A look at how leading preachers and scholars define exposition — and what they have in common.
The rise in popularity of expository preaching has produced an interesting side effect: many people hear a lot about it but don't necessarily know a lot about it. Some characterize expository preaching as a running commentary. Others label it out-of-touch doctrinal preaching fit for the ivory tower. Still others think of it as a launching point for systematic theology, whether or not that theology is actually in the text.
So what exactly is expository preaching? Here is a sampling of definitions from some of the most prominent voices on the subject.
“The message finds its sole source in Scripture. The message is extracted from Scripture through careful exegesis. The message preparation correctly interprets Scripture in its normal sense and its context. The message clearly explains the original God-intended meaning of Scripture. The message applies the Scriptural meaning for today.”
John MacArthur
Preaching
“The main idea of an expository sermon — the topic, the divisions of that idea, main points, and the development of those divisions — all come from truths the text itself contains. No significant portion of the text is ignored. In other words, expositors willingly stay within the boundaries of the text and do not leave until they have surveyed its entirety with its hearers.”
Bryan Chappell
Christ-Centered Preaching
“Exposition refers to the content of the sermon (biblical truth) rather than its style (a running commentary). To expound Scripture is to bring out of the text what is there and expose it to view. The expositor opens what appears to be closed, makes plain what is obscure, unravels what is knotted, and unfolds what is tightly packed.”
John Stott
Between Two Worlds
“Unfolding the text of Scripture in such a way that makes contact with the listener's world while exalting Christ and confronting them with the need for action.”
Alistair Begg
Preaching for God's Glory
“The communication of a biblical concept derived from and transmitted through a historical-grammatical and literary study of a passage in its context, which the Holy Spirit first applies to the personality and experience of the preacher then through him to hearers.”
Haddon Robinson
Biblical Preaching
“Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire — and the chief end of preaching is to give men and women a sense of God and his presence.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Preaching and Preachers
“Expositional preaching is empowered preaching that rightfully submits the shape and emphasis of the sermon to the shape and emphasis of a biblical text.”
David Helm
Expositional Preaching
“Expository exultation.”
John Piper
The Supremacy of God in Preaching
“Expository preaching is that mode of Christian preaching that takes as its central purpose the presentation and application of the text of the Bible. All other issues and concerns are subordinated to the central task of presenting the biblical text.”
Albert Mohler
He Is Not Silent
“Expositional preaching is preaching in which the main point of the biblical text being considered becomes the main point of the sermon being preached.”
Mark Dever
Preach: Theology Meets Practice
“Expository preaching grounds the message in the text so that all the sermon's points are the points in the text, and it majors in the text's major ideas. It aligns the interpretation of the text with the doctrinal truths of the rest of the Bible (being sensitive to systematic theology). And it always situates the passage within the Bible's narrative, showing how Christ is the final fulfillment of the text's theme (being sensitive to biblical theology).”
Tim Keller
Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism
Despite the variety of expressions, a clear consensus runs through every definition above:
Skopeo is built around this method. Every tool in the workspace — word study, cross references, commentaries, interlinear — is designed to help you go deeper into the text you are studying, not around it. The goal is always to surface what is actually there: the author's intended meaning, the original language behind the words, and the connections Scripture makes with itself.