![]() In other words, if he’s not sure what a word or a phrase or a sentence in the sermon text means, he must not say he is sure what it means. It would be a lie, and God won’t honor that. “A preacher, above all things, should be honest.”Īnd what that means here in the context of this question is that he can’t say he knows what he doesn’t know. A dishonest pastor can’t make up for dishonesty by other virtues because it’s foundational, and it’s foundational because truth is foundational. They won’t be able to trust that he has faith or trust that he really loves them. If he’s not honest, none of his other qualities - not even his faith or his love - will count for anything because the people simply won’t be able to trust him. Preachers Must Tell the TruthĪ pastor, a preacher, above all things, should be honest. Is it okay for teachers and preachers to conjecture about what the Bible doesn’t say? How much speculation should we bring into our sermons?” Commentaries frequently say things like ‘this may refer to.’ Or they use qualifiers like ‘possibly’ and ‘probably’ to explain meanings that are uncertain. ![]() And the church through the ages has, in many cases, tried to fill in these gaps. Scripture does not include every possible detail for us. So, I have long struggled with how much embellishment and speculation we should bring into the pulpit. ![]() “Dear Pastor John, hello! Jesus tells us in John 12:49, ‘I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment - what to say and what to speak.’ And we trust that ‘all Scripture is breathed out by God’ (2 Timothy 3:16). So, what do preachers and teachers do with those uncertainties? Do we take creative license? Do we guess and make up things? Do we speculate? Or do we just tell people that we don’t know? It’s a great practical question from Mark who lives in Montana. This is because, in just about every Bible text, we face unanswerable questions, things we simply don’t know. We close the week on this Friday looking forward to our next sermons, Sunday morning.
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