PREACHER, PREACHING. Preaching is the proclamation of the Word of God recorded in the Bible and centered in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, summoning men to repentance, faith, and obedience. It is God’s appointed means for communicating the Gospel of salvation to the unbelieving world and for strengthening the spiritual life of His people.

1. Biblical terms. Of the many NT terms for preaching, the most characteristic is the verb κηρύσσειν (to proclaim as a herald), which occurs about sixty times (e.g., Matt 3:1; Mark 1:14; Acts 10:42; 1 Cor 1:23; 2 Tim 4:2). The principal synonym is εὐαγγελίζεσθαι (to announce good news, to evangelize), a common verb used over fifty times (e.g., Luke 3:18; 4:18; Acts 5:42; Rom 10:15; 1 Cor 1:17). Whereas κηρύσσειν stresses the activity of preaching, εὐαγγελίζεσθαι accents the glorious nature of the message proclaimed. The combination κηρύσσειν τὸ̀ εὐαγγέλιον (to proclaim the Gospel) is also found (e.g., Matt 4:23; Gal 2:2).

In view of its prominence in the NT, it is surprising that the OT seldom refers to the proclamation of the prophets as “preaching.” The LXX uses κηρύσσειν of Jonah’s commission to Nineveh (Jonah 1:2; 3:2, 4), and in Isaiah 61:1, κηρύσσειν combines with εὐαγγελίζεσθαι to describe the mission of the Servant of Yahweh. Reference is made also to false prophets who “proclaim” (κηρύσσειν) peace to those who reward them with something to eat (Micah 3:5). In 2 Peter 2:5, Noah is called “a herald (κῆρυξ, G3061) of righteousness.” Allowing the differences between prophetic proclamation (which generally, at least, involved direct divine revelation) and Christian preaching, the prophets of Israel, proclaiming divine judgment and salvation and calling men to repentance, are properly regarded as the preachers of their day, the predecessors of the NT heralds of the Gospel. After the Exile, preaching in the form of Biblical exposition emerged as an important and regular feature of synagogue worship.

2. The basic content of preaching. The synoptic gospels summarize Jesus’ public ministry as one of preaching, teaching, and healing (Matt 4:23; Mark 1:39; Luke 4:44). His message was the good news of the kingdom of God, with its imperious demand that men repent and believe in the Gospel (Matt 9:35; Mark 1:14, 15; Luke 4:43). By this proclamation, Jesus signified that in His ministry the sovereign power of God invaded history to establish a new reign of righteousness in the salvation of His people. Jesus conceived of His preaching ministry as a divine commission (Mark 1:38), in fulfillment of Messianic prophecy (Luke 4:18-21).

The preaching of the apostles reported in Acts and gleaned from scattered fragments in the Pauline epistles seems at first glance to strike a somewhat different note. Although the apostles are still said to preach the kingdom of God (Acts 28:31), the genius of their message is Christ Himself as divine Lord and Redeemer (2:22-36; 5:42; 11:20; 17:3; 1 Cor 1:23, 24; 2 Cor 1:19; 4:5). This difference, however, represents not a contradiction, but a progression. The kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed achieved its triumph over the forces of evil and unleashed its creative power in the world through His own death and Resurrection. In Christ, God’s sovereign power acted decisively and continues to act eternally for the salvation of His people, so that beginning with the Resurrection, to preach the kingdom is to preach Christ (cf. Acts 8:12). Jesus Himself both anticipated and authorized this shift of emphasis when He commanded His disciples to be His witnesses to the ends of the earth (1:8).

The apostolic message (kerygma), in its essential substance and general outline, can be reconstructed in these terms. In fulfillment of OT prophecy, the new age of salvation has dawned through the ministry, death, and Resurrection of Jesus, now exalted as Lord and Messiah. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church testifies to Christ’s present power and glory. The Messianic Age will reach its consummation at the return of Christ in judgment. God’s action in Christ promises forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal salvation to all who repent and believe in Jesus (cf. C. H. Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments, 3-73).

On the basis of this reconstruction the following observations can be made about the Christian message: (1) it consists of a definite body of facts; (2) it is essentially neither a doctrinal nor philosophical system, still less an ethic, but a proclamation of those mighty acts in history whereby God has accomplished the salvation of His people; (3) it is centered in the Person and work of Christ, esp. His cross and Resurrection; (4) it is organically related to the OT; (5) it imposes a stern ethical demand on men; and (6) it has an eschatological dimension, looking forward to a final fulfillment yet to be. The only preaching that strikes all of these chords stands in the apostolic tradition.

