书评：布莱恩•柴培尔《以基督为中心的讲道》
“三个要点加一首诗”可能是一个福音性讲道的讽刺画面，但是许多年来，这种布道方式已成了许多传道人的常态。值得庆幸的是，回归释经讲道不仅喂养了羊群，并宣告了福音，这给这一代带来了新的希望。
释经讲道必须要通过努力才能达成。前圣约神学院校长，常任讲道学教授，现任伊利诺斯州皮奥里亚恩典长老会牧师的布莱恩•柴培尔（Bryan Chapell），在他《以基督为中心的讲道》一书中，详述了如何准备一篇释经式讲道。柴培尔将他丰富的布道经验和讲道指导精心地融合进了这本有十一个章节并附有十二个有用的附录的书中。他透过三个方面来探讨他的主题。
一、释经讲道的原则
柴培尔在第一部分中，把释经讲道的重点放在了三件事上。第一，神话语的能力应用在讲道中。“好的讲道，”他写道，“从某种意义上讲，要让路以致让上帝的话语可以做工（34）。”把优先权给神的话语而非是牧者的能力。第二，一个传道人的品格与会众对讲台的接受与否，有绝对的相连性，这也是为什么传道人需要过圣洁生活的原因。第三，柴培尔强调了在每次讲道中聚焦福音。“没有对救赎的聚焦，我们可能认为我们已经解释了圣经，其实事实上，我们只是简单地翻译了部分，然后不去查考它们在上帝整个永恒计划中所起的作用就简单地诠释了它们（40）。”
不同于将许多真理随意拼在一起，释经布道需要借着“整体性、目标与应用”来构建。每段经文都包含一个目标，好让神的荣耀在我们堕落的本相上反映出来。柴培尔管这个叫“堕落景况的焦点”或简称“堕落焦点”。他提到，“至终而言，一篇讲章是为了指出经文所告诉我们，在生活的经历里，应当如何按照圣经的原则，针对堕落焦点作出回应。”
找出“堕落焦点”就能让我们明白在经文中圣灵的救赎旨意。一旦听众明白了经文中的“堕落焦点”，那他们就已经准备好要应用了。这就是所谓“使基督成为讲章劝勉的源头和目标，他也应是讲章诠释的焦点”。接着柴培尔从原则转移到了准备上。
二、准备释经讲道
这本书的第二部分勾画出了一个有效展开释经讲道的方法。在准备的初期，传道人必须问关于圣经经文诸如此类的问题：“这段经文是什么意思？”“这段经文为何被写出来？”“现在的人们应该对这段经文的真理做出什么样的回应？”
在这些释经学和讲道学的问题之后，牧师就要去正视这段经文的“堕落焦点”，并且确定一个基于这段经文的主题。柴培尔建议牧者搭建出一个释经的框架，这样就能囊括进他们对这段经文的学习成果。然后，牧者朝着讲道的大纲去工作，这样就能把经文的真理带到会众的需要里去。后者的大纲需要与经文主题表现得一致，并且从经文中得到论点和分论点来发展主题。
为了给讲道构建一个范例，柴培尔中肯地建议——随着传道人成熟起来，他们应该发展出一套适合自己和听众的结构体系来，而同时仍然要坚实地扎根于经文。
在第七章中，柴培尔认为例证是让听众体验到经文的一个方式。避开范例的娱乐性，他旨在用例证使听众参与到讲道中，并且促使他们朝着接受讲道信息和应用经文的方向迈进。例证依然只是阐释时的工具，而不能替代正确的释经。
本书最棒的部分大概就是关于应用的章节（8章）。“应用成全了释经讲道的责任。应用是圣经真理针对今天的时代及个人所带来的影响。”柴培尔说，“没有应用，讲道者就没有讲道的必要，因为他所教导的真理不能实际供人应用，那么他所讲的也就不能达成福音救赎的目的……讲道的核心其实不止是宣讲真理，还要包括鼓励人将真理应用出来”。应用应该总是从对经文的解释出发，以免它失去圣经的权威。
三、以基督为中心之信息的神学基础
我发现柴培尔最后一个部分非常有用，因为他并没有假设那些正在寻求了解释经技艺的读者在稳固的、救赎的动机中抓住了关键，他反复重申，在每一段经文中找到“堕落焦点”的必要性，是“在圣经中为救赎的部分提供依据，相应的，我们也能应用在我们的堕落上。” 否则，他警示道，我们的讲道可能是“推翻基督教信息的”。
尽管有些人可能会因为要在讲道中保持一个救赎焦点而感到受挫。柴培尔忠告说，目标并非是在“在每一处圣经中找到耶稣，而是揭示出每一处圣经与基督的关系。”因此，当讲员忠心地去完成讲章时，“释经讲道就是以基督为中心的讲道”。
推荐
那些委身宣扬神话语的人会发现柴培尔的书是易懂的、丰富的、有帮助的。我向圣经学院、神学院、并针对教牧实习项目和牧师的研读推荐此书。从我的角度来看，本书的唯一缺点，是柴培尔很少强调用持续的逐卷讲道来门训以及训练会众。除此之外，我衷心地推荐《以基督为中心的讲道》作为牧者极好的工具——不论有没有经验——用来引导牧者在所有的经文中都能有忠心地传讲基督。不再回到“三个要点一首诗”这样的布道方式上。
Book Review: Christ-Centered Preaching, by Bryan Chapell
“Three points and a poem” may be a caricature of evangelical preaching, but for too many years and too many preachers it was the norm. Thankfully, a return to expository preaching that feeds the flock and proclaims the gospel has given a new hope for this generation.
