And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:1–2)

Suppose there had been a fourth temptation when our Lord encountered the Devil in the wilderness—this time an offer of networked TV appearances, in prime time, to proclaim and expound his Gospel. Would this offer, too, have been rejected like the others? If so, why? (Malcolm Muggeridge[2])

The prophetic complaint of the Old Testament seems to preclude any modern attempt at utilizing the sacred groves of TV and magazine as basic bearers of the Good News. (Duane Mehl[3])

Do not be intimidated by the vaunted superiority of modern media and their overestimated technologies as much of the church seems to be. Many churches use PowerPoint and other “visual aids,” as if they will lack cultural respect and authenticity if they are not “up to date.” The hidden message here is that given the proper techniques, we will be able to effectively minister to modern people, and thus we do not need God with all our technique. At best we ask him to bless what we believe are the best means, without consulting his Word at the outset. The problem is that by accommodating people in this way and making them feel that they are still in the world in which they live every day, we lend credence to the world’s assumptions about the power of the electronic media; and we abandon people to the visible world that the Internet teaches us is all there is. We assume that technology can solve all problems, so that the supernatural seems implausible.

Do not be seduced by the latest audio-visual fads. Walter Ong warns:

Audiovisuals are worst of all in their deception because in them the word is fitted exactly to the visual apprehension and deprived of the paradox and mystery essential to the word’s dialogic setting.[4]

Note the ploy of Zedekiah in using a visual aid to impress King Jehoshaphat, while Micaiah simply speaks the plain Word of God (1 Kings 22). But what of the God-ordained drama witnessed in the so called “acting prophets”? T. David Gordon responds:

As bearers of revelation, prophets participated in that “many and various ways” in which God spoke to the world prior to the definitive word brought by Christ and his apostles. Prophets were not expositors of revelation but bearers of revelation; subsequent to their activity, all ministers of the word are expositors of revelation, explainers of revelation; not bearers thereof.[5]

Remember: no medium is better calculated by God himself to communicate his Word to his image-bearing creatures than live pastoral preaching. 2 Corinthians 4:6 declares: “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Professor B. B. Warfield said of Princeton Seminary’s preacher-professor Dr. George Purves, reflecting on the fact that Purves had written few books:

We are, perhaps, prone to overestimate the relative importance of books: Litera scripta manet. But the “winged word” of speech moves the world; and it is better, after all, to form characters than to compile volumes.[6]

As necessary as books are in our preparation for preaching, they cannot replace preaching itself. Nor can the streaming video, the television, or the Internet.

Preaching as Conduit, Grammar, and Environment

First, as the minister of the Word in your congregation, you are the primary conduit of covenantal information from God; that is what Westminster Shorter Catechism question number three sums up as “what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.” The preacher more than any other member of the church must be a media ecologist, a good steward before God of the media of communication, especially the God-ordained medium of preaching. This is the reason it took eight chapters in my 2001 book The Word Is Worth a Thousand Pictures to come to the subject of preaching itself. In emphasizing that the medium is the message, we must never minimize the message itself. Although every medium forms a distinct and important part of every message, the content is central, and that is precisely why we are concerned about the medium. The medium must be commensurate with the message. The two are inseparable. That is never truer than in preaching. We are stewards of the mystery of the gospel (1 Cor. 4:1–2; 1 Pet. 4:10). After describing the ordinary offices of the continuing church to Timothy, Paul says:

If I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. (1 Tim. 3:15–16)

The message is absolutely the central reality in the existence and life of the church to which it is entrusted.

