Elenctics?
Have you heard of it? I would venture to say that most haven’t. It is a
theological term that means to make a case for the gospel. A word you might
have heard of is apologetics. Apologetics is not apologizing for the gospel but
defending the gospel against undue criticism and attack. Let’s says that
someone says the Bible is discriminatory against women. I can point out many
scriptures throughout the New Testament where women were given a place of honor
and even leadership. There is enough evidence to silence the unfair criticism. This
is called Apologetics.
Elenctics is the opposite of
apologetics. Instead of waiting to defend against an attack, Elenctics seeks to propagate the gospel message
by presenting a case for consideration. It is an offensive rather than a
defensive strategy.
The origin of the word Elenctics is a Greek word that means “to bring to shame.” As I contemplated
this thought, I realized that herein lies the true message of the gospel. The
gospel is supposed to cause us to realize our sins, feel not just shame but
sorrow for our sins, and then repent. When the true gospel is preached is
should make us uncomfortable enough with who we are that we fall on the mercy
of God and beg him to cleanse us of our sins through his blood; it should also
be a catalyst for us to change.
There are not many who are comfortable with this
kind of preaching in our day. The message of the hour seems to be, “make me
feel good preacher.” Much of what is called preaching in our day is actually
self-help instruction. It is intended to make one feel good about oneself,
rather than bringing conviction of sin. While I agree that there is a place for
encouraging, feel-good preaching, there is even more cause for convicting, soul
searching preaching.
Let’s consider a few scriptures where the preaching
of the gospel brought strong conviction:
·
In John 16:8 Jesus told us that the Holy
Spirit would come to reprove the world of sin. This word reprove means “to
cause to feel shame or regret.”
·
Acts 2: 37 - When the Apostle Peter
preached on the Day of Pentecost the people were so convicted that they cried
aloud asking Peter what they could do. The scripture says they were “cut to the
heart.” This sounds like a very convicting message.
·
Acts 16: 29-30 – The Philippian jailer
came to Paul and Silas trembling, wanting to know how he could be saved. This sounds
like a very stirring, emotional experience.
In the few examples we have considered one thing
seems to stand out. With the preaching of the gospel came a very powerful conviction
that brought a change of heart and lifestyle. The gospel message shined light
on a heart that was full of sin and caused the person to want to repent and live
holy before God.
As a child I remember hearing older people refer to
certain preachers as “hell fire and brim stone preachers.” From some of the
messages I remember hearing, the description seems to fit. They would preach so
hard that I could almost feel the flames of hell and sense the smoke. By the
time the message was finished I wanted to run to the altar and repent, even if
I couldn’t think of anything I had done wrong. I didn’t want to a take a chance
on not being right with God and going to hell.
We don’t hear that kind of preaching much anymore.
Truth be told, none of us wants to. If I had to choose a label for people to put
on my preaching, I’m not sure I’d want to wear the hell-fire and brimstone
label. It just doesn’t sound very flattering. I’d rather people talk about how
much I encourage them, how well my presentation is, my study habits and ability
to tell a story. There is just one problem: while there is nothing wrong with
this, it gets the cart before the horse.
The Apostle Paul gave his young protégé, Timothy,
instruction on what a sermon should be like. We can find it in 4:2 where Timothy
is told to preach the word by reproving, rebuking, and exhorting. Notice that
reproof and rebuke come before exhorting; reproof and rebuke both mean
correction. A good message should be
two-thirds correction and one-third encouragement. Before a positive message
can be delivered, a convicting message must be preached. The preacher must make
me want to repent and then encourage me to do better.
This is the essence of that fancy word, Eclenctics,
we started with. I want the preaching of the gospel to be offensive (the
opposite of defensive). My prayer is that I would always be convicted when the
gospel is preached and never allow myself to be hardened against the message.
If the message makes me uncomfortable, good! It gives me a chance to repent and
this is the greatest privilege in the world.
In Christ’s Service,
Sullivan Jones