(Part 1)

JBTM
Jim Shaddix
4
Because God has spoken and the Bible is the accurate record of his speech, we are
compelled to communicate it accurately so that we represent God rightly. Biblical exposition,
then, ought to serve as our foundational approach to preaching. In exposition, the preacher
lays open a biblical text—God’s voice—in such a way that its intended meaning is brought
to bear on the lives of the listeners. The word expose means to lay open or uncover, and it
includes the totality of the preacher’s exegesis, hermeneutics, and homiletics. Expository
preaching of the Bible, then, provides the only chance we have to preserve God’s voice
correctly and reveal it to listeners accurately. Six theological footings anchor this conviction.
The Inspiration of the Bible
The practice of biblical exposition is first and foremost driven by a high view of Scripture,
which itself depends on a certain conviction about biblical inspiration. By “inspiration” I am
referring to “the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that enabled and motivated the human
authors of Scripture to produce an accurate record and revelation of God’s redemptive will,
purpose, and activity.” 6 Preaching has to be driven by an understanding that the text of
Scripture accurately records God’s voice. Merrill F. Unger asserted, “If the Bible is considered
merely to contain the Word of God, rather than actually to be in toto the Word of God, there
is naturally a decreased sense of responsibility to study its text minutely, or to systematize
its theology, or authoritatively to declare its message.” 7 The conviction that the Bible is God’s
Word dictates everything in both the preparation and delivery of sermons.
The doctrine of verbal plenary inspiration frames up these convictions about Scripture as
well as preaching. This doctrine suggests that “in the composition of the original manuscripts,
the Holy Spirit guided the authors even in their choice of expressions—and this throughout
all the pages of the Scriptures—still without effacing the personalities of the different men.” 8
Inspiration is verbal because the words are inseparable from the message. Inspiration is
plenary because it is entire and without restriction. 9 Frank E. Gaebelein said, “The doctrine
of plenary inspiration holds that the original documents of the Bible were written by men,
who, though permitted the exercise of their own personalities and literary talents, yet wrote
under the control and guidance of the Spirit of God, the result being in every word of the
original documents a perfect and errorless recording of the exact message which God desired
to give to man.” 10
6
James D. Hernando, Dictionary of Hermeneutics (Springfield, MO: Gospel, 2005), 26. See also Stanley
Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers
Grove: InterVarsity, 1999), 66; Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker,
1998), 199.
7
Merrill F. Unger, Principles of Expository Preaching (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1955), 18.
8
René Pache, The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture (Chicago: Moody, 1969), 71.
9
Ibid., 72–73.
10
Frank E. Gaebelein, The Meaning of Inspiration (Chicago: InterVarsity, 1950), 9.