Second, as the minister of the Word in your congregation, the grammar of your preaching is a vital aspect of communicating the content of God’s Word. How to conduct yourself in the church (ἀναστρέφεσθαι<, anastrephesthai) is a major concern of Paul in the ministry of Timothy and the post-apostolic church. The minister and his congregation are the medium for the life-altering message of the gospel, presented to the world as the embassy of Christ. The message is “incarnated” in the life of the congregation living in holiness and love. We should consider the grammar of preaching in terms of the unique “elements of production,” considered in chapter 1. The preacher faces the congregation with the open Bible in his hands. The raised central pulpit, characterizing church architecture since the Reformation, is part of this grammar. It says something about the place of the preached Word in the worship as well as the authority of the one whose Word it is. While some might argue that these elements are not essential to preaching, I think they reflect visually and acoustically the position of the Word in the church. Of course, this may not be possible in certain situations. But our didactic emphasis often eclipses the important secondary matter of the aesthetics of our worship space. The body, facial expressions, hand movements, the tone and volume of voice of the preacher, are all essential to the grammar of preaching. As we have seen, any medium which mediates these elements, in addition to preaching itself, modifies them in significant ways.

Third, as the minister of the Word in your congregation, the environment created by your preaching produces a life-changing counter environment over against the ungodly environment of the world, the flesh, and the devil. The text of Scripture, expounded, applied, and lived, forms the interface between the church and the heavenly realm of its Lord. It also connects the church which hears with the church that has heard and the church which will hear that Word. Preaching connects the church with the history of redemption. As Samuel Volbeda insists in his book The Pastoral Genius of Preaching,[7] true preaching in the church is the feeding of the Father’s flock through the power of the written Word communicated to his blood-bought children (Acts 20:28). Evangelistic preaching outside the congregation is an extension of the Word as an intrusion into fallen history and culture, extending the ecclesiastical counter environment into the domain of a fallen world (Acts 17). The entire fabric of heavenly reality impinges on earth through the preaching of the Word. In Ephesus this invasion caused quite a stir because the Word challenged and restructured the lives, perceptions, and relationships of those who repented and believed the gospel. Luke tells us that

. . . a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. (Acts 19:19–20)

The business community, which was intimately entwined with the occult practices of the Ephesians, was up in arms (Acts 19:24ff). The media of communication were altered significantly by the presence of the preached Word.

One of the important questions we must face as preachers is, To what degree must we accommodate the unique characteristics and especially the weaknesses of the communication media of our age? First, the preacher must take account of the electronic environment. But even as he refuses, on biblical grounds, to forsake preaching itself as the chief means of God’s communication, his hearers in the church and in the world are affected by the electronic media. Thus, second, especially with those who are not nurtured in the Word-oriented community of the church, the preacher must accommodate his hearers in the way Paul did at Athens, beginning with the general revelation of God in the situation of the Athenians. Paul followed the accepted format for public speaking in the forum on Mars Hill. What we explore below will focus on enhancing the characteristics which have always been featured in good preaching, many of which we have allowed to decay.

Some Distinctions of Preaching Types and Emphases

In Presbyterian and Reformed churches we may identify at least four approaches to preaching: neo-Puritan, redemptive-historical, theological or doctrinal, and expository.[8] These are not necessarily different types of sermons. Jay Adams reminds us to beware of rigid categories:

Good preaching, then, while emphasizing one of the three aspects, will always include all three. There will be a text (a telic unit as a preaching portion), a topic (whatever is the subject or teaching, of the preaching portion), and an exposition (the work of the preacher to demonstrate that the purpose he teaches is actually the Holy Spirit’s purpose in the text, and that is the sole authority for what he says). If your preaching doesn’t include all three, as well as application and implementation of the truth, there is something lacking.[9]

Every sermon must be textual, or it is not a biblical sermon. Textual sermons are not a type of sermon but must be the exegetical foundation and fountain of every sermon. As noted by Adams above, the same can really be said of “topical” preaching. Every text has a topic, but any topic which does not come from the text of Scripture is not suitable subject matter for a sermon. Even a biblical topic, like regeneration, must be rooted in a particular text, even though a sermon based on this text must consider what the whole Bible teaches on regeneration.