Expository preaching does not take place without devoted effort. Bryan Chapell—former president of Covenant Theological Seminary, long-time homiletics professor, and current pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois—capably details the needed preparation process for expository preaching in Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon. Chapell brings his wealth of pastoral preaching and homiletical instruction into a well-crafted volume of eleven chapters and twelve helpful appendixes. He approaches his subject through three sections.
PRINCIPLES FOR EXPOSITORY PREACHING
Chapell’s first section puts the weight of expository preaching on three things. First, the power of God’s Word in preaching. “Good preaching,” he writes, “in one sense involves getting out of the way so that the Word can do its work” (34). Priority is given to the Word rather than the preacher’s ability. Second, the power of a holy life supports and confirms what the preacher asserts. “No truth calls louder for pastoral holiness than the link between a preacher’s character and a sermon’s reception” (38). Third, Chapell reinforces the power of gospel-focus in every sermon. “Without a redemptive focus, we may believe we have exegeted Scripture when in fact we have simply translated its parts and parsed its pieces without reference to the role they have in God’s eternal plan”(40).
Instead of random collections of various biblical truths, expository sermons need to be constructed with “unity, purpose, and application” (44). Every text contains a purpose or burden of human fallenness that points to the grace of God in Christ. Chapell calls this a “Fallen Condition Focus,” or FCF. He notes, “Ultimately, a sermon is about how a text says we are to respond biblically to the FCF as it is experienced in our lives” (51). Discerning the FCF shows us the Holy Spirit’s redemptive intent in the text. Once the hearers understand the text’s FCF, then they are ready for application, which “makes Jesus the source and objective of a sermon’s exhortation as well as the focus of its explanation” (54). From principles Chapell moves to preparation.
PREPARATION OF EXPOSITORY SERMONS
Welcome to Chapell’s laboratory! The second section of the book lays out a way to develop effective expository sermons. In the initial stages of preparation, the preacher must ask questions of the biblical text such as, “What does the text mean?” “What concerns caused the text to be written?” “How should people now respond to the truths of the text?” (104–5).
After these hermeneutical and homiletical questions, the preacher comes to terms with the text’s FCF and establishes the proposition set forth in the text. Chapell recommends that preachers develop of an exegetical outline that frames the fruit of their study of the text. Then the preacher works toward a homiletical outline that brings the truths of the text into the congregation’s needs. The latter outline should express the same theme found in the text and derive points and subpoints from the text that develop this theme.
Offering an exemplary form to structure sermons, Chapell rightly advises that as preachers mature, they should develop a form suitable to them and their audience, while remaining firmly rooted in the text.
In chapter seven, Chapell considers illustrations as a means to invite listeners into the experience of the text (176). Eschewing illustrations to entertain, he aims to use them to involve the congregation in the sermon and to motivate them toward embracing the message and application of the text. Illustrations remain tools for exposition, not substitutes for sound explanation (200).
The chapter on application (Ch. 8) may be the best in the book. “Application fulfills the obligations of exposition. Application is the present, personal consequence of scriptural truth,” Chapell asserts. “Without application, a preacher has no reason to preach, because truth without actual or potential application fulfills no redemptive purpose. . . . [At] its heart preaching is not merely the proclamation of truth but truth applied” (210). Application must always arise from the exposition of the text lest it lose its biblical authority.
A THEOLOGY OF CHRIST-CENTERED MESSAGES
I found Chapell’s last section immensely helpful, as he does not presume that readers seeking to understand the mechanics of exposition grasp its foundation in a solid, redemptive motif. He reiterates the necessity of discovering the FCF in each text in order “to supply the warrant for (and to define) the character of the redemptive elements in Scripture that we can, in turn, apply to our fallenness” (273). Otherwise, he warns, our preaching might “subvert the Christian message” (274).
While recognizing the frustration some may feel in maintaining a redemptive focus in preaching, Chapell counsels that the goal is not to find Jesus “in every text but to disclose where every text stands in relation to Christ” (279). Thus, when faithfully done, “Expository preaching is Christ-centered preaching” (280).
COMMENDATION
Those committed to proclaiming God’s Word will find Chapell’s volume accessible, resourceful, and useful. I’d recommend it for Bible colleges, seminaries, pastoral internships, or pastors’ studies. From my perspective, Chapell’s scant emphasis on discipling and training a congregation by preaching consecutively through books of the Bible appears to be the only weakness (65–69). Aside from that, I heartily commend Christ-Centered Preaching as a superb tool for preachers—experienced or inexperienced—for its guidance to faithfully preach Christ in all of Scripture. No more falling back on three points and a poem.
作者：Phil Newton
作者Phil Newton是南林浸信会的主任牧师，该教会位于田纳西州的孟菲斯。他著有《教会生活中的长老：归回合乎圣经的教会领导模式》一书，同时也是九标志和”教牧实践“事工的专栏作者。
翻译肢体：韩冰
用圣经视野和实用资源装备教会领袖
进而通过健康的教会向世界彰显神的荣耀
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