May 10, 2012 | Leave a comment Twenty-one years of teaching experience as a professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and his own practice as interim pastor and later senior pastor of Christ Church in Lake Forest, IL., have given Walter Liefeld the insight and perspective on preaching which he shares in New Testament Exposition. His credentials as a scholar are impressive: a Ph.D. in Hellenistic religions from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary and post-doctoral research study at the University of Tübingen, Germany. Liefeld has the reputation for being theologically conservative, and according to Trinity, his expertise includes “backgrounds of the New Testament, women in the church, expository preaching, ministry and authority in the church, and the books of Luke, Acts, Ephesians, and the pastoral epistles.” He served on the translation committee for the New International Version of the Bible, was a contributor to the NIV Study Bible, and has authored Interpreting the Book of Acts (Baker 1995). Liefeld’s purpose in writing New Testament Exposition 1 is to “determine the essential nature and characteristics of expository preaching” (5). He begins to accomplish his purpose by first setting the parameters of what does and does not characterize expository preaching. He contends that much of what is labeled expository preaching today in effect “is no more faithful to its meaning than that of some of the cults we criticize. It is only our evangelical convictions and doctrinal awareness that keep us from misusing the passage to the point of heresy” (20). He points out that “expository preaching is not verse-by-verse exegesis . . . a running commentary . . . [or] a captioned survey of a passage” (20-21). The failure of much expository preaching is that it is “descriptive rather than pastoral [and] . . . lack[s] a clear goal or practical application” (21). For Liefeld, a good expository sermon must exhibit three characteristics. First, it is faithful to the message of the biblical text. Second, it communicates this message through utilizing a structure that is faithful to both the passage and the goals of the sermon. Third, the congregations needs are meet by the purpose and function of the passage. These three characteristics are simplified and carried throughout the rest of the book’s outline as facts, form, and function (25). Liefeld refers to facts as the work of exegesis. Like Kaiser he is more concerned that the facts gleaned during the exegetical work be placed in their proper context in a way that is easily understood by the listener. He suggests that pastors limit the scope of their exegetical work to the significant parts of the text, and spend more time developing an inductive outline and paragraph outlines of the books under their scrutiny. Thus, the careful exegete will be more able to discern compositional and semantic detail that goes largely unnoticed by pastors who get caught up in the text’s sentence structure alone. Once the exegesis is complete, Liefeld, like Robinson and others, insists that everything that has been learned in the exegetical work be summarized to one sentence. He next turns his attention to the sermon’s function. The reason that this order is not consistent with his earlier outline in which form preceded function, is explained by Liefeld to be because of his “conviction that the form should serve the function , not vice versa” (116). His premise in this section of the book is that sermon function should be influenced first by the text and second by the needs of those who will hear the text expounded (95). Liefeld believes that without limiting or denying the Holy Spirit’s role in applying the Word to the human heart, the preacher should attempt to make application of the Scripture as forcefully as possible in his exposition of the text. He suggests that this be accomplished by asking and answering two questions. First, what role did this text serve in the first church community where it was read? This will help the pastor understand the text in its original context. Next, the pastor needs to ask and answer the “So what?” question which Liefeld’s structures as, “What’s in it for me?” Many will want to know what benefit they may derive from applying or living out the truth of the text. Liefeld’s experiences in preaching week after week have no doubt impacted his approach. The sermon’s form is important and needs to be carefully considered, according to Liefeld, because form can facilitate comprehension, bring important aspects of the passage into focus, and move the sermon to accomplishing its goal (115). Every sermon will fit into one of three forms: structurally expository in which the sermon’s structure flows directly from the biblical passage, indirectly expository where the structure does not come from the text, or topical in that structure is arranged around a given topic alone. He concedes that it is possible to organize one or more mini-expositions into a topical outline. While Liefeld prefers structural expository sermons he gives credit to other forms also. He points out that the literary devices found in the Scripture are also under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and