Preaching in the New Testament: An Exegetical and Biblical-Theological Study

Book Review • Griffiths, Jonathan I. Preaching in the New Testament: An Exegetical and Biblical-Theological Study. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2017. 176 pp. $10.99. Kindle.

Read time: 11 min

Introduction

Is there any Scriptural, qualitative difference between “preaching” and other forms of ministry of the word? All Christians are called to minister God’s word in a variety of ways; are all called to “preach” in the biblical sense? Pragmatic opinions abound today on the subject, but Jonathan I. Griffiths, in Preaching in the New Testament: An Exegetical and Biblical-Theological Study, meticulously develops a Scriptural definition of the nature of preaching. Not a how-to book on the techniques of preaching, this book is a deep dive into how Scripture speaks about the task. Griffiths studied theology at Oxford and Cambridge universities and served on staff with Proclamation Trust in London, England, teaching on the Cornhill Training Course. He serves as lead pastor of the Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa, Canada.

Summary

Griffiths’ work is a survey of the New Testament’s explicit and implicit teaching on Christian preaching. He seeks to answer two questions: (1) “Is there such a thing as ‘preaching’ that is mandated in the post-apostolic context; and, if there is, how is it characterized and defined?” And (2) “How would post-apostolic ‘preaching’ relate to the preaching of the Old Testament prophets and of Jesus and his apostles?” (177). Reasoning inductively, over the course of ten succinct chapters, he compiles biblical data, presenting his conclusions at the book’s end.

The first of the book’s three parts lays out a brief theology of the word of God since preaching is one form of ministering God’s word (205). Chapter one argues that God speaks and acts creatively, providentially, and savingly and encounters people through his word. Chapter two analyzes the New Testament’s use of three Greek terms related to New Testament preaching—euangelizomai, katangellō, and kēryssō—from which he later draws conclusions. Chapter three examines various non-preaching forms of the ministry of the word, concluding that “not only does the New Testament expect all believers to be involved in word-based evangelism, it also expects all believers to be engaged in word-based ministries . . . within the church family” (692).

In part two, Griffiths devotes five chapters to five Pauline texts (i.e., 2 Tim. 3-4; Rom. 10; 1 Cor. 1-3; 2 Cor. 2-6; 1 Thes. 1-2), highlighting the apostle’s view that non-apostolic preachers are “in a line of continuity with authoritative speakers of God’s word in the Old Testament” (882). As such, they preach with the authority of Christ and the apostles (1072). Preaching is an authoritative encounter with God that carries the power of life and death (1175). And its “natural context . . . [is] the Christian congregation” (1382). In chapter nine, Griffiths explores the Epistle to the Hebrews as “the only full-length sermon recorded in the New Testament,” echoing much of the same data exegeted from Paul. In Part 3, chapter 10, Griffiths summarizes his findings, concluding that in the New Testament, preaching is an authoritative, commissioned, divine-human, public gospel proclamation requiring a response of faith.

Critical Analysis

Griffiths suspects that many, even faithful, preachers “might struggle to articulate a fully adequate definition of preaching from Scripture,” instead grounding their assumptions in little more than a blend of history and pragmatism (137). Assuming nothing about preaching, he sets out to ask of the New Testament what our understanding of the nature of the task should be. Are we right to think of it as distinct in any significant sense from other forms of ministry of the word? If it is a distinguishable activity, was its calling and authority unique and limited to Christ and his apostles? If the authoritative task continues beyond the apostles, who is eligible to preach today? The conclusions Griffiths reaches may be obvious for some readers but not others. His investigative methodology involves biblical theology, Greek word studies, and exegesis of the Pauline epistles and Hebrews. He spends an entire chapter (three) emphasizing many forms of ministry of the word to which any and all Christians are called—including, for example, teaching, admonishing, and encouraging (726). This is important to belabor, in Griffiths’ reasoning, since Scripture sets preaching apart as a unique ministry of the word limited to commissioned leaders. For some readers, this conclusion is confirming; for others, it is corrective.

Strengths

There is much to appreciate about Preaching in the New Testament. For one, with impressive clarity and conciseness, Griffiths provides the reader with a solid, scriptural foundation for a high view of preaching while also reinforcing the vital importance of other forms of ministry.

The public proclamation of the word of God . . . occupies a place of central importance in the life of the local church. Preaching is necessary and vital—but not all-sufficient—for the nourishment and edification of the local church. All God’s people are ministers of his word, and a healthy church will be a church where all kinds of word ministries (formal and informal) flourish and abound (1978).