A false dilemma is often fostered by distinguishing between teaching and preaching. The difference between kerygma and didachē in the New Testament has been exaggerated. In Matthew 11:1 we read: “When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach (διδάσκειν, didaskein) and preach (κηρύσσειν, kērussein) in their cities.” Romans 10:15 also uses two Greek words for preach: “And how are they to preach (κηρύξωσιν, kēpuxōsin) unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news’ (εὐαγγελιζομένων, euangelizōmenōn).” In Acts 28:31 we read that Paul was in Rome “proclaiming (κηρύσσων, kērussōn) the kingdom of God and teaching (διδάσκων, didaskōn) about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.” These three verses demonstrate that the three major words used for communicating the gospel in the New Testament are used interchangeably. Thus, rather than indicating a distinction of tasks, they reveal the richness of the concept of preaching.[10] Proclaiming the message as a public herald of good news includes instruction. While teaching tends to focus on instruction, and preaching on the proclamation of the gospel and its application, all biblical communication of the gospel includes both. As Augustine enjoins: “instruction should come before persuasion.”[11]

Neo-Puritan Preaching

The Neo-Puritan approach emphasizes application. Clearly the Bible itself teaches that Scripture is given to transform God’s elect (cf. Rom. 12:1–2). Application is the goal of biblical communication. Every text of Scripture is relevant because it is addressed to God’s people, not because the preacher makes it so by “application.” The commonest complaint about this sort of preaching is that it tends toward introspection and that it is too long. These are certainly dangers that I have seen in practice, where conviction of sin is seen as almost the sole purpose of preaching. But a more cogent criticism is in the failure to engage the listener in the context of the text itself. It may also degenerate into endless “practical” points of “how-to,” ending in mere moralism, or worse, triviality.

There may in some cases also be the tendency to preach a dozen sermons on one verse. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached in this way, consecutively, through entire books. This, however, is not truly expository since it often draws many sermons from one single verse and is thus more topical in its presentation. This is a distinct weakness of the Puritan approach. It unintentionally circumvents the Spirit-inspired structure of preaching pericopes. Also, Jay Adams has pointed to the dangers of the Scholastic method of Puritan preaching: doctrine then use; lecture then every possible application.[12]

Another flaw in this approach is to imitate the style of the Puritans, appropriate in their day, when preaching was a form of public entertainment, but not suited to modern sensibilities. Adopting the language and length of Puritan sermonizing would, I believe, be objected to by the Puritans themselves if they lived in the modern world.

Despite these weaknesses the best Puritans were expository, and “opened” the text of Scripture for the church to receive its application. The Puritan passion to engage saints and sinners with the Christ of Scripture is in the best tradition of biblical preaching.

Redemptive-historical Preaching

The redemptive-historical approach to preaching emphasizes the historical, covenantal context of every pericope. As in the textual sermon, every sermon must be redemptive-historical to be biblical. Cornelius Trimp has demonstrated that it is a false dichotomy to set the redemptive-historical approach over against the “exemplaristic” approach, as if redemptive-history has no application.[13] The most common criticism of redemptive-historical preaching is that every sermon gives the history of the entire Bible through a single theme without ever challenging the hearer to change. I have never heard such a sermon but would not call it preaching if I did. On the other hand, I have heard plenty of exemplaristic or moralistic sermons. Joseph is our example of how to avoid adultery. Was this the point of the text? Clearly not! Joseph is a type of the faithful Deliverer, whose life of faith exemplifies holiness at every point, including resisting the temptation to sleep with Potipher’s wife. The obedience of the Second and Last Adam is the point of this text. Yes, the crucified Servant of the Lord is our motivation for sexual purity. I will further explore the importance of redemption history for preaching below. Let it suffice to say that we are not to preach biblical theology per se but must preach redemptive-historically, which is to say we must preach Christ and him crucified.

