In Acts 20, as he is speaking to the elders of the church in Ephesus, Paul tells them that he has taught them ‘the whole counsel of God.’
In context he means that he’s told them all of God’s plan, meaning his plan to redeem the whole creation in Christ. He’s told them all of what we tend to call ‘the gospel,’ the grand story that stretches from Genesis to Revelation and culminates in Christ’s death and resurrection. It’s implied that the elders should do the same and be able to confess that they too have taught ‘the whole.’
In modern parlance the term is used a little more loosely to refer to either teaching all the Bible or all of Christian doctrine. Pastors and preachers should aim to do the same, ensure that at the point they leave they too can say they have taught the whole counsel of God to their people. A lofty aim, and harder in a modern context than you might think.
The Gospel
To take the term at its simplest I suspect most are happy that they have and are teaching the good news—the world’s story and its climax in Christ—to their people. Certainly that’s all we’ve got to offer, so offer Jesus week by week.
There is a possible pitfall though, if we think ‘the gospel’ is a few sentences about the cross and our faith in Jesus rather than the whole story of everything and how the incarnation, the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the gift of the Spirit retell the whole story of everything. If we opt for the short version we can tick the box of whether we’ve done ‘the whole counsel’ every week. Of course, I think it’s the long version we should aim for. This means that we need to consider whether our preaching has captured all of this, which is only possible over a longer period of time.
If we aren’t systematic—and we probably aren’t—then it’s likely that we will miss things. How many of the various ‘gospel threads’ has your preaching included this year? When did you last talk about big biblical themes like rest or wisdom, not as a one-off sermon but as interwoven into what Jesus was doing on the cross and won for us?
It’s worth auditing ourselves, though you’ll need to consider a large swathe of time and, if your preaching is shared, all of your preachers. Perhaps something like my list of gospel threads might help, or you can find a similar table in Tim Keller’s Preaching.
The Bible
To take the term in a broader sense, what if we commit to teaching the whole of the Bible to our churches? I think we should!
What would that even look like? I have two suggestions that I think might help. The first is, again, an audit. Look at what books of the Bible, or sections of books of the Bible, you’ve preached through. You could narrow the time period, but I’d suggest going back as far as you have records. Then look at the patterns. My guess is that even in a church that generally preaches through books of the Bible rather than sections or topical series, you’ll find some books of the Bible you haven’t ever preached through.
Once you’ve got a list, consider it. Is there a genre of the Bible you never touch? You’ll want to correct that. I would commit to making sure you preach through all of them in an appropriate time period. Depending on the length of the list that might be five years or 25 years, but make a note of it. You probably wouldn’t just schedule them back-to-back, and you’ll return to certain parts of the Bible many times for a variety of reasons. That’s good, you know your people and can teach them. But a deliberate commitment to touch them will mean that at some point each year you look at the list and say to yourself, “OK, it’s time to tackle Obadiah,” or whatever might be next.
Really all this amounts to is a belief that a series through any book of the Bible would be of benefit to a church. A varied diet is good. Some texts are much more difficult than others to understand, let alone to preach, but all of it is good for your people (2 Timothy 3).
This does raise questions that require careful answers: how do you do a series through a book as long as Isaiah without it taking five years? There are lots of models out there you could ‘borrow’, but don’t, study the book yourself carefully, prayerfully consider your church, and then smash those thoughts into the practicalities of your preaching calendar.
The second idea is one I picked up from a friend who is one of the UK’s very few megachurch Pastors. His church has been doing a preaching series through the whole Bible, one sermon per book. Obviously, you’ll miss lots doing this, more than you’ll cover, but you will have touched the whole Bible in around two years (assuming you break for Christmas, Easter, and other such things).
That shouldn’t be seen as a “tick that off the list, back to endless series in Paul’s letters” approach, but it will allow you to preach across the whole story, even if not across absolutely everything.
Doctrine
So, we’ve preached the whole counsel of God by preaching the whole Bible across 25 years. Great work! However, you might have noticed that you’ve barely mentioned some things we think are important.
How often did you preach on Baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, for example? How often did you explain the Trinity?
I think the obvious answer is to start introducing some topical series, maybe preach through one of the three Creeds, or even a Catechism, and teach your people in a way that’s structured around key theological topics.
Stop a moment though, because I think that obvious answer is wrong. I’m not against topical preaching; some of the time it can be really useful, as long as each message is itself expositing a key passage or two. It’s worth noting it is more work to plan and prepare each sermon, but that’s not really a problem. Preaching through one of the Creeds could be a great thing to do occasionally, please do so if you think that’s appropriate for your congregation right now.
The reason I think the obvious answer is wrong is because I think the way I set up the problem is wrong. Let’s assume you preached through all the Bible over about 25 years. How often did you preach the Lord’s Supper? Hopefully every time someone ate in the Old Testament. How often did you preach Baptism? Every time someone got wet, or crossed a sea, or even when someone dropped an axehead in the water. How often did you preach the Trinity? Perhaps in its fullness with theological categories, very rarely, but you will have talked about the God who is Father, Son, and Spirit, in loving union, every single week.
If we preach the text theologically, reading it in light of Christ, guided by the way the New Testament interprets the Old and learning from the Church Fathers as they attempted to do the same thing, we will find our Creeds are written into all of these stories.
Preachers, preach the word, consistently over time. You will preach the whole counsel of God.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
To subscribe and receive email notifications for future posts, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.
Would you like to support my work? The best thing you can do is share this post with your friends. Why not consider also joining my Patreon to keep my writing free for everyone. You can see other ways to support me here.
nuakh 