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The process of the component of explanation in an expository message consists of two stages: preparation and explanation. The stage of preparation has two factors to consider. These are the six necessary questions and the four important steps in preparing the explanation component of a sermon. The stage of presentation has four ways to follow.

Preparing the Explanation Component of a Sermon

The six questions can be further subdivided into two parts: information and sermon. The first three questions aim to supply the information part. This is where the role of exegesis of the text comes into the picture. This part is mostly found in textual commentaries. The three questions are the following:

• What does the text mean?

• How do I know what the text means?

• What concern caused the text to be written?

The last three questions aim to supply the sermon part. This is where the role of exegesis of the congregation comes into the picture. These three questions are

• What do we share in common with:

  • Those to (or about) whom the text was written, and/or
  • The one by whom the text was written

• How should people now respond to the truths of the text?

• What is the most effective way I can communicate the meaning of the text?

The fourth question deals with the Fallen Condition Focus (FCF). One difficulty in answering this question is the seeming irrelevance of the biblical material for the contemporary audience due to the failure to find the mutual condition that the contemporary audience shares with the original audience. An example of this was the belief of Judaizers that they could earn salvation with good works. The contemporary audience would deny the existence of such belief. However, if we dig deeper into ourselves, Chapel asserts that yes, in our heads we do not believe that our good works could earn us our salvation. However, in our feeling and behavior, we deny our belief. We are all tempted to think that when we are good, God will love us more. The same principle applies in the sins of biblical character. Chapel states that “we all share David’s guilt, Thomas's doubt, and Peter’s denial” (p. 102).

The last two questions indicate that a sermon is not merely an outlined description of the text. It is an explanation of how the text indicates that contemporary people of God should respond to a mutual condition we share with the persons who were the original subjects and/or objects of the text. Adequate explanation requires accurate understanding of both the text and the audience. We must exegete our listeners as well as the text to construct a sermon that most powerfully and accurately explains what a text means.

The four important steps in preparing the explanation component of a sermon are

• Observe

• Interrogate

• Relate

• Organize

Observation requires constant rereading of the text. Chapel advises, "Listen to the text, absorb it, wrestle with it, digest it, immerse in it, breathe it in as God’s breath, and pray over it” (p. 103).

In interrogation, Chapell warns against imposing our ideas to the text. Our duty is exposition, not imposition. The requirement in exposition is to state what the text means and show how you know. The aid of five Ws and H is appropriate at this point. Another three tasks are included under interrogation: exegete, outline, and background.

Exegesis aims to know what the passage meant by knowing what the words meant and how they were used. Study tools are necessary at this stage. Examples of these tools are study bibles, lexicons, grammatical and analytical aids, concordances, topical bibles, Bible translations, Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, and commentaries. However, in using such tools, an expository preacher should not make an impression on his audience that biblical truth is beyond their grasp but within their reach. An expositor should not ignore the data stored in the mentioned study tools. However, he should also resist the temptation to preach by proxy.

Exegetical outlines have three kinds: grammatical, mechanical, and conceptual. Grammatical outline deals with word relationships within sentences. It is microscopic and appropriate in analyzing smaller units. Mechanical outline focuses on relationships between sentences and phrases and suitable to larger expository units. Conceptual outline deals with ideas, characters, and events in the Bible.

The background material includes the historical, logical, and literary settings.

The third step in preparing the explanation component of a sermon is to relate its content to the present audience. The following questions are appropriate:

• Who needs to hear this?

• What will make this sink in?

• What are we facing that is similar to this biblical situation?

• How are we like these people in the Bible?

The fourth step is to organize. Here, the role of the homiletical outline is critical. The exegetical outline is different from the homiletical outline. The exegetical outline establishes what the text says. The homiletical outline establishes how the text’s meaning is best communicated to the congregation. The exegetical outline serves as the basis for the homiletical outline. A good exegetical outline provides a healthy check for sermon preparation.

Presenting the Explanation Component of a Sermon

From the outset, it must be acknowledged the existence of other valid ways of presentation of the explanation component. It is also recognized that the order could vary. The first manner of presentation of explanation is a plain statement of the truth. Stating either the main or subpoints do this. The second is to provide the textual evidence of the stated truth. The third is to prove the truth by restatement, narration, description, definition, exegesis, and argument.

Restatement uses the principles of focus and redundancy to make a point clear by quoting or rewording. Because the highlighted portion of the verse is also a restatement of what the preacher just said, the repetition engraves more meaning on the minds of the listeners. This repetition would appear simplistic and redundant in a written document, but experienced preachers recognize that repetition is one of the most powerful oral communication tools. Since a listener (unlike a reader) cannot review what has preceded. Repetition underlines what the preacher wants most to impress on others’ minds.

Narration retells the story using the creativity of imagination. Vividness, energy, and color are good allies in creative imagination. However, an expositor needs to be cautious of imposition in the use of imagination.

Description and definition are important in a generation, which is unfamiliar to biblical terms. An example of a clear but substantial definition of a biblical term is given by Phillips Brooks. He defines faith as the acronym “Forsaking All I Take Him.”

The role of exegesis in proving the truth is important. However, the task of the expositor is to make the meaning of the text more obvious, not more remote. His concern is the meaning not the mechanics of the text. He is to share the fruit, not the sweat, of his exegetical labor.

Proving the truth by argument does not mean a preacher is argumentative.

In closing the chapter on the process of explanation, Chapell emphasizes the primacy of prayer for more light.

For the AI-generated song version of this lecture, check From Text to Heart.

Grace and peace!