Expository preaching

== Prominent expository preachers ==
Expository preaching took on new life in the Reformation when Ulrich [[Zwingli]] began his continuous exposition of the Gospel of Matthew on January 1, 1519 in Zürich. Other Reformers, like Zwingli's friend [[Johannes Oecolampadius]], followed suit. According to [[Hughes Oliphant Old]], Oecolampadius' translations of the sermons of [[John Chrysostom]], one of many church fathers who also practiced expository preaching, inspired him to return to this classic form, and with his own exposition of 1 John in 1523, the pattern for preaching in Basel, one that would be formalized in 1529, was set. Though both Oecolampadius and Zwingli died in 1531, the expository form of preaching they (and other Swiss Reformers, like [[Wolfgang Capito]] and [[Martin Bucer]]) established would be the form inherited, and some would say perfected, by [[John Calvin]] himself, who began to draft his [[Institutes of the Christian Religion]] in Basel in 1535, where every preacher in every pulpit was now devoted to continuous reading and preaching through books of the Bible.

Zwingli was succeeded in Zürich by [[Heinrich Bullinger]], Oecolampadius by [[Oswald Myconius]] in Basel, while [[John Knox]] would take the form of exposition he learned from Calvin in Geneva back to Scotland. Translations of Calvin's expository sermons would inspire generations of Reformed Christians in England and the Netherlands, [[Puritans]] on both sides of the Atlantic, and the preachers of the [[Great Awakening]]. 

Many famous [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] preachers in the modern era have likewise used systematic exposition.

[[J. Vernon McGee]] of the ''Through the Bible'' radio program may be the best exemplar of the purely expository method of preaching in modern American times. He preached more than one 5-year cycle through the entire Bible.

[[Haddon Robinson]], teacher on the long-running ''Discover the Word'' radio program. Among the seven books he authored is ''Biblical Preaching: the development and delivery of expository messages'', for the study of expository preaching by seminarians.

Reputed to be a great evangelical preacher of the 20th century, [[Martyn Lloyd-Jones]] was the minister of [[Westminster Chapel]] in [[London]] from 1939 to 1968. His series on [[Epistle to the Romans|Romans]] took years to complete as he worked through the book almost a verse at a time.

Other famous expository preachers include [[Charles Spurgeon]], [[John Stott]], and [[Dick Lucas (minister)|Dick Lucas]] from England, William Still from Scotland, [[Phillip Jensen]] and David Cook from Australia, and [[Stephen F. Olford]], and [[Fred Craddock]] from the United States.

[[John F. MacArthur|John MacArthur]] is probably the best known expository preacher in America, and is a proponent of the expository method of preaching (and an outspoken opponent of the topical method as used almost exclusively by some churches). In addition, the [[Calvary Chapel]] group of churches, headed by [[Chuck Smith (pastor)|Chuck Smith]], include the regular use of expository preaching as one of their distinctives.

Many such prominent preachers in the second half of the twentieth century have put on record that to a lesser or greater extent they were persuaded of the importance of systematic exposition as a result of reading the works of [[Arthur Pink|A.W. Pink]].