Paul was one of the great preachers of the New Testament. From conversion he had a God-given desire to preach; it was not something he had to learn. ‘Immediately … he received sight … and was baptized … Then was Saul certain days with the disciples … And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God’, Acts 9. 18-20. He knew that God had called him ‘that I might preach him among the heathen’.
His Preaching was Scriptural. His first recorded sermon was in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, and an overall reading of it reveals that the preacher’s mind was full of the Scriptures. Allusion was made to at least eight Old Testament books. With great skill this scriptural material was used to bring their attention to the promised Messiah. This approach in Paul’s preaching is also seen elsewhere.
His Preaching was Appropriate. During the second great missionary journey we have some further examples of Paul’s preaching in Acts chapter 17. In Thessalonica he again preached in a synagogue. The pattern is as before; the presentation of Christ from the Old Testament scriptures, then showing that ‘Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ’. The many Jews there could easily follow such preaching. In the latter part of the same chapter he is preaching to the heathen idolaters of Athens. Here he does not begin with allusion to Old Testament scriptures for this would be foreign to the heathen mind. He shows the need for a Creator and preaches the true God, but he soon brings them to the Person and gospel of Christ and His resurrection and judgment to come.
His Preaching was Earnest. It was ‘in much assurance’, 1 Thess. 1. 5. Paul believed what he preached, and this affected his hearers. It brought conviction; Felix the governor trembled at his preaching, and King Agrippa said, ‘Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian’.
His Preaching was in Humility and with a sense of Debt. At Corinth it was ‘in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling’; Paul acknowledged ‘I have nothing to glory of … woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel’, 1 Cor. 2. 3; 9. 16.
