# What is the difference between preaching and exhorting



## Pergamum

How do I know when I am doing one or the other?

Who is allowed to do these things?


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## PastorSBC

Preaching is the overall ministry of exposing the text to the people. 

Exhorting is just one part of preaching, in which you encourage and call people to live out the text and apply it to their lives. 

As an preaching prof once told me, you gotta give em something to "love" and something to "loathe".

Who is allowed to do these? Whoever is preaching.


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## larryjf

If i'm not mistaken, in the PCA any man approved by the Session can exhort but you must be a Teaching Elder to preach.

From the BCO...


> 4-5. Churches without teaching elders ought not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, but should be convened by the Session on the Lord's Day, and at other suitable times, for prayer, praise, the presenting and expounding of the Holy Scriptures, and exhortation, or the reading of a sermon of some approved minister. In like manner, Christians whose lot is cast in destitute regions ought to meet regularly for the worship of God.



I would think that the distinction is not in the act of preaching/exhorting itself, but rather in the authority that the act is carried out in.


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## Pergamum

This all seems like an artificial division to me. What are the Scriptural justifications we have for dividing up these two things?


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## CDM

Pergamum said:


> This all seems like an artificial division to me. What are the Scriptural justifications we have for dividing up these two things?



 It is artificial. It comes from the desire to make a distinction between an ordained preacher and one who is not. The only one that would know for sure if the one speaking was "preaching" or "exhorting" would be the actual one who is "preaching" or "exhorting."

It all looks and sounds the same to the listener.


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## raekwon

larryjf said:


> If i'm not mistaken, in the PCA any man approved by the Session can exhort but you must be a Teaching Elder to preach.
> 
> From the BCO...
> 
> 
> 
> 4-5. Churches without teaching elders ought not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, but should be convened by the Session on the Lord's Day, and at other suitable times, for prayer, praise, the presenting and expounding of the Holy Scriptures, and exhortation, or the reading of a sermon of some approved minister. In like manner, Christians whose lot is cast in destitute regions ought to meet regularly for the worship of God.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would think that the distinction is not in the act of preaching/exhorting itself, but rather in the authority that the act is carried out in.
Click to expand...


Not quite.



> *19-1.*
> [ . . . ]
> A ruling elder, a candidate for the ministry, a minister from some other denomination, or some other man may be licensed for the purpose of regularly providing the *preaching* of the Word upon his giving satisfaction to the Presbytery of his gifts and passing the licensure examination



The PCA's BCO doesn't really make a consistent distinction between "preaching" and "exhorting", and I'm thankful. The bifurcation between them is... stupid semantics, to be frank.


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## Gage Browning

Al Martin pointed out that the difference is the ability to do exegesis. An exhorter may faithfully use the good work of other men, rely on their exegesis, and then put it together with his own thoughts, illustrations and applications and proclaim it to the people. The Preacher's job, in fact preaching in general is all of those things, while having the preacher do the work of exegesis on his own.


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## fredtgreco

raekwon said:


> larryjf said:
> 
> 
> 
> If i'm not mistaken, in the PCA any man approved by the Session can exhort but you must be a Teaching Elder to preach.
> 
> From the BCO...
> 
> 
> 
> 4-5. Churches without teaching elders ought not to forsake the assembling of themselves together, but should be convened by the Session on the Lord's Day, and at other suitable times, for prayer, praise, the presenting and expounding of the Holy Scriptures, and exhortation, or the reading of a sermon of some approved minister. In like manner, Christians whose lot is cast in destitute regions ought to meet regularly for the worship of God.
> 
> 
> 
> I would think that the distinction is not in the act of preaching/exhorting itself, but rather in the authority that the act is carried out in.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Not quite.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *19-1.*
> [ . . . ]
> A ruling elder, a candidate for the ministry, a minister from some other denomination, or some other man may be licensed for the purpose of regularly providing the *preaching* of the Word upon his giving satisfaction to the Presbytery of his gifts and passing the licensure examination
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The PCA's BCO doesn't really make a consistent distinction between "preaching" and "exhorting", and I'm thankful. The bifurcation between them is... stupid semantics, to be frank.
Click to expand...


