What is Expository Preaching?
When Paul exhorted Timothy to “preach the word” (2 Tim 4:2), what did he mean? Most simply, we could say that the meat and potatoes of a sermon should be the Bible. This is the goal of all expository preaching.
But when someone calls the church and asks if we preach expositional sermons, what they mean is often very different. Do we preach a chapter a week like their old church? Do we preach verse by verse, one at a time? Does the preacher quote the Bible or just talk?
Let’s be clear. Here is what expository preaching is:
- John Broadus describes it as “a sermon that draws its divisions and the exploration of those divisions from the text. In actual practice, the main points and the subdivisions of the sermon often come from the text. In other words, the entire thought content comes from the Scripture.” 1
- J.I. Packer says, “The true idea of preaching is that the preacher should become a mouthpiece for his text, opening it up and applying it as a word from God to his hearers, talking only in order that the text itself may speak and be heard.” 2
- Bryan Chapell states that an expository sermon “requires that it expound Scripture by deriving from a specific text main points and sub-points that disclose the thought of the author, cover the scope of the passage, and are applied to the lives of the listeners.” 3
Expository preaching are sermons that must be grounded in, and explicitly derived from, the text of Scripture.
If you have heard preaching that sounds like you’re reading a commentary, that is NOT expository preaching. Yes, expository preaching will give an accurate explanation of the meaning of the text under consideration. But, it will also communicate its meaning and relevance to the contemporary audience.
Nehemiah 8:7–8 — …Pelaiah, and the Levites, explained the law to the people while the people remained in their place. And they read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.
At the core, an expository sermon is determined by function, not form. It is not about the length of the passage chosen. It is not defined by the length of the sermon preached. A sermon with three points, and a Scripture for each, is not necessarily expositional. None of those things make an expositional sermon.
Expository preaching is that style of preaching which is captive to the meaning of the text and communicates its meaning and relevance to the contemporary audience. Good exposition comes with such vitality and urgency that the mind of the hearer engages with the voice of God in the text. “The aim of preaching is different from that of other public speaking. It looks deeper. It would renew and cleanse the heart. If it fails there, it fails entirely.” 4
“True preaching, after all, is God acting. It is not just a man uttering words; it is God using him.” 5 – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
1 John A. Broadus, On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, 4th ed. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1979), 85.
2 Steven J. Lawson, Famine in the Land: a Passionate Call for Expository Preaching (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2003), 18.
3 Bryan Chapell, Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 132.
4 Arturo G. Azurdia III, Spirit-Empowered Preaching: Involving the Holy Spirit in Your Ministry (Ross-Shire: Mentor, 1998), 117.
5 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971), 95.