4. Kinds of preaching. — The preacliing of the Apostolic Age was marked by great variety. The sources available for a characterization are the historical portions of Acts, together with the actual discourses contained therein, and also what may legitimately be inferi'ed from the Epistles. The Epistles should not be regarded as specimens of apostolic preaching, being rather, in form .and content, examples of primitive teaching. But they contain many allusions to preaching, and thus help us to reconstruct historically the con- ditions under which it took place, the forms it assumed, and its main doctrinal contents.
The variety of apostolic preaching was deter- mined by the individuality of the speakers, the nature of their audiences, and the stage in the doctrinal development of the message. But be- neath all differences a unity Avas preserved round the central theme of the Person and work of Jesus Christ in hiiman redemption. It was ' preaching Christ,' whatever might be the local or personal conditions under which the message was proclaimed. Three main characteristics are to be noted, (a) First in historical order came the preaching to the Jews, which may be called Mes- sianic. St. Peter's addresses in Jerusalem and St. Paul's sermons in the synagogues on his missionary journeys appeal to the resurrection of Jesus in proof of His Messiahship, and support it by quo- tations from the OT. Exhortations to repentance naturally followed this kind of preaching, especi- ally as the exaltation and second coming of the Christ were emphasized, (b) Next there was the preaching to the GentUes, which may be described as -missionary. The evangelization of heathen without any knowledge of the Scriptures or of the facts concerning Jesus naturally employed different methods of appeal. On the negative side it exposed idolatry, superstition, and dcgi-ading notions of God, and condemned human sin. The positive element was the proclamation of .Jesus Christ as the Saviour of all men. This included the facts of His earthly life, and His death and resurrection (Gal i.\ 1 Co 15='-). (c) The third kind of preacliing was wh.at may broailly be called edifying. It was addressed to congregations composed of .Jewish Christians and converts won from heathenism. In lliese spiritual comnnmities meetings for edilication were held, in which every one who had a ' gift ' — whether of prophecy or interpretation, or 'tongues,' or praise (1 Co 14=") —used it for the upbuilding of the Church. It was in such gatherings that preaching, in the
2C0
rKKACHlXG
rKKAGHING
more generally accepted sense of the term, was exenisL'il.
In St. I'liul, who is tlie preacher 7)ar excellence of the Apostolic Aj,'o, we see all the foregoing kinds of ])reiiching illustrated, together with a marvellous variety of modes of address to win his hearers. In the case of Jews he appealed, like St. Peter, to the OT {Ac 13"- •" 15"'- 17-'-). In Athens he did not hesitate to quote a pagan poet (17™), and expounded the philosophy of the Christian religion. To the people of Lystra (14""-) he used the arguments of natural theology. But it was in Corinth that he ojiposed his central theme of ' Christ crucilied ' to the impurity, commercial- ism, and superstitions of the city (1 Co 1-^ 2^). Attention has also heen drawn (A. C. McGitt'ert, History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age, 1897, p. 255) to the fact, which is often overlooked, that St. Paul in his preaching did much personal work among individuals (Ac 18^ 1 Th 2"), in addition to addressing audiences. The effective preaching of Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch (Ac 8^°) may be quoted as an earlier example of this 'hand-to-hand work ' in Christian evangelizaticm.
5. Content of apostolic preaching. — The elabor- ated doctrinal aspects of the gospel proclaimed by the apostles are dealt with in the artt. Gospel and Teaching and those concerned with the points of biblical theology involved. All that can be attempted here is to indicate the main out- lines of the subject-matter of the preaching of the apostles.
((() (!(id and Christ. — Our Lord proclaimed as good tidings the coming of the Kingdom of God. But after His death and resurrection a new content appears in the preaching of His followers, viz. the Person and work of Christ Himself. Not that the subject of the Kingdom was dropped (Ac 8" 20'-* 28^') ; but it became subordinated to the gospel concerning Christ, through whom the Civine sovereignty was to be established on earth, and to the ultimate question about the nature of God and His grace, through which alone such a Kingdom could come among sinful men. As a basis for missionary Christological preaching the doctrine of the existence and unity of God would form a large element In the glad tidings to heathen living under the distractions of polytheism and demonism (.4c I7--"'-, 1 Th I»). But undoubtedly In the fore- front was the proclamation to all nations of the ' nn.searchable riches of Christ' (Eph 3*). In one word, Christ was the main content of apostolic preaching. Among those who under stress of per- secution went about 'preaching the word' was Philip, who in Samaria ' proclaimed unto them the Christ' (iK-qpvaaev rbv XptcrTdf, Ac S'"-), while to the Ethiopian eunuch he ' preached Jesus ' {evTjyye\iaaTO rbv 'Irja-oSi', v.^^). Others came to Antioch ' preach- ing the Lord Jesus' (euayyeXLidficpoi. rbv Ki'piov 'It)(Sovv, 11-"). St. Paul warns the Corinthians against anyone who ' preacheth another Jesus, M'hom we did not preach' (iK-qpv^aiiev, 2 Co 11*); and he rejoices when, even under conditions of faction, 'Christ is proclaimed' (Xpio-rds KarayyiX- Xfxai, Ph 1"). The very Person of Jesus Christ constituted a gospel worth preaching. He em- bodied and expressed in human nature the final revelation of God (cf. Jn 14^).