The proclamation of the Word of God through the lives of Bible characters in a biographical sermon has had a lively history of practice. In the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century, the biographical sermon was highly esteemed, and congregations thronged to hear the colorful biographical sermons of such preachers as Dwight L. Moody, Thomas DeWitt Talmage, F. B. Meyer, Frederick W. Robertson, Alexander Maclaren, Joseph Parker, and Alexander Whyte.1

Significant for a study of contemporary biographical preaching, Walter Kaiser identified Charles Swindoll, noted for his preaching on Bible characters, as an exemplary model for contemporary expository preaching of the Old Testament.2

Charles Swindoll was cited in a 1994 Baylor University study as one of the twelve most effective preachers in the English-speaking world.3 More recently, Swindoll was chosen in a Leadership journal poll as one of the most effective preachers today.4 Swindoll’s “verse-with-verse” expository preaching on biblical characters has had wide and popular appeal. Many of his biographical sermons on Bible characters have been published.

What has made Swindoll’s biographical sermons so popular? I believe that it has to do with how Swindoll treats the exposition of the biographical narrative and how he shapes the narrative text into an interesting and powerful communicative form. The focus of this article will be to uncover some of the key features of Swindoll’s use of the text and sermon design based on an analysis of selected sermons. From the study I will suggest a homiletical approach for preachers to develop biographical narrative texts into biographical sermons that communicate with biblical integrity and contemporary relevance. The analysis of Swindoll’s sermons as well as the approach to developing biographical narratives is suggestive rather than exhaustive.5

Sermon Content

Swindoll’s sermons reveal that he depends on a variety of texts within a larger narrative section. His sermon texts often span several or more chapters of narrative material. The textual framework of Swindoll’s sermons is dictated usually by the particular event or subject being treated. In what Roy De Brand termed the “life-portion” approach,6 Swindoll favors the strategy of bringing out a distinguishing characteristic of the Bible character as he or she interacts in the biblical narrative. The distinguishing characteristic brought out in the sermon is usually presented as one worthy of emulation. An example of this “heroic” narrative is Swindoll’s sermon on David and Goliath, “David and the Dwarf,” in which 1 Samuel 17:1-50 serves as the textual framework.7 Sometimes a distinguishing characteristic is presented which the hearer is admonished to avoid. Swindoll’s sermon on Moses, “A Moment of Rage,” based on Exodus 2:10-2; 32; Numbers 20 is indicative of this type of “tragic” narrative.