3. Preaching and teaching. Throughout the history of the Church, preaching often has assumed the form of extended exposition of Biblical passages, doctrinal instruction, ethical exhortation, or discussion of various aspects of Christian life and experience directed to largely Christian audiences. With the publication of Dodd’s work (u.s.), however, it has become fashionable to differentiate sharply between “preaching” (κηρύσσειν) and “teaching” (διδάσκειν) in the NT sense of the terms by restricting “preaching” exclusively to evangelistic proclamation to the unconverted. Alan Richardson alleges, “In the NT, preaching has nothing to do with the delivery of sermons to the converted...but always concerns the proclamation of the ‘good tidings of God’ to the non-Christian world” (A Theological Word Book of the Bible [1950], 171, 172).

The NT does distinguish between preaching and teaching (e.g., Matt 4:23; 11:1; Eph 4:11; 1 Tim 2:7; 2 Tim 1:11; 4:2-4). The distinction, however, is by no means rigid and absolute. Whereas Matthew reports that Jesus went about Galilee “teaching...and preaching” (Matt 4:23), the parallel passages employ only the word “preaching” to describe this ministry (Mark 1:39; Luke 4:44). Where Matthew and Mark represent Jesus as preaching the Gospel of the kingdom (Matt 4:17; Mark 1:14, 15), Luke says, “He taught in their synagogues” (Luke 4:15). More significant still, Mark uses these two terms interchangeably (cf. Mark 1:14, 15, 21, 38, 39). Elsewhere in the NT, the apostolic testimony to Jesus is likewise described in the same reference as both “preaching” and “teaching” (Acts 5:42; 28:31; Col 1:28).

Although it would not be accurate to argue that in the NT sense preaching and teaching are identical, the two are nevertheless so intimately related that to draw a hard and fast line between them is equally untenable. In both cases, the basic content is the same: the Gospel of eternal salvation through the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Teaching is simply the extension of preaching into the regions of doctrine, apologetics, ethics, and Christian experience. Preaching includes all of these elements. What difference there is lies in emphasis and objective. Whereas the primary thrust of preaching is evangelistic, looking to the conversion of unbelievers, teaching unfolds and applies the fullness of the Gospel to the total sweep of life, challenging and enabling believers to become more mature followers of Christ. Neither preaching nor teaching can be conceived without the other, while in actual practice they are so finely interwoven that their separation is largely academic. To preach in the NT sense is not only to herald the saving evangel, but also to proclaim “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:20, 27; cf. 2 Tim 4:2).

4. The divine character of preaching. The main words for preaching in the NT ring with authority. This authority lies not in the person of the preacher, but in the message entrusted to him. True preaching does not consist in man’s ideas about God, or in his sanctified religious ponderings and reflections, but in the divine Word of revelation that sets forth God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ and the full purpose of His will for men.

The preacher’s message is also charged with divine power. After expressing his eagerness to preach the Gospel at Rome, Paul added that this Gospel is “the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith” (Rom 1:16). To men blinded by sin, the message of Christ crucified may seem as sheer folly. When it is faithfully proclaimed, the sovereign Spirit by a miracle of grace generates faith where He wills, so that the blind see and the dead are raised to newness of life (1 Cor 1:18ff.; cf. Eph 2:1ff.). The divine power of preaching remains for all time the most convincing evidence of its timeless relevance.

Preaching in the NT further is marked by a sense of divine compulsion. The authentic Christian preacher proclaims the Gospel not merely by personal choice or preference, but by the irresistible call and appointment of God (Luke 4:43; Acts 4:20). He preaches out of an overwhelming inner necessity, his heart ablaze with a holy fire, which neither competing attractions nor any natural reluctance in the face of staggering hostility to his message can ever extinguish. With Paul he cries, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16). For his task he is equipped with a special gift of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12:4-11, 28, 29; Eph 4:11), and his task is his sufficient and satisfying reward.

Bibliography P. Brooks, Lectures on Preaching (1877); P. T. Forsyth, Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind (1907); J. Denney, “Preaching Christ,” HDCG, II (1912), 393-403; A. J. Gossip, In Christ’s Stead (1925); G. A. Buttrick, Jesus Came Preaching (1932); C. H. Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and Its Developments (1936); H. H. Farmer, The Servant of the Word (1941); J. S. Stewart, Heralds of God (1946); F. R. Webber, A History of Preaching in Britain and America, I (1952), II (1955), III (1957); J. S. Stewart, A Faith to Proclaim (1953); E. C. Dargan, A History of Preaching, reprint (1954); J. B. Weatherspoon, Sent Forth to Preach (1954); J. Knox, The Integrity of Preaching (1957); R. H. Mounce, The Essential Nature of New Testament Preaching (1960); D. Ritschl, A Theology of Proclamation (1960); E. P. Clowney, Preaching and Biblical Theology (1961); J. R. W. Stott, The Preacher’s Portrait (1961); C. H. Thompson, Theology of the Kerygma (1962); P. C. Marcel, The Relevance of Preaching, tr. (1963); R. C. Worley, Preaching and Teaching in the Earliest Church (1967).