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Expounding the Scriptures

“And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27)

The word “expounded” means “thoroughly explained” or “gave the interpretation of”. That is what preaching is: thoroughly explaining, giving the interpretation of the Word of God. In preaching the gospel we interpret the ideas (the doctrine) conveyed in a passage in the light of its immediate context and in the light of the whole Volume of Divine Inspiration, and declare that doctrine honestly in the language of the people we address.

Holding Fast

“Holding fast the faithful Word,” as we have been taught by God the Holy Spirit, let every faithful gospel preacher boldly and confidently expound exactly what God says in the Bible, no more and no less, “by sound doctrine,” “for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.” I say with Paul to all who are responsible to proclaim the gospel of Christ, “speak thou the things which become sound doctrine,” for the time has come when men “will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”Faithful men, “preach the Word.”

Interpreting the Word

How are we to interpret Holy Scripture? John 1:18 gives us some help. — “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” The word translated “declared” here is the word from which we get our English words “exegete” and “exegesis”. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has by his incarnation, obedience, and death as our Substitute given us the exegesis of the Triune God. He has declared to us all that God is. He has reached into God himself, brought him out in all his fulness, and shown him to us.

That is what we are to do with the Word of God. By study and prayer, seeking the direction and grace of God the Holy Spirit, we must reach into the text, dig as deeply as possible into the text, open it up, discover exactly what it says, and bring it out, showing the thing written by Divine inspiration with boldness, simplicity, and clarity.

As the incarnate Christ shows us God, shows us who God is, it is our responsibility to show immortal souls the Word of God, to show people what the Word of God means.

God’s Meaning

Every preacher is responsible before God and his hearers to faithfully proclaim the Scriptures, giving the meaning and message intended by God the Holy Spirit in the passage from which he preaches. The Spirit’s meaning and message can be obtained only by the gift of the Holy Spirit; and that gift is bestowed upon faithful men laboring in the Word, studying, praying, and seeking God’s message for his people.

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s