Martin Wickens

As we’ve worked through Acts in our morning service we’ve seen much of Paul’s method in evangelism and discipleship. Several words reflect his emphasis on God’s Word:

• Reasoned
• Persuaded
• Preached
• Taught
• Opened
• Alleged

This morning we camped out on a single word in Acts 18.

And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

Acts 18:11

In chapter 17 the Thessalonians are commended for receiving the Word and the Bereans for searching the Word. Obviously, knowing and teaching God’s Word was primary for Paul.

We stopped for a while on that word for teach and explained why we do what we do here at Bedford Bible Church.

The word for “teaching” there in Acts 18 is didasko, it means to teach, instruct, to deliver a didactic discourse. The same word is used with Jesus in Matthew 5:1 and it is a requirement for pastors in 1 Timothy 3:2 and 2 Timothy 2:24.

I tried to show the thought process that leads us to our position.

Revelation

What God’s Word says about itself leads me to believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of the Bible.

• Verbal – the words, every word matters
• Plenary – complete, all parts equally inspired
• Inspired – God-breathed, not of human origin

The verbal, plenary inspiration of the Bible leads me to what I believe is the most natural

Hermeneutic

Our method of studying and interpreting the Bible is the

• Literal – when common sense makes sense we seek no other sense
• Historical – take into account the culture, times, and language of the original writings
• Grammatical – regular tools of grammar are used
• Contextual – the Word is the best interpreter of itself, so we compare surrounding verses, chapters, and the completed canon

This hermeneutic I believe naturally leads to

Exegesis

Eisegesis reads a meaning into a text.

Narcigesis excessively reads myself into the text.

Exegesis draws God’s intended truth out of the text.

It’s been said that exegesis involves

• Observation – what does the Bible say?
• Interpretation – what does the Bible mean?
• Correlation – how does this relate to the rest of Scripture?
• Application – how I do I apply this truth to my life?

You can see there is a close connection between exegesis and our hermeneutic.

Having expounded the Scripture we then rely on

Expositional Preaching

Gibbs points out the connection between exegesis and exposition.

“Exegesis refers to the discovery of the material, while exposition consists of the display of what has been discovered… To put it simply: exegesis is the discovery of the material FOR the sermon; exposition is the display of the material IN the sermon.”

Gibbs

God’s Word must be clearly explained if it is to be understood and then applied. So, in our preaching and teaching, we want to exposit the truth discovered by thorough exegesis.

The bulk of our preaching ministry leans on preaching through entire books one word, one verse, one chapter at a time. Topical preaching can rely on careful exegesis and clear exposition, but we find book series to be the best way for us.

Conclusion

Because our focus is on teaching the Word we devote the majority of our time to the Word. Everything is subservient to the Bible and the time devoted to teaching from it.

It does not replace worship, but we contend that our emphasis on teaching enhances worship. Too often worship is thought to be only singing. To generate the most satisfying worship there is an emphasis on that which is emotionally driven. Slowly, but surely, there is less and less time spent on the Word.

We believe teaching the Word is an intrinsic part of our worship and does not deprive us of emotion, but lets our understanding lead our emotions, and not the other way round.

To keep the Word central we,

1. Devote the majority of our time together to teaching the Bible
2. We have high expectations of our teachers and preachers
3. We guard our doctrine carefully
4. Preaching series are systematic and comprehensive to the best of our ability

In summary… God’s Word reveals itself to be verbally and plenarily inspired, to correctly interpret it we apply a literal, grammatical, historical, and contextual hermeneutic, this helps ensure a thorough exegesis and ensures the clearest exposition.

Finally, we understand we are not just an academic institution. The ultimate goal of our learning is that we might have our heart’s stirred to a radical change so that we will look, believe, and behave like Jesus.