Doctrinal Preaching

Theological, or doctrinal preaching is an emphasis that seeks to inculcate the system of doctrine taught in the Scriptures. The common criticism of this preaching emphasis is that it teaches timeless truths not tied to the historical text and that it tends toward theological lecturing rather than preaching. Clearly, this is a danger, especially in reaction to the modern antipathy to doctrine. However, as with biblical theology, while we must not preach doctrine per se, we must always preach doctrinally. After all, what is “doctrine” but teaching. Our symbolic formulations of the teaching of Scripture provide a marvelous map of the truth of Scripture. These must always inform the exegesis and content of preaching.

Expository Preaching

Most commonly advocated—though not frequently practiced—in evangelical and Reformed churches today is expository preaching. This involves the consecutive exposition, from pericope to pericope, of a book of the Bible. Calvin preached this way, and presently many Reformed pastors do the same. Among its many excellent strengths is the fact that it follows the logic of Scripture itself and inculcates biblical content in its biblical setting. Such preaching covers the rich terrain of the phenomena of the biblical text. David Helm defines it well: “Empowered preaching that rightfully submits the shape and emphasis of the sermon to the shape and emphasis of a biblical text.”[14]

The only weakness of this approach is that unless the books chosen are chosen with care, the preaching may not cover the whole counsel of God as a system of doctrine. For example, a preacher might preach through all four gospels consecutively over a period of years and neglect the Old Testament preparation for the incarnation and the apostolic interpretation and application of these events. Expository preaching is a wise choice for the pastor as long as he is willing to intersperse other sermons as occasion may demand in the life of his congregation. The broader idea of “expository” should be true of every sermon. In this sense, there is truly no such thing as a biblical sermon which is not expository, because every sermon must expound, explain, and apply a portion of Scripture, but this may not be done seriatim through entire books.

Timothy Keller also warns us that spending too much time on a particular book in a mobile society may actually rob people of the Bible’s rich variety. Thus, he advocates using shorter books from a wider variety of genres.[15] However, this is not as much the case in more rural settings where the population is far less transient.

So let me make a special plea for a steady diet of preaching through whole books seriatim, since the Good Shepherd speaks to his church through the Word that his Spirit has artfully constructed. Here is a more expanded reflection on the value of expository preaching in the narrower sense.

In seeking to cover the whole counsel of God, we are reminded of what Paul said to the Ephesian elders: “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). As we glean from his letters, he had a keen sense of how to apply the whole counsel to the exigencies of each congregation.

Because expository preaching focuses on the details of the text, it tells us what we are certain God has said and wants his people to hear and be transformed by. Thus, it tends to humble us preachers with a sense that God works through his Word and so gets all the glory: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6).

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. (1 Cor. 4:6)

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Rev. 22:18–19)

Preaching through entire books of the Bible enables us ministers to face topics that we might be tempted to avoid, like homosexuality, or our salaries. It also prevents us from sticking to hobbies, only preaching on our favorite topics, or focusing on the indicatives or imperatives of Scripture only, thus avoiding antinomianism, moralism, or legalism.

Think of an in-depth exposition of a text as a powerful antidote to our image-saturated culture. It prevents us from using manipulative marketing techniques—methods of electronic persuasion. It also helps prevent a related danger by emphasizing the character and speech of God rather than the preacher’s personality or rhetorical skills.

It also keeps preachers from the latest fads, especially the pragmatism of the latest “how to” in our hyper-efficient culture. In so doing, this type of preaching teaches people to listen and to read their Bibles as they were written. Expository preaching demonstrates the method of proper biblical interpretation (hermeneutics); it teaches people how to read and study their Bibles. It also reminds hearers that we are committed to a common text, subverting the radical individualism that the electronic culture fosters.

Finally, it challenges preachers to preach the Christ of Scripture as we seek the hermeneutic of our Savior:

Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. . . . everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’ (Luke 24:26–27, 44–47)[16]

This topic will be amplified in chapter 13.

