Hearing the Report: Listening to a message on my way to work yesterday morning, I found myself stopping and replaying certain portions. Not because the message as a whole was off, but because certain statements stood out, not because the statements were saying anything new, but because they reflect a way of speaking that can, if left unguarded, begin to shape how the gospel is understood. For that reason, these thoughts seem worth examining more closely. I don’t intend to quote or represent the message in full, and I may not capture every nuance, but a few of the thoughts seem worth considering in the light of Scripture.
With that in mind, I want to take a few of these statements, drawn from the message itself, and consider them one at a time. Not to isolate them unfairly, but to look more closely at the language being used and the assumptions that may lie beneath it. Here is a portion of the transcript: “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved, the power of God, the message of the cross. Faith cometh by hearing. Not by doing, not by studying, not by reading. Somebody says, are you saying we don’t need to study, we don’t need to read? Of course I’m not saying that, but faith doesn’t come that way. Faith cometh by what? Hearing.”
In emphasizing the importance of preaching, the message begins by making the point that “faith cometh by hearing,” not by doing, studying, or reading. The thought itself is clear enough, but the way it is stated feels a bit too absolute. Paul’s point in Romans 10 is not to exclude all other means, but to show that faith is tied to the report – the testimony concerning Christ. Hearing is not a mystical experience tied to a preacher’s voice, but the reception of that report. I Thessalonians 2:13. The danger is that “hearing” can subtly become “hearing a preacher,” rather than hearing Christ in the gospel.
This does not diminish the place of preaching but helps to keep it in its proper setting. The gospel is not bound to the voice that carries it, but to the truth it declares. Whether heard from a preacher, read from the page, or brought to mind by the Spirit, it is the same report that is received. II Timothy 2:9. The gospel is, first and foremost, a declaration, a report of what God has done in Christ, and faith answers to that report. Isaiah 53:1. It is not the act of hearing that gives it power, nor the one who speaks it, but the truth it sets forth. Once that is seen, the focus shifts away from the means and rests where it belongs. I Corinthians 2:4-5.
This same line of thought is carried further in another portion of the message: “You know, it’s so humbling. God will not speak to me directly, but through the foolishness of preaching. And listen to me, the issue is not, can God speak without preaching? Of course he can. Do you think he needs a preacher? Of course not. The issue is, does he speak apart from the preaching of the gospel? Well, what’s the Bible say? It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. I love when the Ethiopian eunuch listened to Philip say, do you understand what you’re reading? What a humble answer. How can I? Except some man should guide me. That is the place of the preaching of the gospel. You and I can’t figure this thing out. You can’t just up and, I’m gonna study till I get this thing figured out. It doesn’t work that way. God speaks through the foolishness of preaching.”
The position that emerges from this is that, although God is able to speak apart from preaching, understanding is effectively tied to it in such a way that we cannot come to the knowledge of these things without it. When he says that God does not speak to us directly but through preaching, that raises a few questions. The first question, of course, is: what is that even supposed to mean? That God speaks, but only through one channel? If taken plainly, it suggests that God’s voice is bound to the act of preaching in such a way that He does not make Himself known apart from it. But Scripture does not speak in those terms.
It does not place the knowledge of God in the hands of a human channel, as though the preacher becomes the necessary point of contact. Preaching has its place, but it is not the source of the voice; it is the vehicle of a testimony. The danger, if we are not careful, is that this distinction begins to fade, and what was meant to serve the gospel is gradually treated as though it were the gospel itself. Left unguarded, that way of thinking can drift toward a form of protestant priestcraft, even if no such thing is intended. It creates a functional dependence on a human instrument. That way of speaking shifts the emphasis away from where Scripture places it. Preaching is honored, yes, but the power is never in the act or the office, it is in what is being declared: the testimony of Christ. II Corinthians 4:5.
Scripture seems to speak differently. It presents the gospel as a testimony set forth, not as a mechanism that produces life, but as a declaration to be received. “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?” The emphasis is not on the one delivering the message, but on the Lord making Himself known. Matthew 11:27. Where that revelation is given, the report is heard and believed. The report does not create the capacity to hear but is received where that capacity has already been given. John 10:26-27.
An example often appealed to in support of this point is the account of the Ethiopian eunuch, brought forward to emphasize his inability to understand what he was reading apart from someone guiding him, and to stress the necessity of preaching. As it was expressed, “How can I? Except some man should guide me.” Or in other words, that God has so ordered things that His truth cannot be understood apart from a man stepping in to explain it. I John 2:27. If that idea is pressed too far, it leaves us with the conclusion that no one could come to understanding apart from sitting under a preacher, which is not how Scripture speaks. John 6:45. It also raises a simple question: if this is so, how did the one advancing this view come to understand? Either he did not need what he now says is necessary, or the whole system rests on an endless chain of dependency, where the source of understanding is gradually moved from God revealing to man explaining.
The pattern set forth in Scripture is this: God reveals, the gospel declares, and those given eyes to see receive. John 1:18. Preaching serves that, but it does not produce it. Think of how often the Word itself is said to testify, to reveal, and to make known. II Corinthians 4:6. At the root of this way of speaking is a subtle confusion of categories, where things that Scripture keeps distinct are brought together. Scripture never presents the gospel as that which gives life, but as that which makes known what God has already done in Christ. It brings to light, it testifies, it declares. II Timothy 1:10. Scripture speaks both of God giving life and of that life being made known, and the gospel belongs to the latter. It does not create what it proclaims but sets it forth. And where the Lord has made Himself known, that testimony is not only heard, but believed. Acts 13:48.
In the end, everything comes back to this simple truth: the gospel is a report. It declares what God has done in Christ. It is heard where He is pleased to make Himself known and believed where that revelation is given. Preaching serves that purpose, but it does not stand in its place. The power is not in the voice that carries the message, but in the truth that is made known. And where the Lord reveals Himself, the report is heard, believed, and becomes precious. I Peter 2:7.
After rereading a few of these short extracts, I’m aware that I may be pressing certain points more than intended, and I may not have weighed every aspect as carefully as I should. Job 6:24. Even so, the way these things are expressed raises questions that seem too important to pass over without careful consideration in the light of Scripture. MPJ