POWER IN EXPOSITORY PREACHING
by Faris D. Whitesell
www.fotbc.org
Chapter 5: Power Through ARGUMENTATION
Not as much emphasis is put upon formal argument in preaching as was done a few generations ago. Older books on preaching written by Broadus, Phelps, Pattison, and Breed contained chapters on argument. But recent writers such as Blackwood, Luccock, Sangster, Davis, and Jones hardly mention it. David R. Breed, in 1911, noticed this shift: "The older books upon homiletics gave a very large place to the consideration of argumentation: some of them devoted chapter after chapter to the subject. Various forms of argument were considered, one after another, with minute care and large emphasis, but it is a most significant fact that the books upon preaching in its various forms which have appeared within the past few years obtain scarcely a reference to the subject."1
Does this mean that argument is not as important in preaching as it used to be? In part, it does. People are not used to lengthy or heavy arguments today. They are swayed more by illustrations, humor and emotion than by sober argument. A century and more ago denominational rivalry was fierce. Preachers defended their own positions and attacked those of other denominations with strong arguments. Sometimes outstanding debaters conducted public debates on religious questions which lasted a week or more. They used the technicalities of argument cleverly and sharply. Such proceedings are not known today. We are more likely to hear of tolerance and the right to choose among religious positions according to one’s own individual preference.
But there is still a place for argument in preaching, especially when we think of it as a means to persuasion. The concept of persuasion is a prominent one today. While argumen-tation proper is the use of reasoned discourse to get others to believe or to do what we think they should, we might enlarge this meaning to include all right methods in preaching to persuade people to do right. If so, argumentation and persuasion are much alike.
Breed had this idea: "Let it be remembered that suitable argumentation is no more or other than the art of persuasion. He who adopts it, particularly in the pulpit, for any other purpose, has misused it. Dr. Willis G. Craig…has said…, ‘The problem of argumentation is to make use of the best means of bringing others to believe or act as we wish them to believe or act.’ Consider how much such a principle involves. It rules out of argument everything calculated to arouse the antagonism of the opponent; everything that reflects on his motives; everything that ministers to pride or prejudice; everything that is associated with ridicule and sarcasm; everything that looks for personal victory and the glory of conquest. The principle confines the debater to those arguments and considerations which are likely to please and win our adversaries."2
T. H. Pattison believed that, from the viewpoint of Scripture, argumentation in preaching has great importance: "Pictorial though it was, a strain of reasoning ran through the teaching of Jesus. When it was first preached by the apostles the gospel was preached argumentatively. Our faith in the great central truths of salvation rests on the basis of argument."3
Phillips Brooks said, "A sermon exists in and for its purpose. That purpose is the persuading and moving of men’s souls."4 and John A. Broadus asserted: "Every preacher, then, ought to develop and discipline his powers in respect to argument. If averse to reasoning, he should constrain himself to practice it; if by nature strongly inclined that way, he must remember the serious danger of deceiving himself and others by false arguments…one must constantly remind himself to argue for the truth rather than victory, and as a rule never to maintain a proposition which he does not really believe."5
In expository preaching formal arguments are usually few but the major methods of persua-sion have a large place. Let us take ten methods of argumentation, or persuasion, in expository preaching.
The first, by the use of the Word of God. Since expository preaching gives first place to unfolding the meaning of the Scriptures (usually a rather large passage) the persuasive power of the Word of God comes into strong play. Broadus wrote: "The Scriptures themselves are an authority indeed. All that they testify to be fact is thereby fully proven, all that they teach as true and right is thereby established and made obligatory."6
Again, he said: "Argument in preaching has one peculiarity. There is a great authority, the Word of God, whose plain utterances upon any question must be held by the preacher as decisive and final. This is proof without arguing in the narrow sense."7
Part of the power in evangelist Billy Graham’s preaching lies in his frequent use of "The Bible says…." He believes that whether or not men believe the Bible to be the Word of God, there is an authority and persuasive power in it that cannot be ignored.
When we accept what the Bible says about itself, we see that it claims strong persuasive power. Please note the following:
It converts (revives, rsv) the soul
(Psalm 19:7, kjv)
It accomplishes the divine purpose
(Isaiah 55:11, kjv)
It is like a fire and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces
(Jeremiah 23:29, kjv)
It is a seed sown in the soil of men’s hearts
(Matthew 13:23, kjv)
If it cannot persuade men to repent, neither will one come back from the dead
(Luke 16:31, kjv)
The words of Jesus are spirit and life
(John 6:63, kjv)
The word of grace is able to build up and to give an inheritance among the sanctified (Acts 20:32, kjv)
It is the sword of the Spirit
(Ephesians 6:17, kjv)
It is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12, kjv)
It is inspired of God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (II Timothy 3:16-17, rsv)
The second persuasive factor is the character of the preacher. Aristotle called this the "ethos," meaning the impression the speaker makes upon his audience. People certainly expect an expository preacher to be a man who not only knows and believes the Book, but also one who lives the Book. They wish to believe that back of everything he says is the fact that he is a man of God. James H. McBurney, James M. O’Neill, and Glen E. Mills tell us that in the area of secular argumentation and debate the ethos of the advocate should include assurance, preparation, intensity, flexibility, sincerity, directness, and modesty when referring to himself.8 All these and more should characterize the expository preacher. The very fact that the expositor lives much in study and meditation upon the Scriptures should go far to make him a holy man.
