What is expository preaching?
Expository preaching explains what the text means by what it says, seeking to exhort the hearers to trust and obey the God-intended message of the text. It is preaching in which the point of the message is rooted in, aligns with and flows from the primary meaning of the sermon text.
I believe expository preaching is the most faithful way to preach the word of God. Understanding and practicing expository preaching helps the preacher rightly handle the word of truth. It is important to be able to answer the question, “What is expository preaching?” But it is also important to understand what expository preaching is not.
Many preachers reject expository preaching, without really knowing what it is. Others seek to practice it, without really knowing what it is. But you should not react to a caricature of expository preaching. And you should learn a craft before you try to practice it.
What is expository preaching? Here are 15 myths about expository preaching that should be exposed to help the preacher rightly understand and faithfully practice expository preaching. Expository preaching is not whatever someone calls expository preaching. There is a growing interest in expository preaching these days. This is an encouraging fact; inasmuch as biblical preaching is the first step to true revival. Many preachers claim to be expositors now, wanting to be a part of the trend. Beware—much preaching that is called expository preaching simply is not.
What Is Expository Preaching?
1. Expository preaching is not merely drawing ideas from the text.
Just because a preacher reads the text, refers to the text or makes points from the text does not make it expository preaching. The expository sermon preaches the intended meaning and primary message of the text. The study of the text should begin with observations that determine what the text says. But observation must lead to interpretation and result in application for the sermon to be true exposition.
2. Expository preaching is not a theological lecture.
While much of what is called expository preaching is not true exposition, much of what is called expository preaching is also not true preaching. A lecture about the doctrinal themes related to the text is not an expository sermon. The pulpit is the herald’s platform, not the professor’s classroom. We are called to preach the word, not review the syllabus.
3. Expository preaching is not pulpit exegesis.
Exegesis is essential to exposition. But exegesis is not equal to exposition. A preacher must study the words, grammar, literary context and historical background to come to a proper interpretation of a text. But exegetical research is not a sermon. It is the ingredients of a sermon. Expository preaching is proclaiming a biblical message, not rehearsing research material.
4. Expository preaching is not a running commentary on the text.
The expository preacher is not a glorified Sunday school teacher, who reads a verse and comments on it. And continues in this manner until they run out of text or out of time. The expository sermon has hermeneutical integrity and homiletical structure. It is a sermon that has purpose, derived from the meaning of the text. The elements of the sermon support the purpose and move the message to a logical conclusion.
5. Expository preaching is not textual preaching.
Textual preaching can be biblically faithful. My father, under whose preaching I trusted Christ, was a textual preacher. Charles Spurgeon, “the Prince of Preachers,” was a textual preacher, not an expositor. But textual preaching is not true exposition. Textual preaching builds the sermon around the wording of the text. Expository preaching builds the sermon around the meaning of the text.
6. Expository preaching is not selective exposition of the text.
There may be multiple biblical themes in a text. But there is only one primary truth. The expository preacher seeks to understand and communicate the central theme of the text. It is not exposition if you select the portions of the text that say what you want, and neglect the rest. The Bible often messes up great sermon ideas. The expositor welcomes this intrusion, not ignores it. Hard texts make good preachers.
