Importance of Expository Preaching in Local Churches
Expository preaching—the practice of explaining and applying Scripture passage by passage—finds its theological warrant in the nature of the church itself as the body of Christ. Paul's repeated image of the church as a unified body composed of diverse members [1, 2, 3] establishes that the gathered assembly exists not as a voluntary association but as an organism animated by Christ's presence. The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown commentary notes that "each church is in miniature what the whole aggregate of churches is collectively, 'the body of Christ'" [2], which means the local congregation participates in the same reality as the universal church. This organic unity requires nourishment from the Word, not merely topical instruction or thematic series disconnected from the biblical text's own structure.
The church's dependence on Scripture for its identity appears in Paul's insistence that believers are "all one in Christ Jesus" [4], a unity that transcends ethnic, social, and gender divisions precisely because it is constituted by the gospel message itself. Expository preaching honors this by allowing the text to set the agenda rather than importing external frameworks. When John Gill observes that the church's members—"some are teachers, others are hearers; some give, and others receive"—together "make up but one church, of which Christ is the head" [3], he underscores that teaching itself is a member-function within the body, not an autonomous activity. The preacher serves the body by unfolding what God has already said, not by constructing novel messages.
Historical shifts in ecclesiology reinforce this. Matthew Henry notes that the Old Testament's "garden enclosed" arrangement, where worship was "confined to a little compass," gave way when "the confinement of the church in one particular nation was not to be perpetual" [8]. The New Testament church's expansion required a portable, reproducible means of instruction—precisely what expository preaching provides. Isaiah's prophecy that the church should "enlarge the place of thy tent" [7] anticipated this geographic and ethnic expansion, which depended on the faithful transmission of apostolic teaching through systematic exposition.
The unity Paul envisions—"harmony and care for each other in the church" [5]—depends on shared understanding of Scripture. Expository preaching builds this common foundation by ensuring that the congregation hears the whole counsel of God rather than the preacher's selective emphases. The temple imagery in Ephesians, where "Gentile and Jewish Christians become a holy temple for the Lord" [6], suggests that the church's holiness is maintained by the Lord's presence among his people, mediated through the Word rightly handled.
Sources
- 1 Corinthians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Corinthians 12:12: 12:12-31 The church is like a body (see 12:27) composed of many different parts, each with its own function as determined by God (see 12:11, 18, 28; Rom 12:4-5).”
- 1 Corinthians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 Corinthians 12:27: members in particular--that is, severally members of it. Each church is in miniature what the whole aggregate of churches is collectively, "the body of Christ" (compare Co1 3:16): and its individual components are members, every one in his assigned place.”
- 1 Corinthians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Corinthians 12:20: But now are they many members,.... Of different make and shape, in different parts and places, and of different use and service: yet but one body; all are united together, and make up one complete body, and which without each of them would not be perfect: so there are many members in the body of Christ, the church; some are teachers, others are hearers; some give, and others receive; but all make up but one church, of which Christ is the head; nor can anyone of them be spared; was anyone wanting, even the meanest, there would be a deficiency, and the church ”
- Galatians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Galatians 3:28: 3:28 There is no longer: Everyone comes to Christ and receives God’s promises in exactly the same way (cp. 1 Cor 12:12-13; Eph 2:14; Col 3:11). • male and female: Cp. Gen 1:27. • you are all one: The community of believers is one body, the body of Christ (see Rom 12:4-5; 1 Cor 12:27; Eph 2:15-16, 19-22). • in Christ Jesus: See Col 2:6–3:11.”
- 1 Corinthians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Corinthians 12:25: 12:25-26 The church is a unified body, so harmony and care for each other in the church is essential.”
- Ephesians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Ephesians 2:21: 2:21 Joined together in Christ, Gentile and Jewish Christians become a holy temple for the Lord, because the Lord himself is among his people (see Matt 18:20; 28:20; 1 Cor 3:16; 1 Pet 2:4-5).”
- Isaiah (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Isaiah 54:2: Enlarge the place of thy tent,.... To which the church is compared, because of its uncertain and movable condition, being sometimes in one place, and sometimes in another; and because of its outward meanness and weakness, as well as its small extent; but now it is signified that it should be enlarged, and room be made for an accession of in habitants to it; or, in other words, that the Gospel church state should not be confined to Jerusalem, but should take place in other parts of Judea, and in Galilee, and in Samaria; hence we read of churches in those places, Act 9:”
- Exodus (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Exodus 38:9: The walls of the court, or church-yard, were like the rest curtains or hangings, made according to the appointment, Exo 27:9, etc. This represented the state of the Old Testament church: it was a garden enclosed; the worshippers were then confined to a little compass. But the enclosure being of curtains only intimated that the confinement of the church in one particular nation was not to be perpetual. The dispensation itself was a tabernacle-dispensation, movable and mutable, and in due time to be taken down and folded up, when the place of the tent should be enla”