D. A. Carson on Preaching the Gospel

“To write a brief chapter on how to preach the Gospels feels a bit like offering a how-to manual prescribing how to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by introducing paint-by-numbers. It is not just the real task has complexities that mock such reductionism; there is also the little matter of the unquantifiable gifts and calling of the preacher. Moreover, there is nothing to substitute for unction, for which careful instruction, no matter how important, is not substitute.”

D. A. Carson, “Preaching the Gospels,” in Preaching the New Testament, ed. Ian Paul and David Wenham (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2013), 17.