jesus was the divine Son of God, yet even He knew the power of interpreting the Old Testament Scriptures.
Conclusion
Is expository preaching important? I hope that you agree that the answer is “Yes!” Expository preaching is not a matter of preference but a matter of understanding what God has spoken. If preachers are misunderstanding what God has said, they will be confusing their listeners, preventing growth in holiness, and fostering a culture where God’s Word is subservient to the ideas of the reader. Throughout the history of the church God has used the faithful exposition of His Word to bring conviction, understanding and growth to His church. May God help preachers to take the effort to “rightly divide the Word of God.”
Bibliography
Dever, Mark. What Is a Healthy Church? Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2007.
Piper, John. “The Word That Comes Worshiping: Savoring What We Say about God.” Desiring God, November 3, 1994. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-word-that-comes-worshiping.
Robinson, Haddon W. Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, A Division Of Baker Publishing Group, 2014.