{"product_id":"preaching-isbn-9780143108719","title":"Preaching","description":"\u003cb\u003ePastor, preacher, and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eThe Prodigal Prophet\u003c\/i\u003e Timothy Keller shares his wisdom on communicating the Christian faith from the pulpit as well as from the coffee shop.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMost Christians—including pastors—struggle to talk about their faith in a way that applies the power of the Christian gospel to change people’s lives. Timothy Keller is known for his insightful, down-to-earth sermons and talks that help people understand themselves, encounter Jesus, and apply the Bible to their lives. In this accessible guide for pastors and laypeople alike, Keller helps readers learn to present the Christian message of grace in a more engaging, passionate, and compassionate way. | \u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003ePreaching:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Superb . . . we should be grateful to Keller for his wisdom, scholarship, and humility.”—\u003cb\u003eThe Gospel Coalition\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“If you want to see ‘between the lines’ and just ‘below the surface’ of our cultural moment and societal ethos . . . Which is to say, if you are any kind of Christian leader, teacher, writer, blogger, public thinker, politician, artist, media person, campus minister, youth leader, parent, Christian educator, spiritual director, or anyone with influence . . . then this is going to be exceptionally helpful for you.”—\u003cb\u003eByron Borger\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePraise for \u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003ePrayer:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"...Keller provides a contextually rich guide and companion to prayer.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"...if you follow Keller into the arsenal, you will be powerfully equipped to overcome the world\/flesh\/Devil and see your prayers for kingdom advance answered by almighty God. And if you follow Keller to the banqueting table, you will increasingly feast on new and old treasures of awe and intimacy with your heavenly Father.\"—\u003cb\u003eThe Gospel Coalition\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eEncounters with Jesus:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Keller’s work belongs on the bookshelf of every serious Bible student. It is not a quick read, but, instead should be savored like fine wine, one sip at a time to glean the full impact of his life-changing message.\"—\u003cb\u003eExaminer.com\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cu\u003ePraise for Timothy Keller and his books:\u003c\/u\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Tim Keller's ministry in New York City is leading a generation of seekers and skeptics toward belief in God. I thank God for him.\" —\u003cb\u003eBilly Graham\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Unlike most suburban megachurches, much of Redeemer is remarkably traditional. What is not traditional is Dr. Keller’s skill in speaking the language of his urbane audience…Observing Dr. Keller’s professorial pose on stage, it is easy to understand his appeal.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Fifty years from now, if evangelical Christians are widely known for their love of cities, their commitment to mercy and justice, and their love of their neighbors, Tim Keller will be remembered as a pioneer of the new urban Christians.”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristianity Today Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“With intellectual, brimstone-free sermons that manage to cite Woody Allen alongside Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Keller draws some 5,000 young followers every Sunday. Church leaders see him as a model of how to evangelize urban centers across the country, and Keller has helped ‘plant’ 50 gospel-based Christian churches around New York plus another 50 from San Francisco to London.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It has something for everyone—something for the agnostic (Keller makes a strong argument that there are no true atheists); something for the philosopher (although he invites the wounded reader to skip that section); and something for the believer being beckoned into the inner sanctum of sharing in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings (a place no one naturally wants to go).”—\u003cb\u003eThe Gospel Coalition on \u003ci\u003eWalking with God through Pain and Suffering\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It is a resource that takes a multidimensional approach to suffering - tackling the internal and external realities - and takes us deep theologically and practically.\"—\u003cb\u003eVertical Living Ministries on \u003ci\u003eWalking with God through Pain and Suffering\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A luminous and ultimately hopeful examination of the many aspects of suffering.\"—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e on \u003ci\u003eWalking with God through Pain and Suffering\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Theologically rich and philosophically informed, yet accessible and filled with practical wisdom.”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCardus\u003c\/i\u003e on\u003ci\u003e Every Good Endeavor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This book is for us all and through its reading it can change and reshape your entire outlook on your life.”