Category Archives: theological exegesis

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How Do You Know What A Preaching Portion Means?

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Adding a Meaning Element from Speech Act Theory

Yesterday I had the privilege of joining Dr. Mark Meyer, Hebrew specialist at LBC|Capital, at their D.C. location (Greenbelt, MD) for a workshop, Unpacking Sacred Scripture. We worked together in Psalms 1 and 2, the introduction to the Psalter, to show the combined exegetical and homiletical process. Our goal was to help close the gap between finding meaning and application.

One of my responsibilities was to introduce the participants to a new kind of meaning summary. You can see that in this slide:

Consider this kind of meaning to be your goal as you begin sermon or lesson preparation this week.

I call our target meaning, illocutionary intent-infused meaning (II-M). I’ll spare you the boring details and only say that this fancy language originates from Speech Act Theory and their concept of illocution. Illocution describes what a person is doing by what they are saying.

My favorite illustration of the illocutionary element of communication is my wife, Michele, saying, “Ran, the dog needs to go out.” If I respond with, “That’s nice, Dear,” and go back to my very important job of writing a blog post, then I missed what she meant. In saying, “The dog needs to go out,” she’s really asking me to take the dog out. That’s what she was doing in what she was saying.

As you can see from the slide, II-M is the combination of biblical content and biblical intent. The intent part is critical because this contains the seeds of valid application derived from the meaning of the text.

So, before Sunday, see if you can detect your pericope’s intent. Answer this question from your text:

What does God intend for this Scripture to do to the listener?

If you can add intention to your meaning summaries, you will always keep primary application tied directly to meaning. And, I am suggesting that we really do not know what a Scripture means until we have identified how God intends for it to function for the church.

So, as you begin to identify the meaning of your upcoming Text, complete the meaning summary by adding: “____________ with the intent of_________”

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we communicate both content and intent.

Randal

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Preaching Workshop, Unpacking Sacred Scripture, in Greenbelt, MD and Lancaster, PA

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Dr. Mark Meyer and I recording one of our first, Unpacking Sacred Scripture, videos.

Some of you know that, for many years, I have had the privilege of teaching Advanced Homiletics to masters level students of LBC|Capital. Through my association with the school, I met Dr. Mark Meyer, a premier Hebrew and Semitic Language scholar. Most recently, I had the joy of completing my Ph.D. in Biblical Studies under Mark’s leadership.

A few years ago I asked Mark to consider making some videos after the fashion of Daily Dose of Hebrew. He agreed and we began shooting some videos in LBC|Capital’s film studio.

In addition to those videos, I also envisioned holding periodic workshops where Mark and I could meet with a group of preachers and teachers of Sacred Scripture and discuss ways to sharpen our gift.

Lord willing, we are offering workshops in Greenbelt, MD (LBC’s D.C. location) on April 15, 2023 and in Lancaster on campus on April 29, 2023. The times are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More details should be arriving soon, but we will be focusing on the Psalms, the subject of my dissertation and one of Mark’s favorite places in Scripture.

I hope your sermon preparation is off to a great start. Sundays comes so quickly!

Randal

P.S. Mark and I are also talking about the possibility of holding a two or three day retreat with a select group for the purpose of tackling how to preach through a book of the Bible.

Lord willing, Dr. Mark Meyer will be joining me for our workshop, Unpacking Sacred Scripture. Mark is the long-time professor of Hebrew at LBC|Capital. We will be together in the D.C. location in Greenbelt, Maryland on Saturday, April 15, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We will be holding the same workshop and times at the Lancaster campus on Saturday, April 29, 2023.

We’re looking forward to a great time together exploring some of the unique features of the Psalms. Look for more details from Lancaster Bible College.

Date: January 1, 1970
Time: 10:00 a.m.-02:00 p.m.
Event: Unpacking Sacred Scripture with Dr. Mark Meyer
Topic: Exegesis for Preaching
Public: Public
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Challenging False Professions Of Faith: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Sermons

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Your “Text” is one warns the saints of their need for holiness.

This post comes from my reading Edwards’s sermon, The Way of Holiness. He will make sure that those who profess faith in Christ display a faith that results in holiness.

Edwards’s text was Isaiah 35:8 “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it.”

We might be tempted to stay in the future with this prophetic Text, but Edwards cannot do that. In the Doctrine section of the sermon he immediately highlights the common misconception that holiness isn’t necessary for entrance into heaven. He writes (and read!):

“Everyone hopes for heaven, but if everyone that hoped for heaven ever got there, heaven by this time would have been full of murderers, adulterers, common swearers, drunkards, thieves, robbers, and licentious debauchers. It would have been full of all manner of wickedness and wicked men, such as the earth abounds with at this day.” (pp. 470-471, Kimnach).

All the stats tell me that more and more people claim faith in Christ but their lifestyle shows no transformation. It’s a good time to speak for God whenever He makes holiness a prerequisite for being a child of God.

This is especially important if you shepherd a church that holds tightly to the doctrine of eternal security. Our listeners will tend to water down any of those warnings, any of those conditions (e.g., Colossians 1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard). Many of our listeners believe that their profession of faith expressed when they were young makes them secure, without any evidence.