The third method of argumentation is reasoning. Aristotle name this "logos." This means the use of logic and formal methods of argument. Paul made frequent use of reasoning as these references show:
In Athens, he spent three weeks reasoning or arguing (rsv) with them out of the Scriptures (Acts 17:2, kjv)
In the same city, he disputed or argued (rsv) in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the market place every day (Acts 17:17, kjv)
In Corinth, he reasoned or argued (rsv) in the synagogue every sabbath and persuaded Jews and Greeks (Acts 18:4)
In Ephesus, he went into the synagogue and argued with the Jews (Acts 18:19, rsv)
Again, in Ephesus, "And he entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, arguing and pleading about the kingdom of God" (Acts 19:8, rsv).
From the synagogue, he moved to the hall of Tyrannus and argued daily (19:9, rsv)
The same Greek word for reasoning or arguing is used of Paul’s preaching in Troas (Acts 20:7, kjv)
and of his presentation to Felix and Drusilla (Acts 24:25, rsv)
In addition to argument from the testimony of Scripture, there is general argument from testimony, analogy, cause to effect, effect to cause, induction and deduction, and from examples. When explanation is done well it has persuasive effect.
The fourth persuasive element is the emotional appeal. Aristotle referred to this as "pathos," or appeal to the feelings. We should never appeal to emotion for its own sake but the sake of moving men to positive action. Most people are more likely to be moved by their emotions than by their reason. We should never appeal to baser motives but we may rightly appeal to higher ones. Broadus reduces them to three: happiness, holiness and love.
Charles W. Koller has treated them as the seven appeals to the heart: the appeal to altruism, the appeal to aspiration, the appeal to curiosity, the appeal to duty, the appeal to fear, the appeal to love, the appeal to reason.9 In no case is the emotional appeal to be separated from the appeal to reason.
A fifth persuasive element is the use of facts and statistics. Blackwood is strong on the use of facts in preaching. This is a day of statistics. Batteries of computers spew them out; moun-tains of records and filing cabinets preserve them; the magazines and newspapers publicize them. While very few people remember the statistics they hear or read, they tend to be swayed by them. If the preacher can cite statistics to show that Sunday school pupils become less involved in crime than others, he has a strong argument for Sunday school attendance. If he can prove by statistics that divorce is more common among unbelievers than believers, he has a strong case. Walter A. Maier packed his sermons with relevant statistics and facts.
A sixth consideration in persuasion is audience analysis. This means finding out the facts about his congregation and about the physical factors under which he preaches. The preacher should know his audience’s age range, educational range, occupations, cultural interests, prejudices, sex division, and spiritual maturity. In addition, if he knows something about the homes of his people, the institutions in the community, the history of the area, and the traditions of the neighborhood, he will be better prepared to speak to them. Of course, he should know the seating conditions of the sanctuary, the acoustics, and the ventilation and lighting facilities. These are areas of knowledge which an alert pastor will soon gain as he lives in a community and mingles with its people. But it is easy to take some of these items for granted and not be really informed about them. After a period of acquaintance, it would be wise for a pastor to take inventory of his congre-gation. This could be done by passing out a card or check-sheet listing items for checking, but requiring no signature. One might be a Bible knowledge inventory, another a spiritual achieve-ment inventory. One could be a Christian literature inventory, another a Christian aspiration inventory. If the people were taken into partnership, by showing them that they were helping their pastor to preach more effectively and to serve them better, they would not object to checking a few audience inventory records. An important modern emphasis in preaching is that of preaching to the needs of the people. This can be done as well in expository preaching as any other, maybe better. But we must know what the needs of the people are. It is the purpose of audience analysis to determine them. The seventh method of persuasion is visualization. This means that we try to picture the new life in such a way that the listener sees himself living it. In the case of the unconverted, the approach might be: "Picture how much better off you would be now if you were a Christian. You would know forgiveness of sins, the power of prayer, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and happy fellowship with God’s people." If the appeal were to urge people to become tithers, you might say: "Let us think how it would go with you if you were a tither. You would have so much money to give to your church that you would be glad to come and put it on the offering plate. You would feel a sense of partnership with our work here and in the mission fields of the world much more than you experience now. Can you not see yourself enjoying the other nine tenths that you have left for yourself much more than if you were trying to squeeze out a little for God while you stretch the rest to cover the bills?" Alan H. Monroe’s famous motivated sequence consists of five steps in persuasive speeches: 
1. The attention step—getting attention
2. The need step—showing the need
3. The satisfaction step—showing how to satisfy the need
4. The visualization step—visualizing the results
5. The action step—requesting action or approval
Of the visualization step, he says, "The visualization step should project the audience into the future so that they are emotionally impressed with an image of future conditions."10
The eighth element of argumentation in expository preaching is testimony, already mentioned under reasoning. This refers to accounts of personal experience which support the Scripture passage expounded. The testimony of the preacher himself will carry considerable weight, but it cannot be used often. The experiences of members of his family will bear using occasionally.
