Why I Preach Expositionally (6)

Biblical exposition teaches proper biblical interpretation.

So many theological errors today are the result of poor skills in biblical interpretation. Expositional preaching and teaching is a means not only to teach the content of the Bible but how to interpret it properly. Some of the best lessons we learn come by way of observing someone skilled perform a particular task or discipline. A church that preaches and teaches the Bible well will produce men and women who know how to read and understand the Bible properly.

It is common for men and women to view the Bible as a kind of guidebook for successful living precisely because that it how it is preached. The minister, not wanting to bore his flock with the grand narrative of God's redemptive plan in Christ, prefers instead to pluck from the Bible various principles that are guaranteed to produce for everyone who gives them a try.

Sound exposition, on the other hand, will teach a congregation that the Bible is God's revelation of creation, corruption, redemption, and new creation. The Bible is not a treasure book of inspirational principles. Exposition models a way to study the Bible which keeps Jesus and His gospel as the central matters of concern. Those who receive the faithful exposition of the Scriptures will see Jesus enlivening every page as all history moves to and then from the cross. The Old Testament will no longer simply be a collection of moral stories but part of the unfolding revelation of God's amazing grace in Jesus Christ. The New Testament will then affirm that what is most essential for man is not what he does for God but what God has already accomplished for him in the Savior.