Preaching Versus Teaching

I have blogged several times about the somewhat artificial distinction between preaching and teaching. I have also blogged on this topic while referencingHughes Oliphant Old's works on the history of preaching here. I want to return to that topic and Oliphant once again with this observation on the Great Commission in Matthew.

Again we see evidence that in the Synoptic Gospels at least, the words "preaching" and "teaching can be used synonymously. We might expect to read that the apostles were to go to all peoples and κήρυξατε τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, proclaim the gospel but instead we read that they are to go διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς, teaching them to observe everything Jesus had commanded them. In light of a text like this it is rather hard to drive a wedge between preaching the gospel of salvation and teaching the Christian way of life. Obviously according to this text Christian preaching is to do both.

The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church: Volume 1: The Biblical Period (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 151-52.