Bible Students

A reflection on “Expositional Preaching” by Helm

This book covers some of the most important aspects of expositional preaching in contrast with some of the more common methods of preaching in today’s western Protestantism. Today’s western Protestantism is plagued by a total misunderstanding of what preaching should be. Preaching today is often characterized by the preacher looking at the text, seeing how the text conforms to something they want to tell their congregation (e.g. to tithe, to not feed their child too much, or to love), and directly applying that to the congregation. While this may seem like an appropriate, though short, way to handle the text, proper expositional preaching must take into account the historical and literary context of the text in order to first understand what the text meant to its original audience before attempting to apply it to today’s audience. 

Chapter one covers the topic of contextualization. Contextualization is the process of turning the old application of a text into the current application of a text, in a way that is understandable to the current audience. That is the proper understanding of contextualization. However, there is a much more prevalent improper understanding of what contextualization is. Contextualization to many preachers today involves blindly ripping a surface idea from the text and applying it to their audience however they wish. The main difference between the two styles of contextualization is that in the first, proper, understanding of contextualization, the preacher takes the meaning the text gives and takes their application from that understanding. With the improper understanding of contextualization, the preacher takes the meaning they themself gives the text, and takes their application from that. The two systems pit the authority of applying the text as preacher verses the Bible. Either the Bible is the authority for application, or the preacher is, but it can not be both. 

Now, this poor understanding of contextualization plays out in a few different styles of preaching, though two are of special interest. The first is impressionistic preaching, and the second is inspired preaching. The first, impressionistic preaching, focuses on what stands out to the preacher in the text. This is similar to what was touched on previously, where the preacher sees what stands out (causes an impression) for applying to their particular audience without studying the meaning of the text itself. Second is “inspired” preaching, where the preacher meditates on the text. Now, meditation on the biblical text and dependence on the Spirit is a great thing. The issue arises when the preacher throws away systematic and biblical theology, as well as an analytical and systematic approach to understanding the Bible, in favor of meditating on the ideas they had before coming into the text. The preacher must be willing to add new ideas from outside sources as a part of their study, rather than only depend on what they already have. 

Now that the problems with application have been covered, the author moves in chapter two to proper methods of exegesis. First, primary things must remain primary. The congregation does not have limitless time to listen to the sermon, nor do they likely have the same interest in all of the finer points of study the preacher went through. The congregation’s time should be given to the most important matters, rather than the secondary or tertiary matters. The most important things, such as the redemption Christ has given Christians, should remain the center. If a preacher focuses their whole sermon on the finer points of their study, apart from the most important matters, they have wasted their opportunity to reach their people anew with the gospel. Next, the author retells a story about their experience with coming to the understanding that the Bible must be interpreted on its own terms. The “love chapter” in 1 Corinthians, specifically, was a great tool in understanding how proper hermeneutics should be done. Essentially, the most often cited passages of Scripture are likely the ones with the least amount of theological study. All passages must be studied to understand what they meant to their original audience, not what inspirational speakers think they mean. Next, the biblical context must have total control of the meaning of the passage. A biblical passage can not be properly understood apart from its context. This is likely the summative issue with poor contextualization is that the original context of the passage is not taken into account. A particular point of interest from this chapter is the instruction to listen for the melodic line of the biblical book. This is incredibly important. The Bible is filled with meta-narratives, both as a whole and in individual books. These meta-narratives are not accidental, but are an important part of the composition of the Bible. They must be taken into account. For instance, the most well-known meta-narrative is the return to God’s dwelling place through the work of a Redeemer. This meta-narrative (the redeeming work and result of Christ) is essential to appreciating the context of a passage. 

Chapter three discusses theological reflection, which is the proper form of meditation, contrasted with the false “inspired” preaching touched on earlier. There are a few notable points not touched on thoroughly so far. First, biblical theology and systematic theology must be used as a part of preaching. I believe most preachers are somewhat familiar with systematic theology, even if only as a set of “proof-texts” for a specific doctrine. I do not believe I have ever seen a preacher or teacher who has not referenced a few offhand verses to defend their position. Even if misunderstood, they certainly have some sort of familiarity with systematic theology. The author introduces a lesser known style of theology which, rather than pulling verses out of context from different books and melodic lines, attempts to understand biblical theology as it is uncovered in time by the biblical authors. Biblical theology takes into account primarily what has occurred before the current point in the Scriptures before attempting to bring it into context of the whole and complete meta-narrative of the Bible. 

Finally, chapter four covers application to today’s audience. Now that the author has corrected how to contextualize and analyze the biblical text, the most important up-front skill is the presentation of the text to the congregation. Contextualization and analysis go on behind the scenes, but the application is how the preacher urges their congregation into a renewed and active relationship with Jesus. First, the audience must understand what their congregation is like. Proper application does take into account the audience at hand, but does not interpret the text according to the audience. The text always says the same thing, but the way this thing is communicated is according to the ears of the audience. The material, as well, must be delivered and composed in a clear and succinct way. As mentioned earlier, the audience does not always have the same amount of time or interest as the pastor in the finer points of theology. Lastly, the actual application of the text must come from the text itself. If the preacher can read the rest of this book and not come to this conclusion, they must read the book again. This conclusion flows very naturally from the premises already set forth. In this way, using proper contextualization, analysis, and application, the preacher will raise the biblical text to its rightful place as authority in the church over the preacher. By doing this, the preacher will have the power, through the Spirit, to turn the dry and dead bones of the congregation into spiritual life through the infusion of the Word into their lives.