1. Preaching and teaching.— The function of preaching, as above outlined, is to be distinguished from teaching (SiSaxn), in which the truths and duties of Christianity were more deliberately un- folded and applied. The content of the preaching and of the more elaborated instruction was neces- sarily often the same (Ac 5« 15^', Col 1=«). The
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preacher (K^pnJ) was sometimes also a teaclier (SiSao-kaXos), especially in the more settled state of the early Church (1 ti 2', 2 Ti 1"). But, even so, a clearly marked distinction is made in the case of Paul ' prcacliing (ktipwumv) the kinj;dom of (Jod, and (rnrhinrj {diSdcrKuv} the tliiiif^s concerning the Lord Jesus Christ ' (Ac 28^'). The ahility to preach or to teach was regarded as a gift of the Holy Spirit, but due regard was given to the ' diversiticsof gifts' and 'diversities of ministrations 'even in these closely related activities. ' To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge, . . . to another pro]ihecy' (1 Co li-"" ; cf. Ro 12'"f-). That a clearly marked differentiation of function was believed to be Divinely appointed ajipears from the two formal lists of spiritually gifted members, in which 'teachers' are mentioned after apostles and pro- phets (1 Co 12=8, Eph 4"). Preaching was the function of the apostles (in the wider meaning of the word) and of the prophets. Both travelled about, the former continuously in their missionary activities, the latter frequently settling down in one locality where their preaching would tend to edification .and exhort.ation.
2. Qualification. — The work of preaching in the 1st cent, was regarded not as an office but as a ' calling ' due to the gift of the Spirit. Apostolic preaching began witTi the command of Christ to the Twelve (Mt 10', Mk 16'*- =") ; but it was after the bestowal of the Spirit at Pentecost as a ' tongue of fire' that this gift (xapiirMa) of inspired utterance became general in the early Church. Those who preached the gospel did so because they were under Divine compulsion (Ac 4'- -" 6'° 8™). The Holy Spirit qualilied them for this special work, and authenticated their message. They felt that they were commissioned by no mere human author- it}'. Subjectively their call to preach consisted in a feeling of 'necessity' (1 Co 9'°), but an objective test was applied to them and their message by the spiritual communities to which they ministered (1 Th 5=', 1 Co 12^' i», 1 Jn 4"-). "The Die/ache shows that at a later stage the tests were practical, if not drastic. The prophet must 'have the ways of the Lord ' (xi. 8) ; he must practise what he preaches, and not ask for money (xi. 9-12). But the preacher, when duly approved, had the right to expect support (1 Co 9^*-, 2 Co 11*'-, Did. xiii. 1-3), and was to be treated with great honour {Did. iv. 1). 'The picture of these wandering preachers, men burdened by no cares of office, with no pastoral duties, coming suddenly into a Christian community, doing their work there and as suddenly departing, is a very vivid one in sub- apostolic literature' (T. M. Lindsay, The Chtirch and the Ministry in the Early Centuries, 1902, p. 73).
3. Preaching and faith. — That preaching was the Divinely ordained means for the diffusion of Christianity appears from the successful appeal it made to the capacity for faith which is latent in all men. ' Belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ' (Ro 10"). The ancient world was familiar with much propaganda work done by travelling teachers of various philosophical schools. But the basis of appeal in these cases was to the speculative curiosity of their hearers. The preachers of the gospel, on the contrary, did not depend upon the assent of reason (1 Co 2'- ^). Not that the gospel had no place in a rational view of man and his relation to the universe and God ; there was a ' wisdom ' to be spoken among mature believers (v.*). But the message of the early Christian preachers was more in the nature of a Divine summons to the human heart to trust in the fatherly love of God and to believe in Jesus Christ as the pledge of His redeeming grace.
It was a call to the human will, e.stranged by sin, to yield in trustful suljuiission to the Divine will. The faith which the i)reacher sought to arouse was no mere intellectual belief in a system of doctrine, but an act of the whole )iersonality, in which trust, belief, and volition united in a self- commitment to a Divine Person — (iod or Christ. And a careful study of the NT shows that such a close connexion between preaching and faith was established : ' So we preach, and so ye believed ' (1 Co 15"). The philosophic teacher might cap- ture the intellect, the mysterj'-monger might stir superstitious hopes and /ears, but ' the first Chris- tian ]>reachers tcstijied that they had found salva- tion through faith in the Gospel of the Cross as they presented it. With the consciousness of the same need awakened, their hearers believed the testimony that was thus given them ; they em- braced the Saviour who was thus presented to them ; and so believing, they entered into the same experience of salvation as belonged to their teachers' (W. L. Walker, The Cross iiitd the King- dom", 1911, p. 25 f.). The gifts of the Sjiirit re- ceived by the ' hearing of faith ' authenticated both the believer (Gal 3-) and the preacher (I Co 2*).