True preaching should be a synthesis of the best elements of these four emphases, avoiding the weaknesses of each. If we stick to the Spirit-inspired purpose of each text in its context—immediate, the book, and the entire Bible—and remember Paul’s statement in Romans 15:4 “whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction,” we will preach biblically.

Dabney’s Seven Cardinal Requisites of Preaching[17]

Robert Lewis Dabney’s essential elements of sound preaching are as applicable today as they were in the nineteenth century. I reproduce them here for ready reference. T. David Gordon quotes Dabney and then adds helpful tests to help assess your own implementation of what is required in every sermon. Nothing in this part of Dabney’s work would contradict the distinction between persuasion and proclamation made by Duane Litfin, as explained in chapter 6.

1. Textual Fidelity

For Dabney, a minister is an ambassador, who represents another, declaring the will of that Other. Therefore, he is not entitled to preach his own insights, his own opinions, or even his own settled convictions; he is entitled only to declare the mind of God revealed in Holy Scripture, the sermon must be entirely faithful to the text—a genuine exposition of the particular thought of the particular text.

Test: “Does the significant point of the sermon arise out of the significant point of the text? Is the thrust of the sermon merely an aside in the text? Is the text merely a pretext for the minister’s own idea?” [18]

2. Unity

Unity requires these two things. The speaker must, first, have one main subject of discourse, to which he adheres with supreme reference throughout. But this is not enough. He must, second, propose to himself one definite impression on the hearer’s soul, to the making of which everything in the sermon is bent.[19]

Test: “If ten people are asked after the sermon what the sermon was about, will at least eight of them give the same (or similar) answer?”[20]

3. Evangelical Tone

It is defined by Vinet as ‘the general savour of Christianity, a gravity accompanied by tenderness, a severity tempered with sweetness, a majesty associated with intimacy.’ Blair calls it ‘gravity and warmth united. . . . an ardent zeal for God’s glory and a tender compassion for those who are perishing.[21]

Test: Do hearers get the impression that the minister is for them (eager to see them richly blessed by a gracious God), or against them (eager to put them in their place, scold them, reprimand them or punish them)? Is it his desire to see them reconciled to and blessed by a pardoning God? Does the sermon press the hearer to consider the hopelessness of his condition apart from Christ, and the utter competence of Christ to rescue the penitent sinner?[22]

4. Instructiveness

The instructive sermon is that which abounds in food for the understanding. It is full of thought, and richly informs the mind of the hearer. It is opposed, of course, to vapid and commonplace compositions; but it is opposed also to those which seek to reach the will through rhetorical ornament and passionate sentiment, without establishing rational conviction. . . . Religion is an intelligent concern, and deals with man as a reasoning creature. Sanctification is by the truth. To move men we must instruct. No Christian can be stable and consistent save as he is intelligent. . . . If you would not wear out after you have ceased to be a novelty, give the minds of your people food.[23]

Test: Is there any significant engagement of the mind in the sermon, or is the sermon full of commonplace clichés, slogans, and general truths? Is the hearer genuinely likely to re-think his view of God, society, church, or self; or his reasons for holding his current views? Is the mind of the attentive listener engaged or repulsed?[24]

5. Movement

Movement is not a blow or shock, communicating only a single or instantaneous impulse, but a sustained progress. It is, in short, that force thrown from the soul of the orator into his discourse, by which the soul of the hearer is urged, with a constant and accelerated progress, toward that practical impression which is designed for the result. . . . The language of the orator must possess, in all its flow, a nervous brevity and a certain well-ordered haste, like that of the racer pressing to his goal.[25]

Test: “Are the earlier parts of the sermon necessary to the latter parts having their fullest effect? Is there intellectual (and consequently emotional) momentum?”[26]

6. Point

Dabney uses point to describe over-all intellectual and emotional impact of a sermon. Point is a result of unity, movement, and order, where there is a convincing, compelling weight upon the soul of the hearer. Hearer feels a certain point impressing itself upon him, and feels that he must either agree or disagree; assent or deny.[27]