—\u003cb\u003eSarahMac on \u003ci\u003eEvery Good Endeavor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“It’s a great resource to equip you to speak with your secular friends; to show them why the Christian understanding of marriage is not only a tremendous blessing, it’s the only one that works.”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristianPost.com\u003c\/i\u003e on \u003ci\u003eThe Meaning of Marriage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Meaning of Marriage\u003c\/i\u003e is incredibly rich with wisdom and insight that will leave the reader, whether single or married, feeling uplifted. While the book is filled with expertly selected biblical verses, nonreligious readers willing to ‘try on’ these observations may find answers not only to the meaning of marriage but to that even bigger question—the meaning of life itself.”—\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Times \u003c\/i\u003eon \u003ci\u003eThe Meaning of Marriage\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This is the book I give to all my friends who are serious spiritual seekers or skeptics.”—\u003cb\u003eRick Warren, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Purpose Driven Life\u003c\/i\u003e, on \u003ci\u003eThe Reason for God\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Keller mines material from literary classics, philosophy, anthropology and a multitude of other disciplines to make an intellectually compelling case for God. Written for skeptics and the believers who love them, the book draws on the author's encounters as founding pastor of New York's booming Redeemer Presbyterian Church…[\u003ci\u003eThe Reason for God\u003c\/i\u003e] should serve both as testimony to the author's encyclopedic learning and as a compelling overview of the current debate on faith for those who doubt and for those who want to reevaluate what they believe, and why.” —\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003eon \u003ci\u003eThe Reason for God\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eWorld \u003c\/i\u003ehas briefly reviewed about 200 books over the past year. Many stand out, but one in particular is likely to change many lives and ways of thinking. World’s Book of the Year is Tim Keller’s \u003ci\u003eThe Reason for God\u003c\/i\u003e. ”—\u003cb\u003eMarvin Olasky on \u003ci\u003eThe Reason for God\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e | \u003cb\u003eTIMOTHY KELLER \u003c\/b\u003ewas born and raised in Pennsylvania and educated at Bucknell University, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He was first a pastor in Hopewell, Virginia. In 1989 he started Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City with his wife, Kathy, and their three sons. Today, Redeemer has more than six thousand regular Sunday attendees and has helped to start more than two hundred and fifty new churches around the world. Also the author of \u003ci\u003ePrayer, Encounters with Jesus\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWalking with God through Pain and Suffering\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEvery Good Endeavor\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Meaning of Marriage\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eGenerous Justice\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eCounterfeit Gods\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Prodigal God\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eJesus the King\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Reason for God\u003c\/i\u003e, Timothy Keller lives in New York City with his family. | \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAustralian theologian Peter Adam argues that what we call preaching, the formal public address to the gathered congregation on a Sunday, is only one form of what the Bible describes as the “ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:2, 6:4).1\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn the day of Pentecost Peter cited the words of the prophet Joel, who said that God would pour out his Spirit on all his people, and as a result “your sons and daughters will prophesy” (Acts 2:17). Gerhard Friedrich, in the \u003ci\u003eTheological Dictionary of the New Testament,\u003c\/i\u003e says that there are at least thirty-three Greek words in the New Testament usually translated as “preaching” or “proclaiming.” Adam observes that these words describe activities that could not all be public speaking.2 For example, Acts 8:4 says that all the Christians except the apostles went from place to place “proclaiming the Messiah.” This cannot mean that every believer was standing up and preaching sermons to audiences. Priscilla and Aquila, for example, explained the Word of Christ to Apollos in their home (Acts 18:26).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe can discern at least three levels of “Word ministry” in the Bible. Paul calls all believers to “let the message of Christ dwell among you richly” and to “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16). Every Christian should be able to give both teaching (\u003ci\u003edidaskalia, \u003c\/i\u003ethe ordinary word for instruction) and admonition (\u003ci\u003enoutheo—\u003c\/i\u003ea common word for strong, life-changing counsel) that convey to others the teachings of the Bible. This must be done carefully, though informally, in conversations that are usually one on one. That is the most fundamental form of the ministry of the Word. Let’s call it level 1.