“For we did not write to you anything you cannot read or understand.” (2 Cor 1:13)
This phrase leapt out at me today with a question: “Could I say that about my preaching?” I love theology and words that explain truth, but how do I use those words when I’m speaking to people (in Sunday services or elsewhere) who do not have these words or who have not been taught the theological concepts behind them?
It is a temptation for a preacher to “show off” knowledge. Most people in our churches only see us one day a week. Sometimes we feel that we need to justify what we have been doing since last Sunday by displaying the hard work we have done on the text(s), or by teaching what we have learned from the latest book we have read.
Of course, preachers/pastors should be doing hard work on the text and this work should result in better sermons both in the exposition and application of the text. We want people to see how the text flows and connects with before and after, what it means and how it applies, but we don’t need to show off detailed knowledge of Hebrew/Greek words and nuances of grammar. We don’t need long words that people can’t understand. Our aim must be intelligibility (1 Cor 15:19).
The same is true of teaching theology (which should be a natural outworking of systematic exposition). We need to read and study hard, but then we need to explain in ways that people can understand (without compromising on truth). What comes out of the mouths of preachers should be thoroughly biblical and deeply theological but also plain and simple speech so that people can understand – and then have no excuse but to believe and obey.
May the Lord help us.