In 1891, James Naismith [click to open], an ordained minister and worker for the YMCA, attached a peach basket to a wall, crafted thirteen rules, and launched the game of basketball. Originally, basketball was two words basket ball for obvious reasons. His stated purpose for inventing the game was to give young men the Gospel of Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote Romans also to win people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul’s theme for Romans is The Righteousness of God through the Gospel (Rom 1:16-17). Romans is Paul’s exhaustive explanation of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are going to use the “Factual Data” sheet as an introduction to Paul’s Epistles and then to the book of Romans. I got the idea for the “Factual Data” sheet from reading that Warren W. Wiersbe’s homiletic teacher, Lloyd Perry used a generic “Factual Data” sheet for sermon preparation. I have adapted the “Factual Data” sheet to the different genres of Scripture instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. See the “Factual Data” sheet for Narratives (Genesis, Joshua, Gospel of Mark), Hebrew Poetry (Proverbs and Psalms), and Pauline Epistles (Ephesians and Romans).
Factual Data Sheet on Pauline Epistles
1. The Epistle is the dominant literary form or genre in the New Testament (21 of the 27 books are epistles).[1]
Paul is identified as the author of 13 of the 21 epistles. Paul wrote more epistles than any other author (Luke wrote more material in Luke and Acts). Paul wrote other epistles that are lost and were not inspired (1 Cor 5:9; 2 Cor 10:9; Col 4:16). The writings of the apostles were inspired not the apostles (2 Tim 3:16).
Jeffery D. Arthurs does a great job in Preaching with Variety[2] [click to open] showing how the uniqueness of each genre should influence not only the form of our sermons or Bible study but how we preach or them. I will only highlight some of his points for preaching and teaching Pauline Epistles and especially the book of Romans.
a. Epistles are closest to the sermon and therefore preachers feel the most comfortable preaching epistles.[3]
b. Epistles were formal, public letters written mainly to churches something like our letters to the editor. There is a debate, however, whether what Paul wrote were personal letters or literary epistles. G. Adolf Deissmann contended that Paul wrote personal letters designed for private reading. Deissmann, however, considered Romans a true formal epistle. E. Edmond Hiebert wrote that “the distinction, however, need not be too sharply drawn regarding the Pauline writings in the New Testament.”[4]
c. Epistles are direct addresses like sermons. They are like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. R. D. Shaw writes that because Paul dictated his letters to an amanuensis (scribe) “we feel we are all the time listening to a speaker---one whom we may imagine walking up and down his room while the pen of the shorthand writer flies swiftly over the parchment to keep pace with the utterance. All the Epistles have this air of being spoken, reported, and passed on without much revisal.”[5] Paul dictated Romans to Tertius (Rom 16:22).
d. Epistles, like sermons, used theology to solve problems. D. Edmond Hiebert [click to open] wrote;
“In epistles dealing with theological problems, he [Paul] launches into a doctrinal section, followed by a practical section; personal greetings and autograph conclude the letter.
However, when his primary purpose is personal or practical, the theological teaching comes in, for the most part, incidentally and by the way.”[6]
An example of the former, is Paul immediately discussing the Trinity in Ephesians 1:3-14 as the doctrinal basis for practicing unity in the church admonished in Ephesians 4:1-17. The standard of living is high, but the motivation is sufficient and from God. Romans is also an example of Paul jumping into the theme of his exhaustive treatment of “the righteousness of God through the gospel” in Romans 1:1: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ ... separated unto the gospel of God.” Paul uses the word “gospel” sixty times in Romans.
An example of the latter is in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, where Paul is writing to the Corinthians who were divided over many issues including spiritual gifts. Paul incorporates the example of the united Persons of the Trinity about the spiritual gifts to correct the Corinthian’s disunity in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6.
e. Epistles, like sermons use other forms like proverbs (Gal 5:9), hymns (Phil 2:6-11), lists (Rom 1:29-31), rhetorical questions (Rom 8:31-35), extended metaphor (Eph 6:10-17). The listener never knows what is coming next. So, should we preachers and teachers use a variety of material in our sermons and Bible studies? Sometimes when I am nearly through preparing a sermon, I will list the illustrations on a separate piece of paper just to see if there is plenty of diversity in them.
f. Epistles, like sermons were written to be heard (1 Thess 5:27; Col 4:16; Philemon 2). Church members did not possess copies of God’s Word. The pastor would read the letter from Paul to the church. Even private readings were done orally (Acts 8:30). Concrete language (“Spain” in Romans 15:24; “Macedonians” in 2 Cor 8:1-7) or family (Eph 2:20) are used to illustrate truth and help keep attention. Haddon Robinson made this observation: Poor communicators are always saying when their audience does not understand their lesson, “In other words” but good communicators are constantly saying, “For example” and then providing a concrete example.
Repetition was important. For example, in Romans 1:24-28, Paul repeated “God gave them over” in 1:24, 26, 28 to emphasize the sinfulness of pagans. In Ephesians, Paul repeated the word “one” 14 times to show the need for unity. Therefore, as preachers and teachers, we should repeat.
1) Repeat the key sentences your audience needs to remember ("to the praise of the glory of His grace" in Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14 after Paul discussed the role each Person of the Trinity had in our salvation). “These sentences are like the pegs of your tie rack. Take away the pegs and you have only a colorful jumble. With the pegs, the ties hang straight and can be examined.”
2) What are these key sentences that must be repeated? Main Point of the Sermon (or Bible study) or MPS, main divisions, etc.
