A few years ago, I received an email from a pastor asking me how to incorporate biblical theology into the life of his church. The inquirer had recently discovered the goodness of biblical theology and wanted to share it with those under his care. Knowing the same pleasure of bringing biblical theology to the church, I was glad to answer his question. But at the same time, I was also aware of the perils of bringing the themes, concepts, tools, and voices of biblical theology into the church.
Just as it is possible to overindulge on chocolate cake, or to feed a nursing infant prematurely, so it is possible to overload sermons with biblical theology and to overburden Christians with an endless array of canonical connections. I’ve seen it done, and I am guilty of doing it myself. So, for as much as I want to commend the practice of biblical theology in the church, I want to offer a few cautions (along with accompanying encouragements) before the eager biblical theologian opens a can, as they say.
In what follows, I will offer seven practical cautions for bringing biblical theology to church. In all, I hope this essay offers the novice and the seasoned pastor helpful reflections on bringing biblical theology to church, so that everyone might benefit.
Seven Cautions for Biblical Theology
1. Don’t overload your sermons with biblical theology.
As long as I have been preaching, I have loved tracing biblical themes from one side of the Bible to the other. But one thing I have learned over time is that such “road trips” are not easy to follow. And this is especially true for the young Christian who is still using the Table of Contents to find the Psalms. Thus, the wise pastor will know his sheep and where and how much to illustrate preaching with biblical-theological themes.
Biblical theology is like salt. A pinch gives the dish flavor, but too much makes the meal inedible. I would encourage pastors to season their preaching with biblical theology, but not to make biblical theology the main course. As a rule of thumb, I try to limit myself to one main biblical-theological connection per sermon.
Letting the congregation rest in one text is usually more effective than flipping all over the Bible. Practically then, when supporting texts are needed, I will either mention them (and encourage the church to read them later), read them without turning to the passage, or will include the text on the screen. Whenever possible, our church will also read a related text earlier in the service, so that as I preach, I can call to mind a passage that everyone just heard.
Beware of turning a text into a springboard for biblical theology and chasing down passages from all over the Bible. Biblical theology should season the text you are preaching, but the text should never be a caddie for your typological fancies or biblical theological interests. Don’t overload your sermons with biblical theology; instead, let biblical theology flavor your preaching.
2. Don’t limit biblical exposition to only explaining one verse at a time.
Expositional preaching can easily get stuck in the rut of verse-by-verse-by-verse teaching. While such preaching ensures that every verse is covered, it quickly devolves into mere commentating. Commentaries are good for the shelf, but not for the pulpit. Preaching requires inflaming the affections of our hearers for God, not just giving them information. But preaching that merely explains one verse at a time without consideration of the larger structure or over all thrust of the passage often turns the message into a bare information transfer. And unless preachers can discern the difference, their love for studying the Bible can easily fail to stoke affections in their hearers.
Preaching effectively, therefore, requires the preacher to identify the claim the text makes upon the hearer, and then the preacher should make the same claim in the sermon.[1] Doing this requires attention to the larger structure of the passage, the role it plays in its context of the book, as well as its placement in the biblical canon. Hence, biblical theology will always play a part in the preparation of a sermon, even if it doesn’t make an appearance in the final manuscript.
1. I am grateful for Mike Bullmore and his recent teaching at our church on this point.
Accordingly, preachers should let the text decide the way a sermon should be preached, more than deciding ahead of time to preach a verse-by-verse exposition. Just the same, while some expositional preaching dives deep into a single verse, it should also tackle whole books. As a preacher, you should look for ways to preach bigger chunks of Scripture, as this will help your church see the whole Bible.
To be sure, you can make mistakes here, too—like when I preached 150 psalms in 5 sermons—but the bigger mistake is not preaching larger sections of Scripture. More positively, when you do preach smaller sections, always help your people see the bigger picture of the book. This means studying books as literary units and helping your people see how the trees fit into the forest.
So, don’t limit biblical exposition to only explaining one verse at a time, but let your growth in biblical theology help you preach larger sections of Scripture to show the goodness and glory of the whole Bible.
3. Don’t decide your preaching calendar only by what your congregation wants.
In most cases, those who go to church in our modern, sound-bite world want sermons that are enjoyable (or entertaining) and quickly applicable. But is this what they need? Preachers, as shepherds who feed their flock, should always prayerfully consider the “dietary” needs of their church. Preaching series and selecting books should be chosen for the purpose of providing a healthy diet, more than placating the wishes of semi-mature sheep.
Every church needs the undiluted word of God—all sixty-six books of the Bible. But sadly, it is possible to be a lifelong expositor and only give the church one testament, or those parts of the Bible that are most familiar. But such a truncated diet leaves out critical nutrients.
Mature disciples of Christ are formed by the whole Bible, which presents the whole character of God in Christ. As the Lord allows, pastors should find a way to preach the whole counsel of God’s Word, even if the congregation is not craving this (yet!). In time, a congregation led by the Spirit of God will desire both testaments, especially when they are preached with clarity.