should be utilized by the preacher so that they may have their fullest impact (62). He completes the work by giving some examples of preaching from difficult passages and making some practical application to preaching. There are many strengths in New Testament Exposition. First is the discussion Liefeld gives of expository preaching. His points are clear and easily followed, and the case he makes for exposition is convincing. He lists the first goal of expository preaching as evangelism and continues to discuss the declaration of God’s will to His people. He also notes that when one preaches expositorily he enables doctrine to be taught with the case study method. This provides a useful response to those who would accuse expositors of teaching by utilizing propositional truths alone. The reasons Liefeld lists for the importance of exposition are also accurate. Expository preaching enables the preacher to stay close to the intention of the author and direct the congregation to the Bible. Liefeld also points out that exposition minimizes subjectivism and helps prevent the preacher from dealing exclusively with his own favorite subjects. A second strength is the emphasis that Liefeld places on the all-too-common failure to see and fully appreciate the forest through one’s exposition due to the narrow focus on the trees in one’s exegesis. Much so-called expository preaching fragmentizes the Gospel narratives so that the interrelationships are missed and the texts are not properly preached (63). A third strength of this work is the focus Liefeld brings to the need for application in expository sermons. He exposes the shortcomings of exegesis alone. While he acknowledges that God can speak to us in spite of our poor hermeneutics or mishandling of the text (96), exposition is not complete until the truths of the text are applied to the current cultural situation. In his discussion of the literary device of particularization, this point is clearly and forcefully made. Liefeld writes, “It is our responsibility to take the biblical truths about God and his world and apply them in particular ways to our own situation” (68). Another strength of New Testament Exposition is its emphasis on fitting the structure of the biblical text to the form of the sermon. Liefeld writes, “The point . . . is . . . any structural or semantic pattern we observe in a passage should be examined to see if it has potential for a sermon outline”(125). He points out that the way the text is structured is also inspired and should not be readily discounted by the preacher. The intention of the preacher is to present the truth of the text in such a way as to elicit the same force today with which it would have been received by the first recipient. One primary weakness of this work is that its style is too academic for its purpose. In his discussion of compositional and semantic forms, much of what he assumes as common knowledge is not. In his discussion of the functions of the sermon, he says he will list some functions and then he proceeds to list thirteen functions. Liefeld also gives a passing explanation to the twelve semantic patterns which he discusses apparently assuming that his readers are all as well acquainted with reversives and reciprocals as they are alliteration. A second weakness of this book occurs in the final chapter where Liefeld raises the valid and practical question, “How long a series should one plan for a single book of the Bible?” (164). This question is particularly important and valid due to Liefeld’s statement that his “own suggestion is to preach the Gospels one by one in an expository series” (154). The problem is that the question asked is left unanswered. Liefeld’s approach to expository preaching is in agreement with Kaiser when he points out that much seminary instruction in exegesis leaves the student with the idea that productive study is only that which deals with “parsing, diagramming, and doing word studies” while neglecting the flow of thought of the text (17). Goldsworthy would disagree with Liefeld’s point that, when preaching through a series, the preacher need not deal with the textual context in as much detail each time he preaches through the series because it will already be understood having been previously covered. Goldsworthy would insist that context be clarified each time for the benefit of those not previously present. Liefeld agrees with Vines, Chapell, Kaiser, and Robinson that expository preaching is the preferred sermonic form. This book will be worth-while reading for those who have been to seminary and have dealt with the process of exegesis in the study of a New Testament book. Bivocational pastors or those who have not been through seminary studies might have a more difficult time grasping Liefeld’s point. This would be a useful supplemental text in a preaching class, but it would not be suitable for a primary text in a preaching class. Overall Liefeld’s effort is profitable for the pastor, particularly his discussion on melding the structure of the text with that of the sermon. End Notes 1. Liefeld, Walter L. New Testament Exposition: From Text to Sermon. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1984.