Edwards’s would reply: “What a wretched place would the highest heavens have been by this time if it were so….the royal palace of the Most High…would be turned into a mere hell. There would be no happiness there for those that are holy.” (p. 471)

In interpreting Isaiah, Edwards is practicing what I call ecclesiological exegesis. Isaiah is functioning for the church by showing a future that mirrors the status of every genuine Christian: holy and clean.

Does your preaching portion for this Sunday include a Word from God that challenges the professions of your listeners? Mine does: Psalm 80:18.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus as we faithfully challenge our listeners to display genuine faith (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

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Are You Achieving this Balance in Your Preaching?

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How to challenge hypocrites without unduly stressing out the saints!

I’m not quite finished with Bavinck’s one volume theology, but couldn’t help starting to read, Theoretical-Practical Theology, written by Petrus Van Mastricht in the late 17th century. I was excited to read it because he wrote the theology book to train pastors. For instance, it contains a wonderful first section, The Best Method of Preaching. What a way to begin a systematic theology book!

In it, Mastricht speaks to a subject matter that may be difficult to do in some churches because of their goals. However, it is impossible to avoid if a pastor is committed to preaching through books of the Bible.

That subject matter is challenging the saints to make sure their lifestyle matches their profession of faith. In other words, the Scriptures regularly urge the saints in church to a faith that expresses itself in required virtues.

Of course, this kind of preaching will create some angst in those who know they are saved. So Mastricht writes,

“…from one perspective, we would not without cause lead the consciences of the pious into doubts and anxieties from which afterward we could not so easily lead them out; from another perspective, so that we would not also strengthen hypocrites and harden them in their carnal security” (vol. 1, p. 23).

That’s the tension that can be created in preaching the Word of God to both kinds of listeners. It’s the kind of preaching that some preaching portions demand.

When the Text demands it, may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) because of your faithfulness in not strengthening the hypocrites without pricking the consciences of the saints without cause.

Randal

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Learning to Think (and Preach?) Like Edwards: What I’m Learning From Reading Jonathan Edwards’s Early Sermons

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Edwards displayed comprehensive knowledge of Scripture and reasoning abilities.

A couple of weeks ago I posted the observation that Jonathan Edwards’s preaching did not spend much time on word studies. Instead, he used numerous Scripture to buttress his explanations of his selected text. Then, he bombarded his main concepts with powerful, but simplistic reasoning.

Let me show you a quick example from, what is so far, my favorite sermon of Edwards, Christian Safety, on Proverbs 29:25 “But whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.”

God’s message is clear: “All those that thus trust in God are safe.” Edwards attacks the reality this way: “We shall show, first, what they are safe from; second, how they are safe.” (p. 456)

That outline is typical of Edwards. (An aside: if you’ve heard or read many of Tim Keller’s sermons, you might recognize some similarities in their approach.)

The first point contains four things: temporal evils, death, the devil, and hell. Edwards uses no proof-texts for these paragraphs. The first in the list, temporal evils, presents the toughest challenge for me. As I’ve mentioned before, what I love about this sermon is the way Edwards explains safety in a world of dangers: “worldly afflictions do often happen to them, but the evil of them don’t befall them. They may be exposed to difficulties, losses, and troubles, but he is not properly in danger of them.” (p. 456) I found this so helpful.

The second point contains three cross-references: 1 Peter 3:13; Isaiah 11:6-9; Mark 16:18. [Dispensationalists with a capital “D” will cringe reading Edwards’s statement: “That prophecy in Is. 11:6-9 is fulfilled upon all true Christians…”

Edwards’s third major point is, “Now follow the reasons of the doctrine.” (p. 459) This section is also loaded with proof-texts about how God protects us and Christ overcomes our enemies.

Anyway, every time I read Edwards’s sermons, he teaches me how to think better. I need that in order to keep functioning well as a pastor/theologian.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus as we work hard by His Spirit to preach and teach His Word (Ephesians 3:21).

Randal

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An Unexpected Source for Learning how the Cross Gives Life

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Some Cross-Eyed Readings

A few years ago my youngest daughter and her husband bought me a copy of, The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions. In the prayer, Love Lustres At Calvary, I came across an unexpected tutorial in how to move from the cross of Christ to the benefits His death provides.

I find that these kind of examples help me connect text to Christ to some element of salvation contained in the text.

In that prayer there are 18 “that I might” statements. In general they’re like: Christ died “that I might” experience some benefit of His death.

Here are a few of them to give you a sense of what this move might sound like:

“Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,

cast off that I might be brought in,

trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend,

surrendered to hell’s worst that I might attain heaven’s best,

stripped that I might be closed,

wounded that I might be healed,

athirst that I might drink,

tormented that I might be comforted…” (pp. 76-77)

I have found that this kind of formula helps me know what to look for in a preaching portion. The text contains some link to Christ-crucified and that link moves me to a “that I might…” statement of an element of salvation.

Watch your congregants’s faces reflect their gratitude to God for providing His Son. The author of the prayer states,

“All this transfer thy love designed and accomplished; Help me to adore thee by lips and life.” (p. 77)

Not only do cross-eyed readings like this illicit faith-first response to the text, but they also urge our listeners to love God more.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we perform cross-eyed readings each Sunday.

