Type of Doctrine: Secondary or Tertiary
"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."
-2 Timothy 4:1-4 ESV
Why does it matter?
Paul commands Timothy to "preach the word" (2 Tim. 4:2), and in the context, he is referring to preaching the God-breathed Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16-17). But how? Preachers throughout church history have taken different approaches. The following will give three main views on how to preach the Scriptures.
This is typically viewed as a secondary issue (since it will likely affect the church one chooses and the regular diet of preaching that one receives), but in some cases it may be possible to view this as a tertiary issue instead (i.e., Christians may disagree and remain in the same church).
What is it?
Preaching the Scriptures is not only a command found in 2 Timothy 4:2, it can be found earlier in the Old Testament. To provide one example among many from the Old Testament, preaching can be seen in Nehemiah 8:8. "They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading" (Neh. 8:8). In other words, Scripture was read and then it was explained.
While the New Testament refers to preaching numerous times, a clear charge was given by Paul: "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching" (2 Tim. 4:1-2). This command was originally given to Timothy, but by extension, it is applicable for all future preachers as well. Thus, the church is commanded to preach.
And the church has continued to preach. Preaching can be found throughout all of church history. There have been some moments in church history where preaching was not great. Indeed, sound biblical preaching was minimal in some eras of church history. On the other hand, there have been other periods in church history where preaching was excellent.
Additionally, not all preachers fall neatly into one category. While some preachers prefer to use one of these preaching methods in every sermon (e.g., always expository, always topical, etc.), others prefer to utilize some combination (e.g., sometimes expository and other times topical).
The following section will provide the three main views on preaching. There are many additional subcategories and variations (not covered here). This section is mainly adapted from Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005), 129-133.
3 Main Views on Preaching
View | Description | Degree that the Sermon Reflects the Passage |
Topical | Preachers take a topic (traditionally from a passage but in contemporary form various passages) and the sermon is organized according to the subject rather than the distinctions from the text | Least - topical preaching is not designed to reflect the structure of the immediate passage; instead the sermon is built around the topic. |
Textual | Preachers take the main idea and its main points from ideas in a particular text | Medium - textual preaching resembles the text structure more than topical preaching, but this sermon type is not designed to reflect the specific details of the text. |
Expository | Preachers take the main idea, the main points, and the subpoints from a particular text | Most - expository preaching resembles the structure of the text itself most closely as it is designed to reflect the text in the details (i.e., main idea, main points, and subpoints). |
More recently there have been some narrative and mass communication models of preaching which have emerged. However, traditionally, the three views above have been the most common.
Application
I'll leave the final word of application with Paul: "preach the word" (2 Tim. 4:2)!
Where can I learn more?
Bibliography:
-Chapell, Bryan. Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005.