II. Christian Prkaching.— John the Baptist was acknowledged as a prophet, and he revived the prophet's mission of preaching to the people apart from the normal religious services. His work consisted chiefly in preaching and baptizing, though with tlie necessary a<ldition of private con- tersation with inquirers (Lk 3'"""). The burden
of his message was the call to repentance, and the announcement of the ajjproach of tlie kingdom of God, with a promise of the forgiveness of sins (Mt 3', Mk 1*). This was the burden of the earlier preaching of Jesus (Mk I"-"). This earlier preaching of our Lord was carried on in the syna- gogues of Galilee ("SVk 1^). The incident in the Nazareth synagogue of which we have a full account, indicates that our Lord's method was to found His discourse on the portion of Scri|iture He had previously read (Lk 4"*'). This would be in accordance with the custom at the Sabballi meeting. When He preached in the open air it was under freer circumstances. Then, though He would frequently appeal to the OT in continuation of His words, and especially in arguing with the scribes in the form of an argiiincnfiim ad homines. He did not adopt the method of the exposition of Scripture ; He would start immediately from His great topic ' the kingdom of God,' and expound that. The evangelists are careful to point out the transition from this public teaching to the private training of the inner circle of disciples. His method was not the same in the two cases. It cannot be said that He had any esoteric doctrine which He deliberately withheld from the uniniti- ated, although His language on one occasion seemed to indicate this (Mk 4"''-), because He always invited all capable hearers (e.g. Mk 4"- -■ •^). The public discourse more often took the form of parable ; the private instruction was more direct and conversational. But even when delivering a public discourse Jesus was always liable to interruption, and this would frequently develop into discussion. Moreover, the reports of our Lord's discourses preserved in the Gospels appear to be abbreviated in some cases, or perhaps we have salient points, memorable epigrams, etc., selected from His discourses rather than full reports of them. Sometimes, as in the case of the Sermon on the Mount, it may be that we have a number of the sayings of Jesus uttered on various occasions col- lected and strung together by the reporter (perhaps Matthew in his Login ; see Matthew). In Lk we more often meet with utterances springing out of incidents, the event and the saying being both given by the third evangelist. For these reasons we cannot look to the Gospel accounts of the teach- ings of Jesus to furnish us with typical sermons. Still those accounts not only contain the teachings themselves, they illustrate our Lords method of preaching — (1) His freshness and originality (SiSaxi; Kaii/ri, Mk 1^) ; (2) His tone of authority (cjs ^ioviriap Ix^", ^Ik 1~) ; (3) His winning grace — a point characteristically noted by the third evangelist {i6avfj,al^ot> iwl toTs XlryOiS ttj^ x''P"'°'> Lk 4^*^) ; (4) His graphic picturesqueness in illustration (Mk 4**).
The Book of Acts siipplies several specimens of apostolic preaching. In the earliest instances the text and starting-point are found in some event, e.g. the 'tongues' at Pentecost (Ac 2"'-). the heal- ing of the lame man at the gate of the tenijile (Ac 3'-'-). The OT is appealed to for the confirma- tion of what is said [e.g. Ac 2'*- ^- »* 7« 8^-). With his man'ellous versatility St. Paul employed the same method when speaking to pagans at Athens, illustrating his words by a citation from classic literature (Ac 17^), though personally he attached unique im])ortance to the inspiration of the OT, and cited tliis to Jews in the manner of the other apostles {e.g. Ac 13^''- " 15"). In substance the preaching of the apostles to Jews was a declaration of the Messiahship of Jesus with the confirmation of two arguments — (1) The resurrection ; (2) the OT predictions. On this followed promises of the forgiveness of sins {e.g. Ac 2^ 3'"), and salvation through Christ {e.g. 4'-). The essential genuine- ness of the early speeches in Acts is prjved by tlie
PREDESTINATION
PREDESTINATION
47
fiut tliat they do not contain tlie Pauline doctrine of the Atonement, which was not develupeil at the time in which they aie dated (Lechler, Apust. and po.st-Apoxt. Times, i. 2G0 f. ). Tliey refer to the death of Christ, cliarging the Jews with the crime, pointing out tliat it was predicted by tlie jiropliets, and therelore was foreknown by God and in His counsels, and sliowin;; that in spite of it tlie resurrection proved Jesus to be Christ. The a|)osti>lic preaching' to the heathen, represented especially by St. Paul, exposes the absurdity of anthropomorphic polytheism (eg". Ac 14'^), idolatry (l?-^), and sorcery (19''-'); declares the spirituality anil fatherhood of God (17^'"); denounces sin, and warns of judj,'ment to come through one whom Ciod has aiipointcd (17"); oilers deliver- ance throujrh faith in Jesus Christ (l&'). The allusions to the delinite preachinj; of Jesus Christ are very brief. But it is evident that there must have been some accoiint of His life, death, and resurrection in St. PauKs preaching. Gal 3' plainly points to this. Similarly, if the second Gospel is St. .Mark's record of ' the preaching of Peter,' it is plain that that apostle preached the facts of the life of Jesus.