“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” (1 Corinthians 15:3–8, ESV)
Thankfully, by the grace of God the practice of “expositional preaching” is once again on the ascendancy. As laudable as this truth truly is, one must always ask whether any rhetorical offering is truly “expositional” or just topical propositions dressed up to look expositional. As good as many of the present works, which are now under consideration, maybe, it is not the opinion of this author that many are in fact “expositional.” This does not in any way diminish or impugn the validity or worthiness of these sermons delivered to congregants but that the delivery displayed therein should not be termed “expositional.” It is understood that what is contained within the volumes of work in extant may not contain every single thing delivered on the subject; none the less, many of the works themselves have left significant sections of biblical text completely unaddressed. For example, many of the works say nothing on Romans chapters nine, ten or eleven; chapters that are frequently given cursory or minimal treatment or ignored all together due to the perceived complexities of the Apostle Paul’s teachings on God’s sovereign nature contained therein. In reality, the doctrine and teachings are shown to be quite simple and straight forward when viewed from a position fully affirmative of the doctrines of Sovereign Grace; a position not held by some Baptists. It can only be surmised by the absence of any clarifying comments from the editors of these volumes, that the authors did not intend to have this material included and therefore this decision to deliver the biblical text ala carte cannot qualify as truly expositional. Although the above cited case is the largest of its kind, it is not unique; with the breadth and richness of such a large body of biblical text deserving literally thousands of sermons to cover adequately their content and yet, few pages seem to be devoted to the full explanation of these doctrinally rich teachings. The author asks the reader not to take these comments in a punitive manner but simply wishes to establish the basis for what true expositional delivery actually entails. Whether one would embrace the “verse by verse” methodology of expositional preaching is not the real issue. Rather, the seemingly intentioned exclusion of major sections of text on the basis of conformance with a particular theological system is. As the Apostle Paul spoke to the Corinthian believers, he did so in a comprehensive manner. An analysis of 1 Corinthians yields six major areas where Paul had to correct significant error within the body of Christ. It would seem that given the seriousness of the situation, one claiming to exposit the Apostle’s teachings would give equal weight to all that was said. This is simply not the case with one such author who spend much time discussing the need for unity within the Church (nine messages for chapters one through four), some time warning against immorality in the Church (four messages for chapters five through seven, some time warning against idolatry in the Church (seven messages for chapters eight through eleven) and only two messages devoted to Spiritual Gifts (chapters 12 through 14). These particular expositions seem to be painfully unbalanced toward subjects that are readily accepted by the denominational morays while avoiding the subjects that are not. The author goes on to present six messages on the Gospel of Christ (chapter 15) but only two messages on Christian Charity (chapter 16). While this work would solidly affirm the need to deliver biblical texts that speak to the problems within Christ’s Church, it would equally affirm the need to do so holistically and comprehensively; delivering the content of the entire book under consideration and not just portions of that book. Additionally, compiling numerous epistolary letters under the same methodology and terming it “expository” seems to be a bit mislabeled. The counter to this position is as the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15: 3, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received…” Here Paul does not seem pick and choose what he delivered; in fact he says he delivered as of first importance those things which he received; namely the all encompassing scope of the gospel. It is true that not everything Paul says in this passage is specifically the Gospel, although it all pertains to the Gospel and its outworking but it does not seem that Paul delivered some of the Gospel while leaving other portions unattended. In what follows, the author is attempting to deal with the major sections of the book of Romans, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians (up to chapter five) in a systematic and expositional way. It is impossible to adequately address every verse within this corpus although to do so is of primary importance, but time and space simply will not allow. What will be attempted is to address the issues that the Apostle addressed giving due weight and attention to each issue and to model a consistent expositional methodology. Toward this end may the grace of God empower us all.
Older
Top
