PREACHING in the New
Testament
PART ONE. PREACHING
IN THE Old Testament
• I. Two Activities
• A. Prophetic Proclamation: baser
(joy): announcing good news or a
message of joy (2 Sam. 4:10; Ps. 40:9;
Isa. 40:9)
• B. Teaching of Torah: qera (to
proclaim or to call)
• Jer. 11:6; Mic. 3:5; Jonah 1:2
II. The Preaching of Jeremiah
• A. Jeremiah 20:7-9
• B. His call was irreversible
• God’s word was irrepressible: “fire
shut up in his bones”
• “The fire can be quenched only one
way: by preaching.”
Part Two. Terms for
Preaching in the New
Testament
• A. Two Primary Terms
• 1. Kerusso—”to announce or proclaim
publicly”
• a. Mk. 1:14 Jesus came into Galilee
preaching
• b. I Cor. 1:23 we proclaim Christ crucified
• c. Acts 10:42,43 commanded us to preach,
to testify that he is the One ordained by God
as judge of the living and the dead
2. Euanggelizo “to bring or
announce good news”
• Acts 17:23 “to proclaim’ “I proclaim
the unknown God . . . . “
• I Peter 2:9 “to declare”
“the wonderful deeds of God who called
you out of darkness”
• Acts 17:30 “to command”
commands all people everywhere to
repent
B. Models of Preaching
1. Message of the Baptizer
• a. a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sin (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3)
• b. preparation for the Coming of One
stronger than he (Mk. 1:8)
• c. ethical instruction (Lk. 3:10-14)
• d. In GJn: bearing witness to Jesus as
the Christ
2.The Proclamation of Jesus
• The gospel of God (Mk. 1:14)
• The gospel of the kingdom (Mt. 4:23)
• The gospel of the kingdom of God (Lk.
4:43)
Summation of the Dominical
Proclamation in Mark 1
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Time is filled full
The kingdom of God is at hand
Repent
Believe
Synopsis in Luke 4 (Isa 61)
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Good news to the poor
Release to the captives
Sight to the blind
Liberty to the oppressed
The year of God’s favor
• PS: a new era, the reign of God is breaking
in
3. Early Missionary Sermons
in Acts, primarily Peter and
Paul
• The Basic Kerygma or preaching
prophecies are fulfilled
new age has arrived
life, death and resurrection of Jesus
call to decision
(CH Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and
its Development)
4. The Pauline Preaching
• a. The Primitive Tradition of I Cor. 15:1ff:
what terms I preached the gospel
1) Jesus died for our sins “acc. to the
scriptures”
2) was buried
3) was raised up on the third day, “acc. to the
scriptures”
4) has appeared to his followers
b. Governing centers of the
Pauline preaching:
• Death of Jesus
• Resurrection as Exalted Lord
c. His mission to preach
• I Cor. 1:17: “For Christ did not send
me to baptize but to preach the gospel”
• I Cor. 9:16: “Woe to me if I do not
preach the gospel”
d. Possible Sample of Pauline
Preaching
• Romans 1-4 (Paul Althaus)
5. Hebrews, the earliest extant
sermon?
• An expository sermon on the
wilderness generation
C. Audiences and
Corresponding Proclamations
• 1. Audiences that knew the Hebrew
Bible
a. Acts 2:16-36 (Pentecost)
b. 3:12-26 (Solomon’s Portico)
c. 13:16-41 (Antioch)
2. Audiences totally
unfamiliar with the Scripture
• A. 14:8-17 (Lystra)
• B. 17:22-31 (Areopagus)
PART THREE. WITNESS IN
THE NT
• A. CORRECTION OF SELWYN
• B. THE WORK OF ALLISON
TRITES
C.WITNESS IN THE
CONTEXT OF A TRIAL
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1. A Sustained Metaphor in
a. GJn
b. Book of Acts
c. Apocalypse
2. Focus on the Johannine Lit.
• a. Gospel of John: an evangelistic
witness to the significance of Christ,
aiming at faith
• b.Witness in 1 John