A preacher should keep a file of conversion experiences told in the words of the convert. Other personal accounts of answers to prayer, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, physical healing, solutions to problems, deeper experiences, divine deliverances, and personal evangelism cases can all be used to illustrate various points in expository sermons.
The man who reads Christian biography will find many illustrations in the area of testimony. The pastor who visits among his people will hear many testimonies of God’s help which he can feel free to use. This will not be true in most of his counseling cases.
The expository preacher will use the testimonies of the Bible characters themselves when they support a point. The conversion cases of Paul, Lydia, and the Philippian jailor are ones that can often be used.
David R. Breed calls testimony the best argument: "It is well, however, to emphasize the argument from testimony as generally the best for the preacher’s use. Testimony is involved in every other form of argumentation. It is virtually inseparable from it. There can be no proof without evidence. Testimony is witness borne to a fact…. This argument is, therefore, more frequently employed in the Scripture than any other, as much perhaps as all other forms of argument put together, both in the Old Testament and in the New. The God of the Scripture appeals to his witnesses and calls upon them for their testimony."11
The ninth method in effective argumentation is answering objections. Since the preacher’s audience seldom has an opportunity to voice questions or objections during the meeting, it is no more than fair and courteous for the preacher to try to anticipate some of them. In doing so he will try to state them with force and fairness, and proceed to give his answer. This tends to cut the ground from under an objector before he can firmly claim it.
During the preparation of his message, the preacher can look at it from the known viewpoints of members of his congregation, asking himself what objections they might have to his interpretations and applications. Paul used this form of argument in: Acts 26:25-29; Romans 3:5-9, 31; 6:1-4; 9:19-21.
In anticipating objections, the preacher will seek to avoid two mistakes. First, he will not raise objections that no one has; that would only be a waste of time. Second, when he does anticipate objections, he will show respect and consideration for those who might hold them. He will not ridicule, lambaste, or be sarcastic toward the imaginary objector and his question. If the preacher has done a good job of audience analysis, he will understand what objections his people might have to certain doctrines or interpretations of Scripture. And if he lives in close touch with his people, he will meet many objections in one form or another.
Excuses for not believing and obeying the gospel are probably easier to anticipate than are objections. Certainly there is much practical value in foreseeing and answering them with Christian grace and kindliness. Moses had plenty of excuses in Exodus 3-4, and so did people in Jesus’ day, Luke 14:16-24.
The tenth method of persuasion is good arrangement. When the sermon outline is orderly, logical, and cumulative, it becomes persuasive. The persuasive element can be made stronger if the thesis contains a responsibility word: "You should," "You ought," or "You must."
Walter A. Maier, formerly of the "Lutheran Hour," has a sermon on John 3:5-7, entitled, "Be Born Again in Christ." He discusses his thesis under this outline: 
1. You need the new birth
2. You must have the new birth to be saved
3. You can have the new birth12
F. W. Robertson’s sermon on Mark 14:41-42 has a simplicity, clarity and force that is persuasive. The text reads: "And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand" (kjv). 
Robertson uses the title, "The Irreparable Past," and has two main points: the irreparable past and the available future. Under the second main point he says: "Youth has its irreparable past. And therefore, my young brethren, let it be impressed upon you—NOW is a time, infinite in its value for eternity, which will never return again. Sleep not; learn that there is a very solemn work of heart which must be done while the stillness of the garden of your Gethsemane gives you time. Now—or never."13
His concluding sentences are: "There is a past which is gone forever. But there is a future which is still our own."14
Two other important factors in persuasion are competent sermon delivery and the power of the Holy Spirit; these are considered in later chapters. 
Chapter 6: Power Through ILLUSTRATION 
We live in an increasingly visual-minded generation. If an article in a magazine or newspaper is without photographs or drawings, few readers will bother to regard it. This carries over into preaching.