To preach or teach for the ear, we must preach or teach in koine or the common language of the people. Billy Sunday was a master at this. Once when preaching near a lumberman’s camp, he learned that when the lumbermen went deep into the woods to cut down trees they would sprinkle sawdust to find their way out of the forest. At the end of the workday, the foreman would shout, “Let’s hit the sawdust trail and go back home.” When Sunday learned about this tradition, at the end of his sermon the next night at the invitation, with sawdust on the floor of the Billy Sunday Tabernacle, Sunday exhorted the unsaved to “Hit the sawdust trail and come back home to God.”
2. Let the form of the Scripture influence the form of the sermon or Bible study.
When preaching on Romans 11:33-36, a glorious hymn inserted abruptly into the flow of Paul’s argument, let the form of the doxology influence the form of your sermon or Bible study. You would not preach or teach the doxology like an argument from Galatians.
Craddock attempts to capture the mood: “Let doxologies be shared doxologically, narratives narratively, polemics polemically, and parables parabolically. In other words, biblical preaching ought to be biblical.”[5]
a. If the text uses word pictures, use pictures in your sermon (A soldier from images in Google transferred to your PowerPoint on Eph 6:10-20).
b. If the text is autobiographical, use a first-person sermon or at least a portion of your sermon (A Night in Persia, Esther by Donald Sunikijian in Biblical Sermons by Haddon Robinson).
c. If the text has debate (Rom 3:1-8), use a debate after the sermon. In Romans 3:1-8, Paul used the diatribe where he expressed the arguments, he knew his opponents would raise, and then he answered that argument.
d. If the text is a dialogue (which epistles are: one half of the conversation), use dialogue. Paul again in Romans 9:14-24, is raising objections his opponents will raise and then he answers them.
1) Habakkuk is all dialogue. Jesus used dialogue when He asked 153 questions. Paul did the same in Acts 17:2 (Paul....reasoned [Gk. dielegeto] from which we get our English word dialogue).
2) Let the audience ask the preacher or teacher questions following a sermon.
3) The preacher or teacher can ask the audience real questions or rhetorical questions.
4) Have main divisions stated as questions.
5) Use drama with dialogue. There are many ways the preacher or teacher can allow the form of the text to mold the form of the sermon or Bible study and Jeffery D. Arthurs' Preaching with Variety is a very useful tool.
3. Three Steps of observing, interpreting, and applying.
Before we explain the “Factual Data” sheet, another method used to assist the Bible student is these three steps in Bible Study:
Step One: Observe, which answers the question: “What does this text say?”
Step Two: Interpret, which answers the question: “What does this text mean?”
Step Three: Apply, which answers the question: “What does this text have to do with me?”
Here is what Mark Dever says about these three important steps: Exegesis is simply drawing meaning out of a text. The three steps are to observe, interpret, and apply. These steps will often overlap. But try to do one at a time.
Observing the text is simply asking "What does the text say?" So here you're looking for repeated words or ideas, conjunctions, subject and object of actions, comparisons, contrasts, transitions, literary structure, and verb tenses.
Observing the text helps to type the passage out, print it, and then mark up the printout using different colors to highlight the text's different lexical, grammatical, and syntactical features.
Interpreting the text is simply asking "What does the text mean?" So here you're synthesizing your observations, discovering principles, drawing conclusions, and seeking to discover the text's claim on the original audience. In Acts 10:9-16, the text says that Peter can eat what in the OT was unclean. What does that mean? For Peter and his Jewish audience, Gentiles who were once considered unclean can be witnessed to (10:28).
Applying the text is simply asking "What does the text mean for me?" So here you're looking for concrete ways to obey the claim of the text on your life or to put the principle into practice. What does Acts 10:9-16 mean for me? I should witness to any person no matter what race they are! The first of Mark Dever’s 9 Marks of a healthy church is expositional preaching and is worth reading. These methods help us to properly interpret and communicate God’s Word.
You can do further reading in Tony Merida’s Faithful Preaching. He writes about these steps as well which he calls.
1) Obvious Observations —-What Does the Text Say?
2) Responsible Interpretation—What Does the Text Mean?
3) Redemptive Integration—How Is the Gospel Related to This Text? Here Merida warns ‘Of course, we do not want to insert Jesus where He is not.’
4) Concluding Implications—How Does This Passage Apply to Us Today? (pages 66-75).
Footnotes
[1] “Three more are in the form: Luke, Acts, and Revelation addressed to the seven churches.” D. Edmond Hiebert, An Introduction to the New Testament, Vol Two, The Pauline Epistles (Winona Lake: BMH Books, 1954), 13.
[2] The non-epistolary books are the Gospels, Acts [Acts and Luke are two letters to Theophilus], and Revelation. Hebrews and 1 John are hybrids, sharing many characteristics of epistles, but omitting an address to specific groups. Acts and Revelation contain embedded epistles as do OT historical books. See 2 Sam 11:14-15; 1 Kgs. 21:8-10; 2 Kgs 5:4-6; 10;1-3: Ezra 4:9-12, 17-22; and 6:3-12” (Jeffery D. Arthurs, Preaching with Variety, Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007) 152, 217.
[3] Both are created to address specific circumstances; both argue ideas and employ ‘support material,’ such as illustrations and quotations; both are markedly aural [oral]. No wonder preachers often feel at home in the epistles. Poetry, narrative, parable, and proverbs tend to hide their rhetoric, using induction and imagination for persuasion, but the epistle flies its rhetorical flag for all to see” (Ibid., 152).
[4] D. Edmond Hiebert, An Introduction to the New Testament, Vol Two, The Pauline Epistles, 15-16.
[5] R. D. Shaw, The Pauline Epistles, (4th Ed., 1924 reprint), 10.
[6] D. Edmond Hiebert, An Introduction to the New Testament, Volume Two, The Pauline Epistles, 16.