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the more formal end of the spectrum are sermons: the public preaching and exposition of the Bible to assembled gatherings, which we could call level 3. The book of Acts gives us many examples, mainly drawn from the ministry of Peter and Paul, though also including an address by Stephen that probably summarizes his path-breaking teaching. Acts gives us so many of these public addresses that we could almost say that, from the point of view of Luke (the author), the development of the early Christian church and the development of its preaching were one and the same.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is, however, a “level 2” form of the ministry of the Word between informal, every-Christian conversation and formal sermons. In an overlooked passage the apostle Peter describes the spiritual gift of “speaking”:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:10–11).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Peter speaks of spiritual gifts he uses two very general terms.3 The first is the word for speaking: \u003ci\u003elalein. \u003c\/i\u003eIn the rest of the New Testament this word can denote simple daily speech between anyone (Matthew 12:36; Ephesians 4:25; James 1:19). It can also refer to a preaching ministry, as with Jesus (Matthew 12:46 and 13:10) or Paul (2 Corinthians 12:19). What is Peter talking about here?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen we map this passage over Paul’s gift lists in Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, we see that there is a whole category of Word-ministry gifts that function in ways beside public preaching to the assembled Sunday congregation. It includes personal exhortation or counseling, evangelism, and teaching individuals and groups. Biblical scholar Peter Davids concludes that when Peter writes of the spiritual gift of “speaking” he is “not referring to casual talk among Christians, nor . . . referring only to the actions of [pastors] or other church officials” but rather to Christians with “one of these verbal gifts” of counseling, instructing, teaching, or evangelizing. In this category of ministry, Christian men and women aren’t preaching \u003ci\u003eper se;\u003c\/i\u003e they prepare and present lessons and talks; they lead discussions in which they are presenting the Word of Christ.4\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEven though Peter is not only talking to public speakers he warns those who present the Word to others in any form to take their task seriously. He adds that when Christians teach the Bible their speech should be “as . . . the very words of God” (1 Peter 4:11). Davids notes that the little word “‘as’ allows a slight distancing between their speaking and God’s words.” No Christian should ever claim that his or her teaching is to be treated with the same authority as biblical revelation; nevertheless, Peter makes the powerful, eye-opening claim that Christians who are presenting biblical teaching are not to be simply expressing their own opinion but giving others “the very words of God.” Just as in public preaching, Christians are to convey the truth as they understand it to be revealed in the Scriptures.5 And if they explain the meaning of the Bible faithfully, listeners will be able to hear God speaking to them in the exposition. They are listening not merely to an artifact of human ingenuity but, as it were, to the very words of God.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEvery Christian needs to understand the message of the Bible well enough to explain and apply it to other Christians and to his neighbors in informal and personal settings (level 1). But there are many ways to do the ministry of the Word at level 2 that take more preparation and presentation skills yet do not consist of delivering sermons (level 3). Level 2 today may include writing, blogging, teaching classes and small groups, mentoring, moderating open discussion forums on issues of faith, and so on.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book aims to be a resource for all those who communicate their Christian faith in any way, particularly at levels 2 and 3.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Irreplaceability of Preaching\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is dangerous, then, to fall into the unbiblical belief that the ministry of the Word is simply preaching sermons. As Adam says, that will “make preaching carry a load which it cannot bear; that is, the burden of doing all the Bible expects of every form of ministry of the Word.”6 No church should expect that all the life transformation that comes from the Word of God (John 17:17; cf. Colossians 3:16–17 and Ephesians 5:18–20) comes strictly through preaching. I shouldn’t expect to be shaped into Christlikeness even by listening to the best sermons. I also need other Christians around me who are “handl[ing] the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) by encouraging me, instructing me, and counseling me. I also need the books of Christian authors whose writings build me up. Nor is it right to expect that those outside the church who need to hear and understand the gospel will be reached only through preaching. I myself found faith not through listening to preaching and speaking but through books. (Is anyone surprised by that?) We must beware of thinking the Sunday sermon can carry all the freight of any church’s ministry of the Word.