Randal

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We Practice Theological Interpretation When We Preach (whether we know it or not)

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For the past several years, because of my preaching and teaching duties, I have been enamored with theological interpretation (TI). My recent Ph.D. studies at LBC|Capital created even more time to investigate this as part of my dissertation.

Is it important? Yes, it is.

Because while TI might be more than showing how Scripture functions for the church, it can’t be less than that according to all my research to date. This means that TI forms a foundation for any attempts to apply Scripture.

So, if you asked me, “What kind of book on TI should I read first?” I would answer:

Scripture As Real Presence: Sacramental Exegesis in the Early Church by Hans Boersma.

The reason is because pre-modern interpreters–and Boersma–understand Christ to be the key to interpreting Scripture for the church.

If you’re interested in preaching or teaching from the Old Testament, you should note Boersma’s argument:

“that the church fathers were deeply invested in reading the Old Testament Scriptures as a sacrament, whose historical basis or surface level participates in the mystery of the New Testament reality of the Christ event.” (p. xiii)

Some of the primary material is tough to read through, but the book is so helpful for those of us who feed flocks on Sunday from the Old Testament. And, if you’ve studied preaching with me then you will appreciate another look at a hermeneutic that arrives at application “by moving from the Old Testament, via Christ, to the situation of today” (p. xiv).

Well, anyway. When you read, Scripture As Real Presence, you will encounter hermeneutical/homiletical concepts such as:

“sacramental hermeneutic” (pp. 12-13)

“christological/ecclesial allegorizing” (p. 91) [which is important because most of our exposure to the allegorical method is from a “what’s wrong with it” perspective.

“‘christo-ecclesiological’ form of exegesis (p. 148)

“the doctrine of totus Christus–the ‘whole Christ'” (p. 152)

All these concepts will help you think about the relationship between meaning and application, something that you and I engage in every week.

May our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as you communicate the results of theological interpretation.

Randal

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Why I Encourage Preachers to Read the Best Theologians

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Bavinck’s one-volume is certainly a good one to read!

If someone asked me to suggest one thing to do to help improve their preaching, I would say:

“Be an avid reader of the best theologians.”

Here’s an example that shows the potential payoff…

The first part of Genesis 3:15 reads,

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring

Bavinck makes a very simple, but profound observation. He says that this is one of the earliest references to the grace of God in the Bible. He reminds readers of a kind of relationship that the serpent and Eve (and Adam) had earlier in the chapter. They were in agreement.

But God announces what He would do from that moment on in redemptive history: “I will put enmity between you and the woman…”

What would have happened to that relationship if God hadn’t graciously stepped in? The fact that God did step in and created enmity explains all dimensions of spiritual warfare and victory in the Christian life.

Sermons that say this are better. Period. I should have observed this through the years, but didn’t. I am indebted to Bavinck for seeing what I missed. This has happened a lot to me this past year as I have read him bit by bit.

Preachers who want to function as theologians for their flocks do well to devour the best theologians they can access and/or afford. Because…

  1. This helps stem the tide of theology-lite sermons created by steady diets of topical preaching in the name of almighty relevancy.
  2. It forces us to think theologically at a depth beyond the norm.
  3. It supplements our exegesis like nothing else I know of.

May our Lord continue to receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:21) as we do our best by His Spirit and with our Spirit-given abilities/opportunities to be the best theologians we can for the faith-families entrusted to our care.

Randal

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At the Start of a New Homiletics Class I Am Reminded That…

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There’s nothing better than studying preaching together!

I am extremely fortunate for another opportunity to meet a class of preaching students at LBC|Capital. We are just completing week #2 and are headed into residency week. It will be great to see everyone face-to-face.

Gearing up for the course and evaluating the work being turned in provides a chance for me to review some of the more important aspects of preaching. So, at the beginning of this new Advanced Homiletics class I am reminded that…

  1. it’s extremely helpful to think about intention as a part of your exegesis. That way you don’t separate your exegesis from your application and application doesn’t have to come last in the process.
  2. the amount of verses you select for preaching can either help or hinder your ability to identify the theology of a preaching portion. Cutting the text too short or too long can create problems.
  3. your method of sermon preparation should include a way for you to distinguish between big and little ideas in your text. And, then, of course, you need to be able to show how all sized ideas interrelate to make meaning.
  4. finding the meaning of a passage begins, not by searching for what the meaning is, but how the meaning is made (how the structure of the particular genre of your preaching portion communicates).
  5. when Christ-centered preaching is done well, your listeners will never leave church as good moralists.

That’s probably enough for now, but I do love thinking about some of the key elements to developing a sermon that represents God well.

And may our Lord receive glory in the church and in Christ Jesus as a result of the way in which you read and communicate the sacred Scriptures (Ephesians 3:21),

Randal

P.S. If you’re free this coming Friday or Saturday, whether for the day, half-day, or even an hour or so, find PAS 513 Advanced Homiletics in LBC|Capital’s Lancaster campus (2nd floor of the academic building).