![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2013\/05\/ckb.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nMy doctor father at the end of the 1970s was C.K. Barrett, at the time the most highly regarded Methodist NT scholar in the world.\u00a0 Here he is in 2013 next to a lecture theater in the new building at Durham University.\u00a0 His daughter Penelope gave me all his sermon notes which I got published in four volumes, 3 with\u00a0 Cascade under the title Luminescence, and one with Abingdon Press.\u00a0 What also came with them was a small notebook in which CKB had had written out notes for all sorts of lectures.\u00a0 In this and the following posts I\u2019m going to share his notes, many of which are very insightful and helpful.<\/p>\n
\u2014\u2013<\/p>\n
PAUL AS PREACHER (Lecture given in Hexham in 1953)<\/p>\n
We think of Paul as a great preacher\u00a0 before Augustine, Luther, and Wesley.\u00a0 But was he? What do we actually know?<\/p>\n
Acts 14.12 says he was compared to Hermes as a herald and many were impressed, but this does not mean he spoke well.<\/p>\n
2 Cor. 10.10 we hear the judgment of his enemies, his ethos is weak, but Paul seems to more or less accept their judgment in vs. 11 and 11.6.<\/p>\n
1 Cor. 1.17; 2.1-5 we note his deliberate rejection of wisdom methods.<\/p>\n
The letters are in spoken style (Rom. 16.22, Tertius) and sometimes it is torturous and obscure.<\/p>\n
Of course, however, Paul was an\u00a0effective\u00a0<\/em>speaker (Acts 14.1). What other criteria is there?\u00a0 And manifestly he believed in preaching.<\/p>\nThe easiest quarry to work is Acts, three sermons, for we can hardly call the speaking in Acts 21-27 preaching, though note how Paul uses every opportunity to convey the Gospel, see especially 24.14ff; 25; 26.6-23, 25-29; 28.23-28 is almost a fourth sermon, but really the epilogue.\u00a0 The three main ones are chosen and distinguished by audience:<\/p>\n
1) mission to Jews in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch, with the audience (13.16) being Jews and God-fearers.\u00a0 Vss. 17-22 a summary of the OT, the context in which Jesus can appear and be understood.\u00a0 \u00a0it leads up to David and the idea of fulfillment.\u00a0 \u00a0Vss. 23-25 Jesus appears with John the Baptizer as in the Gospels, and this leads on in vs. 26 to an affirmation that the message of salvation has been sent to Jews and God-fearers, but Luke is cutting corners here and it is not yet clear how this will be salvation.\u00a0 Vss. 27-31 gives the basic facts\u00a0 cf. Peter in Acts 2,3, 10.\u00a0 Preaching entails preaching the story of Jesus is told in reference to fulfillment of OT texts, innocence, the acts of God, witnesses.\u00a0 All this constitutes the \u2018euangellion\u2019\u00a0 the Good News.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>The story is told in vss. 33-37 in such a way so as to lead to vss. 38,39\u00a0 the offer of salvation, now related\u00a0negatively\u00a0<\/em>to the OT in the sense of its inadequacy. Salvation si justification, or at least it begins there.\u00a0 In vss. 40-41 we have final warnings.<\/p>\n2) Mission to Gentiles. Note the trial and use in 14.15-18; the main things is the Areopagus address in Acts 17. Notice how different this is. It would be pointless to talk to the Athenians about Abraham, Moses, and David.\u00a0 Vss. 22b and 23 a really very clever, both a captatio benevolentiae\u00a0<\/em>and a criticism. See Theophrastus on the superstitious man.\u00a0 Is the reference to the unknown God, an improved illustration [since he wrote this they have indeed found small altars to unknown gods, one of which I, Ben, have seen in the Istanbul Museum].\u00a0 \u00a023b is the core of the speech, but there is a problem. It seems to mean you are worshipping the true God but you do not really know Him. Paul then tells them the truth about him.\u00a0 But cf. Rom. 1.18-32.\u00a0 Would Paul have said what we find in Acts 17? Probably. You are religious and there is no escaping religion.\u00a0 The truth that human religiousness reflects is as follows:\u00a0 Vss. 24-25 is a combination of Greek philosophy and OT critique of idolatry. The OT does show up in this speech after all but by way of Hellenistic Judaism.\u00a0 In vs. 26 the God of creation is also the Lord of history. Vs. 27 he wishes humans to seek him but he makes himself accessible.\u00a0 Basically we have the OT ideas in philosophical language. Vss. 28-29 back to the criticism of pagan religion.\u00a0 Vss. 30-31 the Christian point of the speech. This is the moment of crisis.\u00a0 Note that 1 Cor 1, 2 and even 1 Thess. 1.9-10 suggests there must be much more.<\/p>\n3) The pastoral address to the church, the Ephesian elders summoned to Miletus in Acts 20\u2014a. farewell, self-vindication, commissioning instructions.\u00a0 Vss. 18-20 setting the scene, recalling the past. Note in Acts 20 the combination of announcing and teaching , preaching and having to have imitation. Vs. 21 a statement of comfort on the subjective side (this is not a well ordered speech!). Vss. 22-24 the future, leading to Paul\u2019s own commitment and a second statement of content\u2013 objective,\u00a0 the Gospel of grace.\u00a0 Vss. 25-27\u2013 personal and reminiscent (noting the anti-Gnostic touch). Vs. 28, a verse not directly relevant today and with a badly expressed doctrine of atonement!\u00a0 Vss. 29-31\u2013 a warning and the elders responsibility (and see below\u2013 they are not full time ministers).\u00a0 Vs. 32\u2013 again grace.\u00a0 vss. 33-35\u2013 Paul\u2019s example, work for your living.<\/p>\n
