Proclaimer Blog
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers #6
Chapter 6. The Preacher
The next logical question to ask, says MLJ, is: who then is to be a preacher? Important here is Acts 8.4-5, which describes all kinds of Christians as ‘gossipping the gospel’ (v.4, Greek verb: euangelizomai), but the apostle Philip as ‘proclaiming’ (v.5, Greek: kerusso). Only the latter, says MLJ, is what we call preaching. In summary, in the NT preaching is confined to apostles, prophets, evangelists and teaching elders.
This view of preaching requires a notion of the ‘call’ of the preacher. The tests of a genuine call are:
a sense of preaching being ‘thrust upon you’ in your own spirit; wise Christians confirming it; a concern for the lost; a sense of ‘I can’t do anything else’; a feeling of personal unworthiness.
All of this should be confirmed by the church discerning four things in potential preachers: a settled knowledge of the truth; a godly life; an understanding of people; ability, both in intellect and in a gift of speech. He regrets that ability is too often put first by churches.
On the specifics of training, he recommends these elements:
– thorough knowledge of Scripture
– original languages, just in order to keep a man ‘accurate’
– knowing the biblical theology that comes out of Scripture, and grasping it systematically
– church history, especially knowledge of heresies (in order to avoid them), and of great revivals (in order to stay encouraged).
Overall, preachers are born and not made, but born preachers can be improved, and the best way for them to improve is by reading the sermons of past greats.
Reflections
His use of Acts 8.4-5 to discern a distinct activity of ‘preaching’ is right, I think. It’s not easy to make the right kinds of distinctions, but in the NT there does seem to be something distinct about ‘proclamation’.
The notion of the preacher’s ‘call’ has been a vexed one, with some exalting it to almost mystical status, and others denying it in order to get as many trained people out into word ministry as possible. In this chapter, it is clear that MLJ is writing in reaction against those who deny any restrictions on who may preach, so it may well be unfair to build a strong theology of ‘call’ on the basis of the proper corrective that he was offering in his context.
His emphasis on preachers needing experience of life seems pertinent to me, if they are not to slide into being lecturers. That is not always to do with age. A few men in their early twenties are able to show understanding of people’s experience of life, and some never can, however old they get.