By Ben Swift
When a preacher steps up to the pulpit, what is really going on? Each preacher is gifted in different ways, bringing unique life experiences, worldviews, and often agendas. The question begs asking then, what is the role of the Christian preacher? Where should and does the power of preaching lie?
Depending on the church you grew up in or whether you even grew up in a church at all, you may or may not be familiar with the solas that emerged from the Protestant Reformation. In any case, they consist of Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), Sola Gratia (grace alone), Sola Fide (faith alone) and Solus Christus (Christ alone). While recognizing that the theology tied up in these solas requires much reading and wrestling, it is enough here to simply highlight their relationship with a right understanding of justification and salvation, that is, how one becomes righteous in the eyes of a Holy God. For if the protestant claim that the Christian is justified by grace, through faith, on account of Christ alone is correct, then salvation is extra nos – Latin for outside of ourselves.
What does this mean?
As Lutheran pastor Caleb Keith suggests, ‘Sola Scriptura is a confession that knowledge of Christ and his work comes extra nos and is ready to be delivered to the wanting ears of sinners…Christ is the answer to both the Who and the how of our extra nos salvation’.[1]
This is reflected in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 2:8-9, ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.’
Faith is awakened, therefore, through the hearing of God’s transforming Word and the gift of the righteousness of God is given the moment the promise of the gospel is spoken.
What great significance this holds for the preacher! God’s promise is to be proclaimed by the preacher, and by any professing Christian, enabling those with ears to hear, to take hold of the unconditional gift of faith by grace, a gift that comes extra nos. Justification through faith, a creative act of God bringing gospel hope and freedom to sinners, changes lives!
To put it another way, the Christian, being a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:16-17) becomes a new recreation through the speech act of God in the proclamation of the Gospel.
In this way, Christian preaching is a means of grace, a place where Christ’s truth is revealed as God speaks through the preaching of the Word. Here, God offers the free gift of extra nos salvation, by grace through faith, through the speech of other human beings.
There is power in gospel-centred preaching! That is, preaching stripped of the glory and power of preachers themselves, stripped of a wrong use of scripture for agenda driven means, harnessing instead the creative power of the Word which holds the power to transform hearts and minds.
When it comes to preaching, may the Gospel have the last Word!
[1] Keith, Caleb. ‘Extra Nos (Outside Ourselves).’ Accessed 28 August 2023.
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