The Expositor.Org

The theological highlight of recent years has without question been evangelicalism’s intense focus on biblical inerrancy.¹ Much of what has been written defending inerrancy² represents the most acute theological reasoning our generation has produced.

Yet it seems our commitment to inerrancy is somewhat lacking in the way it fleshes out in practical ministry. Specifically, evangelical preaching ought to reflect our conviction that God’s Word is infallible and inerrant. Too often it does not. In fact, there is a discernible trend in contemporary evangelicalism away from biblical preaching and a drift toward an experience-centered, pragmatic, topical approach in the pulpit.

Should not our preaching be biblical exposition, reflecting our conviction that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God? If we believe that “all Scripture is inspired by God” and inerrant, must we not be equally committed to the reality that it is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17)? Should not that magnificent truth determine how we preach?

Paul gave this mandate to Timothy: “I solemnly 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, exhort, with great patience and instruction” (2 Tim. 4:1–2, emphasis added). Any form of preaching that ignores that intended purpose and design of God falls short of the divine plan. J. I. Packer eloquently captured the pursuit of preaching:

Preaching appears in the Bible as a relaying of what God has said about Himself and His doings, and about men in relation to Him, plus a pressing of His commands, promises, warnings, and assurances, with a view to winning the hearer or hearers … to a positive response.³

The only logical response to inerrant Scripture, then, is to preach it expositionally. By expositionally, I mean preaching in such a way that the meaning of the Bible passage is presented entirely and exactly as it was intended by God. Expository preaching is the proclamation of the truth of God as mediated through the preacher.⁴

Admittedly, not all expositors have an inerrant view. See William Barclay’s treatment of Mark 5 or John 6 in The Daily Study Bible Series. It is also true that not all with an inerrant view practice expository preaching. These are, however, inconsistencies because an inerrantist perspective demands expository preaching, and a non-inerrantist perspective makes it unnecessary.

Putting it another way, what does it matter that we have an inerrant text if we do not deal with the basic phenomena of communication, e.g., words, sentences, grammar, morphology, syntax, etc.? And if we do not, why bother preaching it?

In his much-needed volume on exegetical theology, Walter Kaiser pointedly analyzes the current anemic state of the church due to flock-feeding that is rendered inadequate because of the absence of expository preaching:

It is no secret that Christ’s Church is not at all in good health in many places of the world. She has been languishing because she has been fed, as the current line has it, “junk food”; all kinds of artificial preservatives and all sorts of unnatural substitutes have been served up to her. As a result, theological and Biblical malnutrition has afflicted the very generation that has taken such giant steps to make sure its physical health is not damaged by using foods or products that are carcinogenic or otherwise harmful to their physical bodies. Simultaneously a worldwide spiritual famine resulting from the absence of any genuine publication of the Word of God (Amos 8:11) continues to run wild and almost unabated in most quarters of the Church.⁵

The mandate, then, is clear. Expository preaching is the declarative genre in which inerrancy finds its logical expression and the church has its life and power. Stated simply, inerrancy demands exposition as the only method of preaching that preserves the purity of Scripture and accomplishes the purpose for which God gave us His Word.

R. B. Kuiper reinforces this mandate when he writes, “The principle that Christian preaching is proclamation of the Word must obviously be determinative of the content of the sermon.”⁶

[MacArthur, J. (1997, c1992). Rediscovering Expository Preaching (22). Dallas: Word Pub.]

1. Over a ten-year period (1977–1987), the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy held three summits for scholars (1978, 1982, 1986) and two congresses for the Christian community at large (1982, 1987) to formulate and disseminate the biblical truth about inerrancy. (back)

2. Paul D. Feinberg, “Infallibility and Inerrancy,” Trinity Journal 6, no. 2 (Fall 1977): 120, crisply articulates critical inerrancy as “the claim that when all facts are known, the scriptures in their original autographs and properly interpreted will be shown to be without error in all that they affirm to the degree of precision intended, whether that affirmation relates to doctrine, history, science, geography, geology, etc.” (back)

3. James I. Packer, “Preaching As Biblical Interpretation,” Inerrancy and Common Sense, ed. by Roger R. Nicole and J. Ramsey Michaels (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 189. (back)

4. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 222 (back)

5. Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Toward an Exegetical Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981), 7–8 MacArthur, J. (1997, c1992). Rediscovering expository preaching (0). Dallas: Word Pub. (back)

6. R. B. Kuiper, “Scriptural Preaching,” The Infallible Word, 3d rev. ed., ed. by Paul Woolley (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1967), 217. (back)