Good job, Rae! I was about to post that exact comment until I read your post. 

By the way, BCO 19 is a reason why (_pace _Tim Keller) the "a woman may do anything in worship an unordained man may do" mantra is complete bunk.


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## Archlute

I agree with Chris and Rae. It is an artificial distinction, and one grounded in church politics. Avoid it. Technically speaking, exhortation is a subset of the preaching (2 Tim. 4:2, Tit. 2:15), and is a term that is used to describe even the fully authoritative proclamation of the apostles (Acts 2:40).

As a dear seminary prof, and former pastor of mine, once said regarding this silly debate, "Call it whatever you want, but if a man gets behind the pulpit and isn't preaching, I don't want to hear it." He knew it was artificial, and that it avoids the heart of the matter (which is not office related).


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## raekwon

fredtgreco said:


> raekwon said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> larryjf said:
> 
> 
> 
> If i'm not mistaken, in the PCA any man approved by the Session can exhort but you must be a Teaching Elder to preach.
> 
> From the BCO...
> I would think that the distinction is not in the act of preaching/exhorting itself, but rather in the authority that the act is carried out in.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not quite.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> *19-1.*
> [ . . . ]
> A ruling elder, a candidate for the ministry, a minister from some other denomination, or some other man may be licensed for the purpose of regularly providing the *preaching* of the Word upon his giving satisfaction to the Presbytery of his gifts and passing the licensure examination
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> The PCA's BCO doesn't really make a consistent distinction between "preaching" and "exhorting", and I'm thankful. The bifurcation between them is... stupid semantics, to be frank.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Good job, Rae! I was about to post that exact comment until I read your post.
> 
> By the way, BCO 19 is a reason why (_pace _Tim Keller) the "a woman may do anything in worship an unordained man may do" mantra is complete bunk.
Click to expand...


To be fair, I used to use that exact "mantra" . . . and then I remembered BCO 19 and stopped.  I kind of doubt that most guys who say that are including preaching in their "anything", but they need to be more careful with what they say.


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## bookslover

Archlute said:


> I agree with Chris and Rae. It is an artificial distinction, and one grounded in church politics. Avoid it. Technically speaking, exhortation is a subset of the preaching (2 Tim. 4:2, Tit. 2:15), and is a term that is used to describe even the fully authoritative proclamation of the apostles (Acts 2:40).
> 
> As a dear seminary prof, and former pastor of mine, once said regarding this silly debate, "Call it whatever you want, but if a man gets behind the pulpit and isn't preaching, I don't want to hear it." He knew it was artificial, and that it avoids the heart of the matter (which is not office related).



I completely agree. It's a completely *artificial* distinction. In the OPC, ruling elders can exhort. Licentiates and ordained men preach. To the person in the pew, of course, it's a distinction without a difference, and totally stupid. I don't think there's any biblical warrant for it at all. If you get up behind a pulpit and start giving the people the Bible and the Bible's theology, you're *preaching*.


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## Pergamum

How about not behind a pulpit and in informal settings? What do we call our witness then?


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## py3ak

So far most of the answers are directed towards the distinction in Presbyterian polity. However, a difference is in fact drawn in Scripture between teaching and preaching, and in Romans 12 a distinction is drawn between teaching and exhortation. Perhaps exhortation and preaching are convertible terms. But what sets them apart from teaching?


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## tcalbrecht

As I recall, about 15 years ago the issue was raised in the CRCNA and a report produced about the matter of preaching vs. exhorting vs. expounding wrt women. And if my memory servers me, the report said something like women may not preach or exhort, but they may “expound” in the sense that they are encouraged to use their spiritual gifts. Go figure.

Also, wasn’t this matter raised in the Wood Case (or perhaps an incident at Covenant Seminary chapel service) and the matter of women “preaching” in the PCA? Again, if my memory serves me well, someone made the argument at that time that whatever that woman was doing by speaking in a service she could not possibly be “preaching” cuz we all know a woman was forbidden to preach.


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## Pergamum

Can a woman give her testimony then in church? Or would she have to not mention or explain Scripture if that were the case?

What did Priscella do alongside of Aquila?


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