Not all pastors are tempted to preach the sermon of others, but most rely on the opinions, perceptions, and academic knowledge of others through comments, language tools, and theological writings. Let us be realistic, we live blessed days for the shepherds. We have easy access to the thoughts of the brightest theologians in history, and we can find them by commenting on almost every passage in the Bible. The temptation to access such academics is to seek to consult them at an early age, before formulating our own reflections on the passage. We intend to preach When should a preacher consult the words learned from these scholars?
I believe that the wisdom of Andrew Fuller, a 19th-century pastor, given more than 200 years ago, remains as useful in our commentary days as it was in his day when resources were scarce. These are Fuller’s words he wrote in a letter to a young shepherd:
- “The method I followed was to first read the whole text carefully and.
- As I read.
- Write what initially seemed to me the meaning.
- After synthesizing these notes into something like a diagram of the passage.
- I examined the best specialists I could.
- By finding and comparing my first ideas with yours.
- I was able to judge them better.
- Have any been confirmed.
- Some corrected and added? However.
- To first address the exhibitors is to avoid the exercise of their own evaluation.
Pastors should be grateful for the abundance of comments and theological writings about most of the passages we can preach to our congregations; we must allow them to confirm or even correct the ideas we formulate in our studies, but we must avoid relying too much on them. Busy shepherds may be tempted to loiter and end up preaching what these great men have written, rather than doing the hard work that allows the Spirit of the living God to work this text on us as a word that would speak directly to our flock. Then we ask our unique congregation in the power of Christ. An authentic, biblical, Spirit-filled preaching in which the preacher was deeply influenced by the passage he preached is as necessary today as it was in Fuller’s day. I am sure That Fuller’s counsel will guide us and keep us on the path so that we can preach in our own pulpits what we produce ourselves.
[1] More complete, Andrew. The complete works of the Reverend Andrew Fuller with a memory of his life of Andrew Gunton Fuller. Three flights. Edited by Joseph Belcher, Philadelphia American Baptist Publication Society, 1845 Repr. , Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle, 1988 3:201 (own translation)