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYet despite Adam’s rightful warning against overemphasizing preaching in a church’s ministry, this may not be the church’s greatest danger today. We live in a time when many are resistant to any hint of authority in pronouncements; so the culture’s allergy to truth and the great skill that is required mean the church loses its grasp on the crucial nature of preaching for the ministry of the gospel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEdmund Clowney, in his commentary on 1 Peter 4:10, writes:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is true that every Christian must handle the word of God with reverence, and seek the help of the Spirit to make it known to others. Yet there are also those with special gifts of the Spirit for the preaching . . . of the word of God . . . [with] a special charge to tend and feed the flock of God ([1 Peter] 5:2). There is some danger that, in reacting against clericalism, the church may forget the importance of the ministry of the word of God by those called to be under-shepherds of the flock.7\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClowney warns us against seeing \u003ci\u003eno\u003c\/i\u003e qualitative difference between proclaiming the Word in the gathered assembly and leading a small-group Bible study. The difference between the two goes beyond ceremonial and logistical matters—it is not just a matter of the number of people present, or the space to fill, or voice projection and pace. Those who have preached to a congregation know that there is a qualitative difference as well between the sermon and a study, or even a sermon and a lecture. A quick survey of the addresses by Peter, Stephen, and Paul in the book of Acts shows the extraordinary power of preaching when undertaken “as . . . the very words of God” and through the unique authority that the Spirit of God can bring in a public worshipping assembly.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile we will always require a host of varied forms of Word ministry, the specific public ministry of preaching is irreplaceable. Adam strikes the balance nicely when he says a church’s gospel ministry should be “pulpit-centered, but not pulpit-restricted.”8\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo there are three levels of Word ministry, and they are all crucial and support one another. The public preaching of Christ in the Christian assembly (level 3) is a unique way that God speaks to and builds up people, and it sets up the more organic forms of Word ministry at levels 1 and 2. Likewise, the skilled and faithful communication at levels 1 and 2 prepares people to be receptive to preaching. This volume will speak to all those who are wrestling with how to communicate life-changing biblical truth to people at any level in an increasingly skeptical age. It will also serve as an introduction and foundation for working preachers and teachers in particular.9\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—Acts 16:14\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Secret of Great Preaching\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot long after I began my preaching ministry I noticed a puzzling inconsistency in the response of my listeners. Sometimes I would get gratifying feedback in the week after a particular sermon. “That sermon changed my life.” “I felt you were speaking directly to me. I wondered how you knew.” “I’ll never forget it—it felt like it was coming right from God!” When I heard such comments I assumed that I had preached a \u003ci\u003egreat \u003c\/i\u003esermon—something to which every young minister aspires.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt wasn’t long before I realized that others would be saying—about the same message—something like “meh.” My wife, Kathy, often would say, “It was okay, but not one of your best ones,” while someone else would be telling me in tears the next day that they would never be the same after hearing it. How was I to read this? At first I began to wonder if a sermon’s beauty was only in the eye of the beholder, but that was surely too subjective an explanation. I trusted Kathy’s judgment and my own that some of my sermons were simply better crafted and delivered than others. Yet some of those I considered mediocre changed lives—while others I felt pretty good about seemed to have little impact.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne day I was reading Acts 16, the account of Paul’s planting of the church in Philippi. On this occasion Paul presented the gospel to a group of women and one, Lydia, put her faith in Christ because “the Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message” (Acts 16:14). While all the listeners heard the same address, only Lydia seems to have been permanently changed by it. We should not overread this to imply that God works only through a message at the moment of delivery or that he did not also help Paul as he formulated the message earlier. Nevertheless, it was clear to me from the text that the sermon’s differing impact on individuals was due to the work of God’s Spirit. Maybe Paul had Lydia in mind when he described the act of preaching as the gospel coming to listeners “not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI concluded that the difference between a bad sermon and a good sermon is largely located in the preachers—in their gifts and skills and in their preparation for any particular message. Understanding the biblical text, distilling a clear outline and theme, developing a persuasive argument, enriching it with poignant illustrations, metaphors, and practical examples, incisively analyzing heart motives and cultural assumptions, making specific application to real life—all of this takes extensive labor. To prepare a sermon like this requires hours of work, and to be able to craft and present it skillfully takes years of practice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHowever, while the difference between a bad sermon and a good sermon is mainly the responsibility of the preacher, the difference between good preaching and \u003ci\u003egreat\u003c\/i\u003e preaching lies mainly in the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the listener as well as the preacher. The message in Philippi came from Paul, but the effect of the sermon on hearts came from the Spirit.