This book will emerge as the de facto defense of a Scriptural definition of preaching for years to come, especially since, as the author mentions, so few books of the like are to be found anywhere (137).

Another strength is the book’s narrow focus. Griffiths could have spilled much ink (perhaps in a fourth part of the book) developing key implications of his conclusions for Christian ministry and church life, but his task is laser-focused on distilling biblical data as objectively and irrefutably as possible without overstating his case. Practically, this makes the book more concise than an exhaustive work and more accessible to more readers. He does trace some faint lines in the sand when he envisions, for example, the implications his conclusions may have among complementarians—specifically whether women may “preach” in the biblical sense (196). His delineation of the New Testament’s use of the three Greek verbs, euangelizomai, katangellō and kēryssō, with regard to preaching, may prove insightful on the matter. “The New Testament contains no instruction or command addressed to non-leaders to ‘proclaim’ or ‘preach’ the gospel” (1959). And since these verbs “normally refer to preaching as a particular type of word ministry, we are led to conclude that not all Christian believers are given the mandate to preach while still allowing for the possibility that the New Testament may well mandate other forms of word ministry for non-leaders” (1968). Although the author is complementarian, he does not directly apply his conclusions to that end. This being the case, other works need to be written, standing on the shoulders of this research, fleshing out appropriate implications for the church.

Additionally, the reader will appreciate the brief summaries at the end of each chapter. This aids comprehension but also quick reference. In this same sense, chapter 10 is worth the book's price. Griffiths uses the entire chapter to skillfully consolidate all of his word study, exegetical, and biblical-historical conclusions. While the preceding nine chapters form the invaluable backbone of his conclusions, having the entire body of his sweat-soaked conclusions in one chapter is remarkably helpful to the reader.

Weaknesses

The book has a few weaknesses, too. Given that Griffiths introduces the work surmising that many preachers would struggle to define from Scripture biblical preaching, it strikes me as odd that Griffith never provides a definition on any single page or in any single paragraph or sentence. His definition comes in pieces over the course of chapter ten. It would have been useful for him to have refined it into a long sentence or two. My definition, drawn from his conclusions is as follows: New Testament preaching is a (1) divinely authoritative (2) proclamation (3) of God’s word, (4) especially the gospel of Christ, (5) by recognized and commissioned church leaders (6) standing in continuity with the Old Testament prophets, Christ, and the New Testament apostles, (7) through which God speaks, acts, and encounters hearers, (8) usually in a public context, (9) and to which hearers are morally responsible to respond in faith and obedience (1733-1978). Undoubtedly, he could have written it better. I wish he had.

A minor criticism is that despite taking great pains to emphasize the importance of many forms of ministry of the word, nowhere (not even in chapter three, which addresses non-preaching forms of word ministry) does he mention singing as a form of word ministry. Paul exhorted the Colossian believers to “let the word of Christ dwell in [them] richly . . . singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16). Only in the second to last paragraph of the entire book, when restating his conviction of the importance of a diversity of word ministries does Griffiths include “(and sing!)” parenthetically (1988). Perhaps it is the parentheses that gives the impression that this was an editorial afterthought. It seems that, given the mandate and vital role of singing God’s word in the church, a brief paragraph in chapter three would have been appropriate.

One last criticism is how Griffiths organizes the data points exegeted from the five Pauline passages and Hebrews. Although nearly all of the data he mines recurs with each chapter and each new passage, he does not categorize the data uniformly. Consequently, all the data feels somewhat disconnected—even unmanageable—until the final chapter where he consolidates his conclusions. From the start, I can envision him helping the reader by defining and labeling the key data points uniformly so that as they appear again and again in different parts of the New Testament, the points are immediately recognizable, reinforced, and unifying.

Conclusion

Pastor and scholar Jonathan Griffiths, in Preaching in the New Testament, has provided preachers, believers, and churches everywhere a meticulous yet concise and accessible survey of the New Testament’s teaching on the nature of Christian preaching. Griffiths insists on the value and necessity of all forms of ministry of God’s word by all believers. As for his primary accomplishment, he builds an indisputable case from three word studies, five Pauline epistles, and Hebrews concerning the continuity, centrality, and divine authority of gospel preaching as distinct from other forms of word ministry. His objectives and claims are modest—building a Scriptural definition of preaching—but they are profound and should prove confirming and corrective for how churches today prioritize and appropriate the task of preaching. I will return to this book as I work through the implications of its conclusions in my own life and ministry. And I will heartily recommend it to others seeking to root their theology of preaching in more than the shifting sands of pragmatism. ❖