Today’s post provides choice remarks on preaching by John Albert Broadus, the legendary professor of New Testament interpretation and homiletics at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and second school president from 1889 to 1895. 1
Nearly every preacher has some working knowledge of Broadus’ seminal classic, On The Preparation And Delivery Of Sermons. While the book is a bit dated, Broadus’ homiletic teaching is timeless.
The following quotations appear in “The Founder’s Day Address of 1933” by A.T. Robertson, published as “Broadus in the Class Room” in the Review and Expositor vol. 30 (1933), 157-169. 2
Ministries are often shaped profoundly by the simple, practical wisdom gleaned from a concise and memorable quote. With this in mind, I hope these statements will bless you as you prayerfully prepare this weekend’s message.
Remarks on Preaching
- “The moment that you think you can preach well enough, quit.”
- “Gentleman, reflect on the thing which you are going to talk about.”
- “Don’t be satisfied with doing well if it is possible to do better.”
- “Get an illustration from Mother Goose and you will wake up the children, and then you are a made man.”
- “Don’t try to explain the Scripture by mean strength and awkwardness.”
- “Talk about what you know and pass over what you don’t know.”
- “It is better not to see any deeper into a millstone than there is a hole in it.”
- “If a man fails to establish in early life habits such as will enable him to maintain freshness in old age, he cannot supply the deficiency when the time comes. Preachers’ habits are soon formed.”
- “Study fine pictures. As you study, it draws out of you something you didn’t know was in you. That something is the one indispensable thing in preaching.”
- “Gentlemen, when you preach, strike for a verdict.”
That last statement especially captures Broadus’ preaching ministry and is a helpful reminder that we do not preach merely to have preached! Our preaching is urgent: we must point our hearers to Jesus Christ and tell them how to live out the truth embedded in the text.
“Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”
(2 Timothy 4:2)
- Broadus was by no means a perfect man. He owned slaves and defended the institution at a time when, unfortunately, the practice was common in the South. As our generation looks back with greater clarity on the sinfulness of slave ownership, we must do so without attempting to re-write the past or remove the helpful contributions of earlier generations. Admittedly, this task is not always easy and requires an absolute and ongoing dependence upon the grace of our Lord (more here).
- Robertson obtained the quotations from The Seminary Magazine, Broadus Memorial Number for April (1895).
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