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis means God can use an indifferently crafted message as great preaching, which explains the answer one older Christian minister gave when he was asked to compare the great eighteenth-century preachers Daniel Rowland and George Whitefield. He responded that you always got great preaching from both men, but with Rowland you also always got a good sermon, which was not always the case with Whitefield.1 Regardless of how any particular sermon was crafted, the sense of God’s presence and power always seemed to accompany Whitefield’s preaching.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYou may be eager to learn “the secret to great preaching” as a set of instructions for the formation of a discipline. That way you could nearly always accomplish great preaching if you followed the directions to the letter. However, I cannot give you such a formula—and no one can—because that secret lies in the depths of God’s wise plans and the power of God’s Spirit. I’m talking about what many have referred to as “unction” or “anointing.” I will discuss your role in this dynamic in the final chapter of this book, but there are no how-tos that guarantee it. Some will point rightly to the minister’s prayer life. “Isn’t that the secret to great preaching?” they will ask. The answer is yes and no—while a deep and rich prayer life is a requirement for great and even good preaching, it by no means secures greatness on its own. We should do the work it takes to make our communication of God’s truth \u003ci\u003egood\u003c\/i\u003e and leave it up to God how and how often he makes it great for the listener. “Should you then seek great things for thyself? Do not seek them” (Jeremiah 45:5).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe “Absolutely Perfect” Preacher\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis distinction may lead you to assume that Christian communicators need to do nothing but explain the biblical text and that it is “up to God to do the rest.” That is a dangerous misunderstanding and reduction of the preaching task.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTheodore Beza was a younger colleague and successor of John Calvin, the founder of the Reformed branch of Protestantism during the Reformation. In his biography of Calvin, Beza recalled the three great preachers in Geneva during those years—Calvin himself, Guillaume Farel, and Pierre Viret. Farel, said Beza, was the most fiery, passionate, and forceful in his sermonic delivery. Viret was the most eloquent, and audiences hung on his skillful and beautiful words. The time flew by fastest when sitting under his preaching. Calvin was the most profound, his sermons packed full of “the weightiest of insights.” Calvin had the most substance, Viret the most eloquence, and Farel the most vehemence. Beza concluded “that a preacher who was a composite of these three men would have been absolutely perfect.”2 Beza is acknowledging here that his great mentor, John Calvin, was not the perfect preacher. He majored in great content, but he was not as skillful as others in commanding attention, in persuasion, and in the engagement of heart motives. Viret and Farel were more engaging and moving.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the first Christian preaching manual St. Augustine wrote that the duties of preachers included not only \u003ci\u003eprobare, \u003c\/i\u003eto instruct and prove, but also \u003ci\u003edelectare, \u003c\/i\u003eto rivet and delight, and \u003ci\u003eflectere, \u003c\/i\u003eto stir and move people to action.3 Although Augustine condemned the bankruptcy of pagan philosophies, he believed Christian preachers could learn from their works on rhetoric. The Greek word \u003ci\u003erhetorike \u003c\/i\u003efirst appears in Plato’s dialogue \u003ci\u003eGorgias, \u003c\/i\u003emeaning “the work of persuasion.”4 Classics scholar George Kennedy writes that in one sense rhetoric “is a phenomenon of all human cultures” because most acts of communication have the goal of not merely expressing information but affecting the beliefs, actions, or emotions of the one(s) receiving them.5 Everyone uses rhetoric to some degree, even if it means altering the volume, pitch, or pace to be emphatic. Everyone must choose vocabulary and metaphors that illuminate and compel, as well as find other verbal and nonverbal ways to gain and keep attention and emphasize certain points over others.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJohn Calvin himself agrees. When commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:17, where Paul eschews using “wisdom and eloquence,” Calvin asks “whether he means . . . that the preaching of the gospel is vitiated if the slightest tincture of eloquence and rhetoric is made use of for adorning it.” Calvin responds that “what Paul says here, therefore, ought not to be taken as throwing any disparagement upon the [rhetorical] arts, as if they were unfavorable to piety.”6 Paul is warning against their abuse. Rhetoric can become an end in itself, its entertaining and pleasing forms obscuring the simplicity of the biblical message with a “silly fondness for high sounding style.”7 Long stories, florid language, and dramatic gestures can captivate attention while the actual message of the text is ignored.