Preaching Paradoxes

I’m currently reading through John Stott’s book “The Living Church.” In the chapter on preaching, he shares five preaching paradoxes that are helpful for any pastor or student. These are:

1. Biblical and Contemporary

This means that preaching is an exposition of Scripture which is related to the world in which we live. Authentic preaching must be faithful to the Biblical text and the modern context. He says, “In our resolve to be biblical, we refuse to lapse into irrelevance. Instead we seek to relate the ancient text to the modern context (99).”

2. Authoritative and Tentative

By this he means that preachers should declare with authority “what the Bible says” provided they have done their hermeneutical homework and applied proper interpretive principles to the text. While we believe that Word of God is infallible, we humbly recognize that we as human interpreters are fallible. While preaching should be dogmatic about the things that are plainly revealed, it should be tentative regarding the things God has kept secret (Deut. 29:29).

3. Prophetic and Pastoral

“Prophetic” refers to the ability to declare the truth and call people to it. “Pastoral” refers to the ability to gently deal with those who are slow to believe biblical truth and/or fail to attain biblical standards. Stott writes, “It is not easy to combine prophetic witness and pastoral care, firmness and gentleness, discipline and compassion (104).” Balanced preaching involves “disturbing the comfortable and comforting the disturbed.”

4. Gifted and Studied

This paradox acknowledges that God is the one who calls, anoints, and appoints preachers. On the other hand, this calling does not excuse the preacher from rigorous and disciplined study of the Scriptures. He quotes Billy Graham who announced what he would change about his ministry if he could do it over again. Graham said that first he would study three times as much. “I’ve preached too much, ” he said, “and studied too little (107).”

5. Thoughtful and Passionate

This paradox highlights the truth that in all authentic preaching, both “the mind and the emotions are engaged; clear thinking and deep feeling are combined (108).” Some preachers tend toward the thoughtful side while others toward the emotional side. There is a danger in only leaning in one direction. Balanced preaching will engage both the mind and the heart of the preacher.