What is Biblical Preaching?

Good question! I recently read a short booklet in which Eric Alexander set about answering that very question in a concise and yet profound way. Eric Alexander is an internationally renowned minister of the Church of Scotland who has been a gift from God to the Church IN Scotland for almost half a century.

Mr. Alexander organises his material under the following 8 propositions:

Biblical Preaching is Fundamental in Its Importance

"It seems to me that the fundamental place of preaching in the church is simply a corollary of the fundamental place of scripture in the church. If you erode the latter, you will certainly erode the former. Church history has consistently demonstrated this." P7

Biblical Preaching is Spiritual in its Essence

"It is possible to be homiletically brilliant, verbally fluent, theologically profound, biblically accurate and orthodox, and spiritually useless. That frightens me. I hope it frightens you too." P12

Biblical Preaching is Didactic in its Nature

"Our ultimate concern, of course, is to reach the heart and the will, but the scriptural route to the heart and to the will is through the mind." P13

Biblical Preaching is Expository in its Form

"the quarry in which we work and from which we dig is the quarry of Holy Scripture. There is no other quarry from which we may find the gold of God's truth." P15

Biblical Preaching is Systematic in its Pattern

"I have found again and again that as I have come to a particular passage or chapter, I could not have begun to think of anything more relevant for a current situation in the congregation at that time." P23

Biblical Preaching is Pastoral in its Concern

"It is by faithful ministry of the Word of God that true pastoral care comes. We are to pastor biblically and preach pastorally" P24

Biblical Preaching is Clear in its Structure

"If we truly care for people, we will want to break the bread of God down in such a way that they will find no unnecessary obstacles in digesting it."P25

Biblical Preaching is Relevant in its Application

"I think the secret of applicatory preaching is that we must apply to ourselves the Word of God while we are meditating upon it, while we are studying it. We must do this before we ever begin to think about applying it to other people."

This refreshing little booklet is part of the "Basics of the Reformed Faith Series" and is published by P&R Publishing. If you preach, even occasionally, it is essential reading and if you listen to preaching (even occasionally) it is well worth the read.