From Ancient Text to Valid Application

As a child needs nutrient-rich calories to grow healthily, so God’s people experience maturation through consistent, Spirit-empowered feedings from the Bible prepared by a capable, Spirit-filled chef. This is why Paul emphatically charged Timothy, an overseer of a local congregation, to unwaveringly and unrelentingly “preach the word” (2 Tim 4:1–2), a task that assumes not only Scripture’s right explanation but also its valid application. Unfortunately, while much scholarly attention has been paid to the former facet, less has been given to the latter. One homiletician, Abraham Kuruvilla (Privilege the Text! A Theological Hermeneutic for Preaching), has recently attempted to fill this void by articulating and demonstrating a methodology through which a preacher can, with confidence and clarity, lead the people of God from the word of God to its intended, and thus binding, application. This work explores the effectiveness of his proposed theology and hermeneutic for the identification, development, communication, and reception of biblically founded, theologically valid, and hearer-relevant application.

Josiah has served Oakridge Bible Chapel as one of its elders and one of its pastoral staff members since September 2018, before which he ministered as an associate pastor to a local congregation in the Canadian prairies. Josiah's desire is to be used by God to help equip the church for ministry, both while gathered (edification) and while scattered (evangelization). He is married to Patricia, and together they have five children--Jonah, Henry, Nathaniel, Josephine, and Benjamin.

Abraham Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a dermatologist in private practice. He is the author of Text to Praxis (2009), Privilege the Text! (2013), A Vision for Preaching (2015), and A Manual for Preaching (2019), besides theological commentaries for preachers on Mark (2012), Genesis (2014), Ephesians (2015), Judges (2017), and the Pastoral Epistles (2019). He blogs regularly at www.homiletix.com.

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