Was Paul A Good Preacher?
Hmmm. I’ve often wondered how many churches would pass on hiring Paul for their pulpit minister.
• Everyone is a TV evangelist right now.
• Pick and choose what style you like, what subject matter you are interested in.
• Almost like a competition on Facebook between preachers, “Pick me!”
• And maybe when we come back together I’ll find out that my congregation found someone else they like better.
• There’s no greater critic of a preacher than himself, or another preacher. It’s been said that a preacher would rather drive a thousand miles to preach, than to walk across the street to hear another preach.
• Sounds prideful, but we have styles we like and depth that we expect from the speaker.
• With the platform of Facebook or Youtube, the audience is widespread – beyond the local audience.
• So I want to take a moment to see what the Bible tells of what it takes to be a good preacher, that our judgement of men would be righteous and our acceptance or rejection of the message would not be about the delivery but about truth.
Was Paul a good preacher according to your standard?
1) The Eloquence Standard.
A. The Ageless Cry for Charisma
• The draw of the man on the podium. His presence, his dress, and the way he can work a crowd
• We become impressed by motivational speakers because they move us to a desired end.
• Their use of voice inflexions, and of the language of the people pleases our ears. Even when the message is
not pleasant, if the charisma is right we can swallow it easier.
• It works for politicians, for entertainers, for preachers, and even those patronized as gods.
B. The Greek god, Hermes, the god of eloquence among other things.
• The Greeks loved knowledge. They loved universities, the loved speeches.
• One day Paul and Barnabas happened to be in the town of Lystra, in present day Turkey, and healed a lame
man who had never walked in his life. When they saw this great miracle performed, the residents
automatically believed that the gods had taken on flesh and had arrived among them. Acts 14:12 And they
began calling Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.
• Were the Greeks right? Were Paul and Barnabas gods? No. but it is interesting of their assignment of
names. Isn’t there an argument that Paul was not eloquent as a speaker?
C. Eloquence does not equate infallibility.
• The danger arises when we use the emotional appeal as a standard, that the masses do not consider the
element of truth in the message.
• If a preacher is popular, they might just swallow falsehood because they like the speech.
• The politician can claim anything, as long as the masses are held by his eloquence.
• Notice Acts 18:24-26 24 ¶ Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to
Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and
being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being
acquainted only with the baptism of John; 26 and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when
Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
• Apollos was known as an eloquent man. He could use the local language well, be persuasive in his
presentation. But that day in the Synagogue his message fell short, he needed to learn some more.
Eloquence does not equate infallibility.
• Paul has something to say about knowledge versus eloquence. 2Co 11:5,6 For I consider myself not in the
least inferior to the most eminent apostles. But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in
knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.
• Look guys, Paul says, I proved to you that I know what I am talking about. For all of those other “super –
apostles” those who are trying to be louder and gain prestige over us as the designated apostles by Jesus,
they may speak better but we have the information.
• Be careful lest you ignore the message of truth just because the presentation fell short.
D. The Enemies Accuse Paul
• Remember in Acts where the Greeks gave Paul the name of a god for his performance for Christ?
• Apparently they forgot that. Now that the message had become harder, the truth was growing teeth, all of the
sudden there was no eloquence for them to be able to swallow the message.
• “don’t kill the messenger” That’s what some in the Corinthian church was trying to do. To undermine Paul’s
ministry by mocking his stage presence.
• 2Co 10:1 Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ — I who am meek when
face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! (kind of tongue in cheek)
• 2Co 10:10 For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and
his speech contemptible."
Some use these accusations to make the argument that Paul was not a good speaker, and maybe he did fall short of our eloquence standard today. He definitely makes up for it in the knowledge department.
I think there is another standard that we should be more interested in when we would judge the preacher and his presentation of the Word of God.
2) The Gospel Standard.
A. How did the apostle Paul handle the text in intention and delivery?
• 1Corinthians 2:1-5
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you
the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were
not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would
not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
• Paul reminds the church of the manner and content of the message that was preached to them. It was free
from pretense, and yet it was the wisdom of God among those who are mature – v 6.
• Simple enough for the children, and yet challenging enough for the mature. The struggle of a preacher.
1.) The intention of subject matter presented – v 2
? 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
? Paul’s intention was not to flaunt his knowledge on any other subject than this, to preach nothing
else, to discover nothing else but Jesus, and him crucified.
? In the past it had become kind of a fad, a good practice I think, of affixing a plaque on the pulpit for
the preacher to see every time he would approach the delivery of yet another sermon. John 12:21
the Greeks request, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” A good reminder of our purpose and should be our
intention in preaching the Word of God. To show people the clear path to our Lord and Savior.
? Now we don’t use pulpits, and in some cases we don’t hear Jesus presented either.
? Paul’s subject was real, his intention genuine in presenting the gospel of Jesus Christ.
2.) The manner of presentation.
• Negative measure and a positive approach.
• In the negative measure: don’t read into Paul’s words that somehow he didn’t know what he was
talking about, but listen for the true tone of his statement.
• Vs 1 1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom
• Vs 4 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom,
• Paul did not come in to wow the audience, or impress the most learned
• He wasn’t trying to gain a following with charisma or eloquence, or to intimidate by the use of big
words or flowery language. His motivation was pure, it was simple, it was forthright.
• Again, Paul’s reason for preaching was to share Jesus. That’s it. Period.
• Positively:
• Paul approached the gospel as the “testimony of God” verse 1.
• Not Paul’s story, but God’s. There was no need for Paul to embellish upon the message of God for
this testimony or mystery of the kingdom came from the greatest authority ever. It was truth, it
needed nothing but sharing.
• In verse 3: 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
• Some would take this negatively, but I approach this like a preacher. I was told years ago, if you
approach the pulpit with no butterflies, it is time for you to quit. The seriousness of the moment
should make even the most mature and experienced preacher tremble.
• What we are handling is the Word of Life, and what we dealing with are issues of Life and Death.
Preachers, ministers of the Word, we need to tread carefully! And listeners, we need you to hold us
accountable to truth!
• 4…but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom
of men, but on the power of God.
• Paul had fears and concerns, he had trembling and perhaps even physical weakness, but the power
of the message was not held back because of him. He presented and the Spirit was there
demonstrating His power and presence among them.
• Case in point: Paul did not want the people responding to him as a preacher, but to the message of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. He used plain language, and simple presentation and let the Spirit of
God take it and fill the message with grace and power.
Was Paul a good preacher?
Absolutely.
We could speak of countless qualities of love, faith, courage, spiritual knowledge. Paul was a man of prayer, of hope and concern for all men. He had every quality that you could hope to find in a preacher.
But my prayer and aim with this message was for us to be aware of what the Scriptures describes as a good preacher.
The next time you cue up a message on your screen, I want you to be observant with God’s eyes.
Is the truth of God’s word being handled correctly?
Is the complete gospel of Jesus being presented?
If the answer to both questions is 'YES' then we need to pay attention.
Don’t disregard the message because the presentation was weak. Only disregard the message based on the Gospel standard of truth.
