Notes on Biblical preaching

- Biblical preaching is the task of bringing about an encounter between people of the
present century and the Word of God – first spoken in the 1st century.
- The task of exegesis is to discover that word and its meaning in the 1st century church;
the task of preaching is to know well both the exegesis of the text and the people to
whom the Word is now to be spoken again, as a living Word for them.
- Two ways: the biblical text itself determines the direction of the sermon or the other way
round.
- The danger of the 1st way: that the sermon itself may become an exercise in exegesis;
such a sermon is exposition without aim, information without focus.
- Preaching must be based on solid exegesis, but it is not a display of exegesis. Rather, it is
applied exegesis, and it must have aim if it is to function properly.

Beginning works

- Read the larger context: Always remember that your text is only one small part of a
whole, and was never intended by the biblical author to be looked at or thought of
independently from the rest of what he says.
- Therefore, make it a regular practice to read your passage in its larger context. And then
read it again – perhaps in a different translation the second time through, thinking about
the author’s argument and how your passage fits in. Read and reread, so that you can
easily retrace in your mind what goes before and what follows after your text.
- Read the passage repeatedly: Again, you are reading and rereading for its basic content.
Try to get a feel for it as a unit conveying God’s Word to you and your congregation.
- Read it through in a number of different translations; and make a list of the significant
differences. Determine which of these differences is exegetically significant.
- Make a sermon use list. Include the things that you discovered so far. Remember: this is
not a sermon outline. It is simply a list of observations that your congregation deserves to
hear and may benefit from knowing.

Matters of Content

- Details that make up the content of your passage, the what of the text. Basically these
questions are fourfold for any NT passage: textual, grammatical, linguistic, historical-
cultural
 Check for significant textual issues;
 note any grammar that is unusual, ambiguous, or otherwise important;
 make a list of key terms;
 do a mini-word study for any crucial terms
 investigate important historical-cultural matters
Contextual questions

- Attention to the questions of historical and literary context: historical context has to do
with the general historical milieu as well as with the specific occasion of the document;
literary context has to do with how your passage fits in specifically at its place in the
argument or narrative.