Thus, when a pastor who is convicted to bring biblical theology to church, he should do so in a way that is palatable to his congregation. Knowing that he is competing against appetites for other forms of preaching, he should labor to make his preaching as compelling as possible, so that the fruits of biblical theology are sweet to the hearer.
In the end, don’t decide your preaching calendar only by what your congregation wants, but with prayer and patience, show them the goodness of the whole Bible.
4. Don’t ignore the condition of your flock.
If preaching the whole counsel of God’s Word is your goal, as it should be, this doesn’t mean you should start with a two-year trek through Exodus or a Martyn Lloyd-Jones-paced exposition of Romans.[2] Be wise. Just as Scripture speaks of milk and meat for various levels of maturity, so pastors must understand what kind of exposition their people can digest.
2. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, England from 1938–68, preached 366 sermons on Romans over the course of twelve years (1955–68).
To a church that has never had exposition, smaller letters from Paul, a short series in the Psalms, or a selection from a Gospel (like the Sermon on the Mount) may be better than tackling a long book. As churches grow in their delight in God’s Word, they will grow in stamina, too. Equally, young pastors would do well to master smaller books before trekking through longer ones. In short, pastors should know their flock (and themselves) and preach such that their church can follow along—and want to come back for more!
To frame the idea differently, when our church goes through a book of the Bible, I see it as an exodus-like, whole-congregation journey. As a pastor, I don’t want to preach at my people; I want to lead them in God’s Word on a journey towards the Lord. Like a wise trainer knows the pace that he prescribes for his runners, so pastors should equip the saints with God’s Word at a pace that will stretch them, but not sideline them.
So, don’t ignore the condition of your flock, but let the maturity of your church set the pace for preaching with biblical theology.
5. Don’t be satisfied with preaching the whole Bible.
To preach Christ from all corners of the Bible is hard work. It takes time to learn how each book of the Bible fits into a canon that leads to Christ. It also takes time to understand how each part of a book makes up the message of that book and how to move from the ext to Christ and from Christ to us.
In practical terms, Simeon Trust has been most helpful for me here. The principles provided by that ministry have furnished tools that have turned esoteric terms like “textual, epochal, canonical” into a weekly exercise for seeing Christ in all the Bible. For those who preach regularly, Simeon Trust is a helpful resource for improving your ability to read Scripture and preach the gospel from all parts of the Bible. Yet, the most important part of making connections in Scripture is not a program, but a lifetime of saturating yourself with Scripture.
Most of the connections I see in Scripture do not come from commentaries—although they often help. Rather, most connections in the Bible come from years of reading the Bible and looking for the ways in which Scripture presents the gospel through type, shadow, promise, and fulfillment. In short, biblical theology is important for preaching, but it must always lead to Christ, who is the Life and Life-Giver in any sermon.
So, don’t be satisfied with just preaching from the whole Bible, but show how the whole Bible relates to Christ and to those who are looking for him (unbelievers) and to him (believers).
6. Don’t demand that your people get biblical theology quickly.
My wife grew up in a church that loved the Bible, but such love for the Bible did not explain to her how the whole Bible fit together. In short, her church was Bible-rich, but biblical theology-poor. When she came to Bible College, it took her years of sitting under various professors and pastors before she began to see how the whole Bible fit together. In short, appreciating the Bible and understanding biblical theology are not the same. And always, understanding the Bible takes more time.
With that in mind, don’t let your passion for biblical theology overwhelm others. Instead, your passion for biblical theology should stir curiosity and interest. With patience and gentleness, introduce the ways in which the Bible fits together, but don’t be surprised if people don’t see it right away. Equally, don’t get upset if the connections you see are met with suspicion or skepticism. Instead, be humble, patient, and willing to wait on the Spirit to give light. The dearth of biblical theology is often generational and it will take time to introduce—sometimes it will take a lifetime.
Regardless, be patient and don’t demand that your people get biblical theology quickly.
7. Don’t give up!
For anyone who has come to understand biblical theology, you know it is one of the most important spiritual disciplines for reading the Bible, worshiping God, walking in truth, counseling others, and even thinking about missions, ecclesiology, and politics. For that reason, bringing biblical theology to the church is essential, not optional.
That said, biblical theology that will serve the church must not be a purely academic discipline. Biblical theology for the church must be a steadfast endeavor of helping people to read the Bible with eyes to see, know, trust, and follow Christ. And for these reasons, bringing biblical theology to the church is a test of endurance. But such a slow process is worth the time and the effort. So don’t give up.
In all, I pray these seven cautions might help you bring biblical theology to your church. For indeed, the church needs the full counsel of God, as well as pastors who will preach and pray to that end.
May God be pleased to fill his pulpits and his churches with Christ-centered biblical theology.