Test: Is the effect of the sermon, on those who believe it, similar? If it encouraged one, did it tend to encourage all, and for the same reason? If it troubled one, did it tend to trouble all, and for the same reason? If it made one thankful, did it tend to make all thankful, and for the same reason?[28]

7. Order

We would probably call this “organization,” but the point is the same. A discourse (sacred or otherwise) cannot have unity, movement, or point, without having order. Order is simply that proper arrangement of the parts, so that what is earlier prepares for what is later. A well-ordered sermon reveals a sermon’s unity; makes the sermon memorable, and gives the sermon great point.[29]

Test: “Could the hearers compare notes and reproduce the outline of the sermon? If they could not reproduce the outline, could they state how it progressed from one part to another?”[30]

Endnotes

[1] Adapted from Gregory E. Reynolds, The Word Is Worth a Thousand Pictures: Preaching in the Electronic Age (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2001), 366–75.

[2] Malcolm Muggeridge, Christ and the Media (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), 30.

[3] Duane Mehl, “Mass Media and the Future of Preaching,” Concordia Theological Monthly 41 (1970): 210.

[4] Walter Ong, Review: The Humiliation of the Word (Jacques Ellul) in the Journal of Communication: vol. 36, no. 1 (1986): 156–158.

[5] T. David Gordon, “Drama in Christian Public Worship: Preliminary Considerations,” n.d., unpublished paper.

[6] David, B. Calhoun, Princeton Seminary: The Majestic Testimony 1869–1929, Vol. 2 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1996), 186.

[7] Samuel Volbeda, The Pastoral Genius of Preaching (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960).

[8] Ross W. Graham, personal e-mail, September 12, 1999.

[9] Jay Adams, Essays on Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982), 8, in Douglas Van Allen Heck, The ERS Basic: The Five Steps of Bible Exposition (Tulsa, OK: Expository Resource Services, Inc., 1990), 20.

[10] Cf. a very helpful study of the NT words for preaching in Klaas Runia, “What Is Preaching according to the New Testament?” Tyndale Bulletin 29 (1978): 3–48.

[11] Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, trans. D. W. Robertson, Jr. (427 AD; repr. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1958), 137.

[12] Adams, “Preaching with Purpose,” class notes.

[13] Cornelius Trimp, Preaching and the History of Salvation, trans. Nelson D. Kloosterman (Dyer, IN: Dr. Nelson D. Kloosterman, 1996).

[14] David Helm, Expositional Preaching: How We Speak God’s Word Today (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013), 13.

[15] Timothy Keller, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism (New York: Viking, 2015), 39–41.

[16] I owe a number of points in this section to Gary Millar and Phil Campbell, Saving Eutychus: How to Preach God’s Word and Keep People Awake (Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2013), 40–41.

[17] from Robert Lewis Dabney, Sacred Rhetoric or a Course of Lectures on Preaching (Richmon: Presbyterian Committee of Publication, 1870; repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1979) as adapted by T. David Gordon in Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messages (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R 2009), 23–8.

[18] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 24.

[19] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 24; Dabney, Lectures on Sacred Rhetoric, 109.

[20] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 24.

[21] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 25; Dabney, Lectures on Sacred Rhetoric, 116–17.

[22] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 26.

[23] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 25; Dabney, Lectures on Sacred Rhetoric, 117–19.

[24] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 26.

[25] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 26; Dabney, Lectures on Sacred Rhetoric, 122–24.

[26] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 26.

[27] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 26–7.

[28] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 27.

[29] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 27.

[30] Gordon, Why Johnny Can’t Preach, 27.

Gregory E. Reynolds is pastor emeritus of Amoskeag Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Manchester, New Hampshire, and is the editor of Ordained Servant. Ordained Servant Online, February, 2024.