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCalvin goes on to say that we should despise neither simple expressions of the truth nor skilled oratory, provided they are in service of the text. “Eloquence is not at all at variance with the simplicity of the gospel, when it does not disdain to give way to it, and be in subjection to it, but also yields service to it, as a handmaid to her mistress.”8 Preaching should not be a human performance that merely entertains nor a dry recitation of principles. Spiritual eloquence should arise out of the preacher’s almost desperate love for the gospel truth itself and the people for whom accepting the truth is a matter of life and death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the end, preaching has two basic objects in view: the Word and the human listener. It is not enough to just harvest the wheat; it must be prepared in some edible form or it can’t nourish and delight. Sound preaching arises out of two loves—love of the Word of God and love of people—and from them both a desire to show people God’s glorious grace. And so, while only God can open hearts, the communicator must give great time and thought both to presenting the truth accurately and to bringing it home to the hearts and lives of the hearers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePreaching Christ\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere may be no more important Bible passage on preaching than 1 Corinthians 1:18–2:5.9\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power (1 Corinthians 2:1–5).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePaul says, “As I proclaimed to you the testimony about God . . . I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1–2). At the time Paul was writing, the only Scripture to preach from was what we now call the Old Testament. Yet even when preaching from these texts Paul “knew nothing” but Jesus—who did not appear by name in any of those texts. How could this be? Paul understood that all Scripture ultimately pointed to Jesus and his salvation; that every prophet, priest, and king was shedding light on the ultimate Prophet, Priest, and King. To present the Bible “in its fullness” was to preach Christ as the main theme and substance of the Bible’s message.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClassical rhetoric allowed the speaker \u003ci\u003einventio—\u003c\/i\u003ethe choice of a topic and the division of the topic into constituent parts, along with elaborate arguments and devices to support the speaker’s thesis. For Paul, however, there is always one topic: Jesus. Wherever we go in the Bible, Jesus is the main subject. And even the breakdown of our topic is not completely left up to us—we are to lay out the topics and points about Jesus that the biblical text itself gives us. We must “confine ourselves” to Jesus. Yet I can speak from forty years of experience as a preacher to tell you that the story of this one individual never needs to become repetitious—it contains the whole history of the universe and of humankind alike and is the only resolution of the plotlines of every one of our lives.10\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo Paul hasn’t preached a text unless he has preached about Jesus, not merely as an example to follow but as a savior: “Christ Jesus, who has become for us . . . our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePaul sees Christ as the key to understanding each biblical text (the first aspect of good preaching) and also as the key to bringing the Word home persuasively to the heart and life of the listener (the second aspect). He writes: “I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.” At first glance this seems to argue against using any craft at all in preaching, but the rest of the New Testament (as Calvin indicates) makes it impossible to hold that Paul never used logic, argument, rhetoric, or learning as he preached. In the book of Acts, as we will see, Paul skillfully uses different arguments for different audiences; and in 2 Corinthians 5:11 he “persuade[s]” listeners, so it cannot be that he has no strategies for changing people’s minds.11 New Testament scholar Anthony Thiselton draws on recent scholarship on classical rhetoric to help us understand what Paul means in 1 Corinthians by “eloquence” and “wise and persuasive words.” Paul is rejecting verbal bullying (using the force of one’s personality or witty and cutting disdain); applause-generating statements that play to a crowd’s prejudices, pride, and fears; and manipulative stories or techniques that overwhelm the audience with shows of verbal dexterity, wit, or erudition.12\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAgainst all these rhetorical abuses Paul puts the message of “Christ and him crucified,” but consider the meaning of this contrast. Paul indeed wants to reshape the foundations of listeners’ hearts—he wants to change what they most fundamentally love, hope, and put their faith in. Yet he insists that this change must \u003ci\u003enot\u003c\/i\u003e come about through human ingenuity but \u003ci\u003eonly\u003c\/i\u003e through a “demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4)—which can be translated “through transparent proof brought home powerfully by the Holy Spirit.”13 What does that mean? Thiselton looks forward in the text and writes, “as becomes clear from 1 Corinthians 2:16–3:4, ‘\u003ci\u003eSpirit\u003c\/i\u003e’ is defined Christologically.” In this passage Paul speaks of the “self-effacing Spirit who points beyond himself to God’s work in Christ.”14\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48338547245285,"sku":"NP9780143108719","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780143108719.jpg?v=1769572633","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/preaching-isbn-9780143108719","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}