Saturday, November 5, 2022

Preaching and Its Audience

"Preaching" is not done in or to the Lord's Congregation ("Church"). Biblically, preaching is done to the lost; teaching is done to the congregation.

There are two terms used in the New Testament: "preach" from kerusso, and "preach the Gospel" from euaggelizo. Obviously, eaggelizo is where we get the term "evangelize" from. The other word, kerusso, means "to herald, to proclaim, to publish." "Preaching" is often substituted for "evangelizing" throughout most Bibles.

Jesus gave evangelists to the Congregation in order to evangelize the lost. He gave shepherds (elders) to the Congregation in order to teach the believers. The only people who do both are apostles (church planters). The reason being is that they win the lost and then instruct them as believers.

1 Timothy 5:17 is frequently abused by translators. The Greek has en logos alone, which means "in word," but is often translated incorrectly as "preaching," or, in the case of the Legacy Standard Bible, inserts "preaching" in italics before the translation "in word." "Preaching" is not in view in this passage. "Preaching" is unnecessary for believers. "Teaching" is didasko and catechizo.

Once again, the epistles to Timothy and Titus are not "pastoral" letters; they are apostolic letters. Timothy and Titus were not "pastors"; they were apostolic workers (itinerant church planters). Modern "pastors" are informed more by "tradition" than by actual Scripture. This is extremely unfortunate and just leads to confusion.