Expositional Preaching

Definition of Expositional Preaching

Presently, much is being written about expositional preaching. However, not everyone defines it identically. For the purpose of this article expositional preaching is an approach to examining and proclaiming Scripture with the goal of communicating clearly the message of the Bible. It is not limited to verse-by-verse book studies. In fact, even a topical message can be presented in an expositional style. However, preaching a topical message in an expositional style requires a great deal of work. Expositional preaching involves studying a verse or passage in its grammatical, historical context, explaining clearly the authorial intent of that verse or passage, allowing the Spirit of God to move the heart of the expositor, and appropriately applying the Biblical message to a current audience.

Steps of Expositional Preaching

Utilizing certain “mile-markers” helps a preacher to prepare expositional messages. While preachers may choose additional “markers,” the basic elements of expositional preaching are as follows.

The first step of expositional preaching is to examine the historical setting and grammatical meaning of a verse or passage in order to determine the authorial intent of the passage. The preacher must exercise great care to not read his personal ideas into a passage. His goal is to exegete the meaning of the passage, not to use the Bible to provide a proof text or platform for his own message. He is to discover and faithfully proclaim God’s message.

Step two is to come to know the passage well enough to be able to clearly explain its authorial intent to his own audience. The authorial intent of a passage is what God communicated through a passage to its original audience. Such explanation requires a preacher to explain historical or cultural information in a passage and to interpret the meaning of that passage. If a preacher fails to clearly understand and explain a passage’s original intent, he is not proclaiming an expositional message. Unpacking and communicating the original meaning of a passage assures the audience that they are receiving God’s message rather than man’s.

Step three is to allow the Spirit of God to move the heart of the expositor. Gaining Biblical knowledge is only part of a preacher’s preparation. Although gaining such knowledge can be challenging, heart preparation is often even more challenging. Until a passage moves the heart of a preacher it will not likely move the hearts of an audience. Such preparation requires much prayer and meditation. From a human perspective, the work of the Holy Spirit within the heart of a preacher is what unleashes the power of a passage upon the audience.

Step four is to appropriately apply the message of a passage to a current audience. Proper application can be quite challenging. A preacher can easily misapply the passage. He can elevate a minor theme or idea within a passage to a major level of emphasis. He can extract a passage from its context and misapply it to a current situation or set of circumstances. However, his goal should be to clearly grasp and apply God’s message (i.e., theme, big idea) within a passage to his current audience. With certain passages application will be more direct. With other passages the application will be less direct, involving Bible principles.

Impact of Expositional Preaching

The impact of expositional preaching is great! It is great because a preacher is proclaiming God’s Word rather than man’s. The origin of his message is from God. Whenever a preacher proclaims God’s message under the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God, God moves upon an audience, regardless of the audience’s historical time period.

An Example of Expositional Preaching

Although there is limited space in this article, perhaps a condensed example will assist in communicating an expository study and its proclamation.

In Luke 16:1–13, the Lord Jesus gives the Parable of the Unjust Steward. In this passage Jesus is speaking to His disciples (16:1). However, the covetous Pharisees also hear His words (16:14).

Several factors become important to accurately interpreting the passage. In this parable, the master or owner of the house entrusts his household to a “steward” (16:1). So, first, the audience needs to know the definition of “steward.” It is important for them to know that a steward, although he might be a slave, is a household manager. He has great responsibility.

Second, the audience needs to grasp what is occurring within the parable. A preacher must take the time to explain the details of this passage thoroughly. Because of his waste (irresponsibility), this steward is about to lose his stewardship (16:1b, 2). He is in a quandary regarding what to do once he is put out of his stewardship (16:3). After struggling over this matter, he draws a conclusion (16:4). He chooses to call in each of his master’s debtors and recalculate their financial arrangement with his master (16:5–7). By reducing their bills, he creates a future obligation of his master’s debtors that will benefit him once he is no longer a steward. Luke 16:5 reveals that the steward calls “every one of his lord’s debtors unto him.” The passage provides two examples. The first debtor owes his master one hundred measures of oil. The second debtor owes him one hundred measures of wheat. It is important to explain the measurements in these verses. One is a liquid measurement; the other is a dry measurement. The “hundred measures of oil” is approximately eight or nine hundred gallons of oil. The “hundred measures of wheat” is approximately nine hundred or a thousand bushels of wheat. Their debts are sizeable. Remember, they are simply representative of his master’s debtors. The passage implies there are other debtors.

Luke 16:8 is a pivotal verse in the parable. It reads, “And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” It is easy to misinterpret this verse. “The lord” is the master or property owner. He is not commending the steward for his dishonesty but for his wisdom. The word “wisely” is the Greek word for prudence or foresight. It reveals that the steward is “shrewd.” In fact, the parable might be more appropriately named “The Parable of the Shrewd Steward.” His shrewdness involves anticipating and preparing for his stewardship coming to an end.

The latter half of Luke 16:8 is transitional. Jesus is contrasting the children of this world (the unsaved) with the children of light (the saved). He reveals that the children of this world, although limited to an earthly perspective, exercise greater shrewdness than the children of light, who, although they have an eternal perspective, do not operate very wisely. In fact, God’s people often operate from a temporal perspective, as if this world is the only one in which they will live.

In Luke 16:9 Jesus begins to apply the parable to His hearers. The “I” in verse 9 is the Lord Jesus. He urges His hearers to “make to yourselves friends of [out of] the mammon of unrighteousness.” By this He means that God’s people are to use the material means entrusted to them to influence or impact the lives of others. The verse continues by saying “that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.” The phrase “when ye fail” refers to the ending of their stewardship. For believers, this will occur when the Lord returns or calls them home in death. Notice the next phrase: “they may receive you into everlasting habitations.” The “they” refers to the friends believers have made. In other words, the people they have impacted by means of material things entrusted to them will receive (welcome) them into everlasting dwellings.

Jesus drives home His message more directly in Luke 16:10–12. He challenges His disciples to be faithful in “that which is least.” By this He means in material things. He clarifies this in Luke 16:11 by contrasting faithfulness in “unrighteous mammon” (material things) with “true riches” (eternal riches). In Luke 16:12 He asks a rhetorical question that forces His audience to think soberly. The answer to His question indicates that no one, certainly not the Lord, will entrust true (eternal) riches to someone who has not been faithful with earthly riches.

Lastly, Jesus ends His parable with a bold statement. He says, “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” In this statement, He urges His disciples to live with an eternal perspective.

A thorough study and clear proclamation of Luke 16:1–13 communicates powerfully to a modern audience. In short, God has entrusted to His people the stewardship of life. How they handle what is entrusted to them on earth will determine their heavenly reward. He urges them to live shrewdly.

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A former pastor, Dave Pennington currently serves other pastors as a ministry coach.

(Originally published in FrontLine • May/June 2011. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.)