72 Theses for Preaching: 1–10

1) The one true and living God is a Triune talking God. Francis Schaeffer says it well, “He is there and He is not silent.”
2) We affirm that this God has spoken in His Word, the Bible. [John Stott: “We should never presume to occupy a pulpit unless we believe in this God. How dare we speak if God has not spoken? By ourselves we have nothing to say…”, Between Two Worlds, 96].
3) The Triune God speaks both by natural (creation and conscience) and special revelation (Scripture and Christ). The latter is the focus of preaching.
4) Special revelation is the divinely intended content of those who preach. Its focus is two-fold: 1) the living Word (the Lord Jesus Christ) and 2) the written Word (the Bible). [“Let us then consider it certain and conclusively established that the soul can do without all things except the Word of God, and that where this is not there is no help for the soul in anything else whatever. But if it has the Word, it is rich and lacks nothing, since this Word is the Word of life, of truth, of light, of peace, of righteousness, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of wisdom, of power, of grace, of glory, and of every blessing beyond our power to estimate.” Martin Luther, “A Treatise on Christian Liberty.” Three Treatises. Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1947, 23.]
5) Without the preaching of the Bible, our people will perish with no genuine hope in this life or the next.
6) Jesus Christ is the Savior and hero of the Bible. As its focal point, he is to be faithfully proclaimed from all of Scripture. [Charles Spurgeon: “Leave Christ out? O’ my brethren, better leave the pulpit out altogether. If a man can preach one sermon without mentioning Christ’s name in it, it ought to be his last, certainly the last that any Christian ought to go to hear him preach”, sermon #768]. Robert Smith: “dust for Christological fingerprints” in every text.
7) There is no contradiction in being Theocentric and Christocentric in preaching. Exalting Jesus glories the Father (Phil. 2:11).
8) Jesus himself teaches us that all of Scripture testifies about Him. (John 5:39; Luke 24). The whole Bible is Christian Scripture.
9) The Bible as the Word of God written is faithful, true, infallible and inerrant as originally given. It corresponds to reality and is coherent in its message. [Therefore, we can and should preach it with conviction and confidence.]
10) The Bible, as the Word of God written in the words of men, is uniquely a divine/human book. Faithful preaching honors the reality of this dual authorship.