So, in light of the four foundational reasons above, and in light of the grand pluses of exposition:

1) You will preach texts that you would never preach, and even avoid if possible.

2) You never have to fret about what to preach on Sunday.

3) Systematic biblical exposition aids your growth as a theologian.

4) Expository preaching keeps you subject to the text.

5) Expository preaching gives you the confidence to preach with "Thus saith the Lord" conviction.

6) Expository preaching gives you confidence that when the Word is opened, the Spirit speaks.

Because of all this I am compelled to believe that the week-after-week fare of the church must not be topical or doctrinal or even textual, but expositional. Further, the popular a-textual forms of "disexposition" are also clearly wrong.

For the purpose of this article I will assume that everything that could be discussed under logos is in order in the reader's thought process; i.e., that scriptural prolegomena are part of the preacher's heart and that he has prepared his exposition. He has prayerfully interpreted his text in its context, using the established canons of hermeneutics. He understands the text's application in its historical setting and in the whole of scripture.

He has discerned wherein it is a revelation of Jesus Christ and has made the appropriate intercanonical connections. He has made the trip "from Jerusalem to Chicago" and understands its present relevance. He has articulated the theme of the text, its "melodic line." He has outlined his exposition using the literary structure of the text as a guide to his sermon's symmetry. He has enlisted stories and illustrations that really do illuminate the text. Finally, he has written or outlined his sermon using language (metaphors and concrete words) that actually does communicate in today's culture.

What is left for the truly reforming minister now is the actual event of the preaching of the Word, which invites our consideration of the ethos and pathos that are essential to biblical exposition.

Ethos

Ethos, as I am defining it, is simply what you are -- your character, you as a person, and therefore you as a preacher handling God's Word before the flock of Christ. Ethos has to do with the condition of your inner life and with the work of the Holy Spirit within you, especially as it relates to the text that you are preaching. Biblical exposition is enhanced when the preacher invites the Holy Spirit to apply the text to his own soul and ethical conduct so the preacher is sympathetic to and humbly pursues the application of the text to his own life.

Phillips Brooks, the famous Episcopal bishop of Boston and author of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," touched on this when he gave his famous definition of preaching in the 1877 Yale Lectures on Preaching: "Preaching is the bringing of truth through personality."2 He then elaborated: "Truth through Personality is our description of real preaching. The truth must come really through the person, not merely over his lips, not merely into his understanding and out through his pen. It must come through his character, his affections, his whole intellectual and moral being. It must come genuinely through him."3