Preaching or Teaching?
Interactive teaching, part 1
Evangelical Christians talk a lot about preaching. For most of us, the sermon is a key part of our weekly church service. We hear preaching live, we can stream it in our cars, listen to it while we work out, or play it while we’re cooking. We have access to exceptional preaching whenever we want. Preaching has become an art form. (To be fair, it always has been.) Most Christians could tell you who their favorite preachers are. And, more often than not, these preferences have as much to do with style as they do substance.
The preaching of the Word has traditionally held a preeminent place in most evangelical churches. This is no accident. It’s drilled into young pastors and leaders. We hear over and over again how much sound preaching is absolutely vital for keeping a church faithful and healthy. We’re given quotes from noted leaders that reinforce to us the crucial nature of preaching in the life of the church. Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote that “Preaching the Word is the primary task of the Church, the primary task of the leaders of the Church.” John Stott claimed that “Preaching is indispensable to Christianity.” Preaching has been so inextricably linked with the role of the pastor that pastors are commonly referred to as “preachers.” The mountain of books written on the subject of preaching could easily fill a library. And not only books, but articles, workshops, seminary classes, conferences, etc. on preaching have been ubiquitous in the evangelical movement.
So if preaching is so essential to the life and health of the church, we should have a clear understanding of just what the Bible has to say about preaching, shouldn’t we? But this is where we run into a bit of difficulty. The Bible actually has very little to say about preaching as we understand it. English translations of Scripture do include passages with the words “preach” or “preaching.” But when we dig a little more deeply, we find that none of these words are conveying the modern definition of preaching: “delivering a sermon or religious address to an assembled group of people, typically in a church.” In fact, there isn’t a single place in Scripture where we find our traditional understanding of preaching a sermon. Even what we traditionally know as the “Sermon on the Mount” is never actually called that in the text of Scripture! (Please note: the section headings you may find in big, bold print in your Bible are supplied by the publishers; they’re not part of the biblical text.)
So what are these words in the original language, and what do they mean? The most common word translated “preach” in many Bibles is the Greek word euangelizo. You probably recognize right away that we’ve brought this word into English as “evangelize.” The word, both in English and Greek, means simply to share good news. This is why newer translations sometimes opt for words such as “announce,” “share” or “bring” the good news. Unfortunately, there are still many places where this word is translated “preach the gospel” or “preach the good news,” requiring pastors to routinely explain to people that “preaching the gospel” isn’t something only they do behind a pulpit or on a stage; it’s simply “sharing the good news”—and all Christians are to be doing that! Another Greek word often translated “preach” (and which also has to be clarified) is kerusso, which means to announce or proclaim. This word is invariably paired with another word euangelion, showing that what is being announced is the good news of Jesus Christ.
Many will recall Paul’s familiar instruction in 2 Timothy 4:2: “. . . preach the word; be ready in season and out of season [NASB].” Too many times these words are understood in a traditional sense, that the preacher must always be ready to get up behind the pulpit and preach a sermon. Not only is this not what Paul was talking about, it obscures what Paul was actually instructing Timothy to do. Paul here tells Timothy to kerusso the logos. Kerusso means to announce or proclaim and Paul uses logos to refer to the gospel message of Jesus Christ. Some translations render this instruction: “proclaim the message” or “spread the word.” See, for example, how this verse reads in the Revised English Bible:
[P]roclaim the message, press it home in season and out of season, use argument, reproof, and appeal, with all the patience that teaching requires.
Despite how it’s often used, this verse simply isn’t saying anything about preaching sermons, while it does specifically mention “teaching.” (It’s actually showing an interactive process, but we’ll talk more about that next week!)
I should also comment on 1 Timothy 5:17, another verse that seems to be talking about “preaching.” In this passage, Paul explains some church elders are “worthy of double honor” or “should be respected and paid well.” This is especially true of those who labor or work hard in logos and in teaching. There are a variety of ways Bible versions translate the word logos here in this passage: “word,” “preaching,” “speech” or “speaking” are some of the common ones. It’s curious how often this word is translated “preaching” in this verse. The Greek word logos is all over the New Testament (including the “message” or “word” that is to be spread or proclaimed in 2 Timothy 4:2 above), and none of these translations render this word “preaching” anywhere else—except for this one verse.
Paul typically uses this word to refer to the content of the gospel message of Jesus Christ (which is, of course, contained in the words of Scripture). This especially makes sense in 1 Timothy 5:17, because it perfectly matches how he paired these two words—logos and teaching—earlier in his letter. In 1 Timothy 4:6, Paul describes someone who is nourished by the logos, or “message of faith,” and by sound teaching. (I can’t find any translation that renders logos as “preaching” in this verse.) When he then pairs these same two words just a few verses later, we naturally expect him to be using them in the same way he just did. To translate logos in a different way in 5:17 than we do in 4:6 is to ignore the context of Paul’s flow of thought. When Paul speaks of logos and teaching in 5:17, he’s referring back to what he was just talking about! Church elders should be providing the same message of faith and sound teaching that had been so nourishing for Timothy.
This also makes best sense of what Paul is saying in verse 5:17. These elders, who should be supported, are laboring or working hard in both the content of the gospel message (which they study in Scripture) and in the teaching of this gospel truth. The NKJV translates this phrase as those who “labor in the word and doctrine,” and God’s Word Translation reads: “if they work hard at teaching God’s word.” Again, there’s nothing here on which to base the traditional preaching of sermons.
So, if Scripture doesn’t teach pastors to “preach” (that is, to deliver sermons) in the church, what are they supposed to do? As we see above and consistently throughout the book of Acts and the letters to the churches, elders or pastors of the church are to be teaching the Word of God to the people. This is one of their primary tasks as church elders or pastors. (Notice even Jesus wasn’t known as “the Preacher,” but as “the Teacher.”)
Is this distinction in wording worth emphasizing, or is this just semantics? Am I making a big deal out of nothing? Well, that all depends on how we’re using the word “preach.” If all we mean by preach is the exposition or explanation of Scripture to the people, then maybe there’s not much here to discuss. The problem is the word “preach” almost always conveys to us much more meaning and nuance than simply explaining the Bible. Not only do we understand this word differently, but we’re so inundated with descriptions of “preaching,” instruction regarding “preaching,” exalting and glorifying the practice of “preaching”—none of which has any basis in Scripture—we face a very real danger of distracting ourselves from the actual teaching ministry of the elders or pastors of the church, which is scriptural.
We can recognize some all too common differences in focus and desired outcome between preaching and teaching. The process of preaching is usually focused on the delivery of a prepared speech or sermon. Teaching on the other hand will also be prepared and delivered, but the focus isn’t on the prepared message or the delivery but on the actual process of teaching, helping people come to a deeper understanding of scriptural truth. If I’m preaching, I’m preaching; regardless of what impact my message is having on anyone, I’m still preaching. But, as Howard Hendricks used to say, if they’re not learning, I’m not teaching. Teaching has different priorities, a different focus, and different expectations. So using the word teaching rather than preaching is not only biblically accurate, it instills in us very different expectations for ministry in the church.
Next week, we’ll look more deeply into this. We’ll take a closer look at how Jesus and Paul taught, and the practice of the earliest churches. And we’ll consider why it just might be a wise thing for us to follow their example, and teach the way they did.
Related posts:
Challenges of Interactive Teaching
Thanks, Paul.
Thanks for sharing.