So far we have drawn only on Acts. The epistles are harder to use. Every verse in the epistles is in a sense relevant as Paul\u2019s Gospel but not all bears on preaching as a specific activity.\u00a0 There is little to tell us in the letters about Paul the pioneer evangelist.\u00a0 1 Cor. 2.1-5 is of great importance\u00a0 (cf. Wesley\u2019s homo unius libri\u2013 a man of one book).\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Paul will speak of many things but with care that the cross will stand out cf. Gal. 3.1, 1 Cor. 1.17 etc.\u00a0 2 Cor. 2.14-16\u2013the preaching not with a mixed reference.\u00a0 2 Cor. 5.19-6.1\u2013 the word of reconciliation with strong theological content implied.\u00a0 Gal. 1.11-17\u2013 conversion or call?\u00a0 Both!\u00a0 Where does the Gospel come from\u2013 tradition or inspiration. Both!\u00a0 The Pastorals are full of injunctions to preach, but these are only by implication descriptive of Paul himself.<\/p>\nWhat do we learn from all this? 1) the importance of knowing, understanding, and addressing the audience.\u00a0 \u2018Saints in the morning, sinners in the evening\u2019 but it is not so easy now.\u00a0 How do we get hold of sinners?\u00a0 \u00a0The danger of this\u2013 not getting beyond the philosophical preliminaries.\u00a0 The importance of the OT (Paul is seen using it at Corinth). 2) statement of the objective facts.\u00a0 See not only in Acts (esp. Acts 13)\u00a0 but also 1 Cor. 15.1-3; Rom. 10.9; 4.25 etc. 3) but the subjective and empirical response must be sought\u2013 Rom. 10.9-10 again. 1 Cor. 2.5.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My doctor father at the end of the 1970s was C.K. Barrett, at the time the most highly regarded Methodist NT scholar in the world.\u00a0 Here he is in 2013 next to a lecture theater in the new building at Durham University.\u00a0 His daughter Penelope gave me all his sermon notes which I got published […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":5860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14238],"class_list":["post-62439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-paul-the-preacher"],"yoast_head":"\n
Paul the Preacher<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My doctor father at the end of the 1970s was C.K. Barrett, at the time the most highly regarded Methodist NT scholar in the world.\u00a0 Here he is in 2013\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Paul the Preacher\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My doctor father at the end of the 1970s was C.K. Barrett, at the time the most highly regarded Methodist NT scholar in the world.\u00a0 Here he is in 2013\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-01T06:00:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-18T20:47:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2013\/05\/images.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"290\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"174\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439\",\"name\":\"Paul the Preacher\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-01T06:00:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-18T20:47:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b\"},\"description\":\"My doctor father at the end of the 1970s was C.K. Barrett, at the time the most highly regarded Methodist NT scholar in the world.\u00a0 Here he is in 2013\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Paul the Preacher\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/\",\"name\":\"The Bible and Culture\",\"description\":\"A One-Stop Shop for All Things Biblical and Christian\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b\",\"name\":\"Ben Witherington\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ben Witherington\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/author\/benw333\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Paul the Preacher","description":"My doctor father at the end of the 1970s was C.K. Barrett, at the time the most highly regarded Methodist NT scholar in the world.\u00a0 Here he is in 2013","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Paul the Preacher","og_description":"My doctor father at the end of the 1970s was C.K. Barrett, at the time the most highly regarded Methodist NT scholar in the world.\u00a0 Here he is in 2013","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439","og_site_name":"The Bible and Culture","article_published_time":"2024-03-01T06:00:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-18T20:47:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"290","height":"174","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/55\/2013\/05\/images.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ben Witherington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ben Witherington","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439","name":"Paul the Preacher","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-03-01T06:00:25+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-18T20:47:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b"},"description":"My doctor father at the end of the 1970s was C.K. Barrett, at the time the most highly regarded Methodist NT scholar in the world.\u00a0 Here he is in 2013","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?p=62439#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Paul the Preacher"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/","name":"The Bible and Culture","description":"A One-Stop Shop for All Things Biblical and Christian","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/67da39aff728f9d015878d198839df4b","name":"Ben Witherington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8cf1998568f0b6ccbd63f56b44d47303?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Ben Witherington"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/author\/benw333\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}