Editor’s note: This post is adapted from a sermon preached by Dr. John MacArthur in 2008, titled “A Call for Authoritative Preaching.” It examines what biblical preaching really looks like — the sort of preaching that the MacArthur Trust seeks to promote through its partnered ministries.
But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. … These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. (Titus 2:1, 15)
These verses present a stunning, inescapable truth: If you are going to be a minister of the Word of God, if you’re going to bear the responsibility of leading the church, you must speak the things fitting for sound doctrine. And you must do this “with all authority.”
The preacher, based on what we hear in this verse, is not here to give opinions. He’s not here to offer insights. He’s not here to share his intuition or human reasoning. He’s here to tell you what the Word of God says and what it means. And he’s here to tell you that you’re under obligation to respond to it, or else — because he, as the representative of the Lord of the church, gave you His commands.
The preacher has been delegated that authority. Now, this kind of authoritative teaching is not common today, but it ought to be. Let me give you three elements of what it looks like.
1. AUTHORITATIVE CONTENT
We are to preach “the things that are fitting for sound doctrine.” This involves avoiding the kind of teaching indicated in the latter half of Titus 1: the kind of teaching that comes from rebellious men, empty talkers, and deceivers. The kind that’s taught for sordid gain. We avoid teaching myths and commandments of men.
Instead, we are to teach all those things that are suitable for sound doctrine — that is, all the things that are revealed in Scripture.
Over and over again, Paul in his letters to Timothy says, “Preach the Word. Teach the Word. Be faithful to the Word. Study the Word.” That is the source of our content.
The ministry of preaching is limited to very narrow boundaries, and they are these: Preach what Scripture has revealed as the Word of God, and command people to hear it, to believe it, and to respond to it. That’s pretty simple, and yet so often avoided. In Titus, Paul is demanding this as the foundation of all ministry.
2. AUTHORITATIVE METHOD
The preacher is to “speak,” “exhort,” and “reprove.” The first objective is to speak the Word in such a way that it is understood. And then we exhort people to respond to it. Exhortation is the preacher using all the biblical means at his disposal to bring the people’s understanding to bear upon their lives. It’s not enough to just understand Scripture. I want it to press against your soul, so that you embrace it and appropriate it.
Then the preacher is commanded to “reprove.” Once the preacher has helped you understand and embrace Scripture, he must warn you that if you do not receive, believe, and apply this truth, you are in some serious spiritual danger. The preacher is called to make you feel the weight of your resistance and spiritual pride if you do not bend the knee.
This methodology is crystal clear. We have received sound doctrine from God in Scripture, and our responsibility is to disseminate this to the people. We do this by speaking — and then, having spoken the truth, by coming alongside them and putting the pressure on, exhorting them to believe and apply the truth. Then we press on them the conviction that if they do not, there is a price to pay.
3. AUTHORITATIVE SCOPE
The end of verse 15 says, “Let no one disregard you.” This means that there is no one outside the responsibility of obedience. There is no one for whom the Word of God does not apply. If you are a non-believer, you are still commanded by God to repent. This also means that the preacher is called to bring the Word of God to bear on everyone, because it applies to everyone. We are, in that sense, called to hold everyone to the truth.
The word “disregard” (periphroneō) is an interesting word. It means “to evade,” “to rationalize.” In other words, “Let no one imagine that they can evade you by their rationalizations and self-justification. Hold them to the truth. Make sure that no one escapes their personal responsibility before God to act in obedience to the Word of God.”
This wonderful testimony from the life of the Thessalonian church reflects that: “And for this reason we also thank God without ceasing that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13, LSB).
So, this is what biblical teaching looks like: authoritative content from the Word of God, an authoritative method that holds people to that truth, and an authoritative scope that sees every single person as accountable to what the Word of God says.
This post is adapted from a sermon preached by Dr. John MacArthur in 2008. You can find the sermon in its entirety on Grace to You’s website. The message is titled “A Call for Authoritative Preaching.”
