I just finished teaching an eight-week, Master’s level course at Lancaster Bible College, Biblical Exegesis to Exposition: Hebrew. It focuses on Hebrew narratives in the book of Genesis and culminates with a sermon or teaching that communicates the theology for the Church.
In this course, like in our preaching, the building blocks for the sermon are exegetical skills. My experience with these students again showed that exegetical practice in the Hebrew Bible–they were being trained to use their budding Hebrew syntax knowledge to show how narrative convey theology–usually stops short of showing cohesion in a passage (how a story actually functions to convey theology). More on that in a moment.
For now, though, while I rely on the Spirit from minute-one of sermon preparation, I am also relying on my Spirit-directed, continually-developing exegetical skills.
Of all the important elements of exegesis, the most important and most difficult to develop is the ability to identify how a particular genre signals God’s intention for the Church. Amassing exegetical fragments is relatively easy; seeing how all the pieces fit together to instruct the Church is more difficult. But it is critical to learn how meaning is made in a selected piece of Scripture and how any application of that Scripture must be organically connected to its meaning. I’ve spent my life learning, refining, and practicing this method as a preaching pastor and professor.
I’ve written extensively on these topics. See what I’ve written here.
Then, every Monday morning, it’s time for me to trust those exegetical skills early in my sermon preparation. Before I look at any commentaries, I want to put my method to work. I believe that Spirit teaches me best when I rely on Him early in the process. For years, I’ve said that you can tell a lot about a preacher’s method by the way they spend their first few hours in the study. I can also testify that the Spirit also teaches me often at the very end of the process, the hours leading up to our worship time.
The Lord continues to give me opportunities to mentor young and experienced preachers through the ministry of Calvary Bible Church, Mount Joy, PA and in the classroom at LBC. If you’re looking for ways to grow your exegetical skills for preaching, don’t hesitate to contact me. While I can’t promise that I can always answer your question, I promise to help you think through the process of moving from exegesis to exposition so our Heavenly Father receives glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21).
Randal
