Understanding the Central Idea of the Biblical Text

A video related to expository preaching, expository sermon outlines, and the central idea of the text.

At the heart of a biblical passage viewed for expository preaching and expository sermon outlines should be one cardinal thought: It is what I (and many other homileticians) call the “central idea of the text” (CIT).
The central idea of the text is channeled through the original purpose or intent of the biblical author. Once the preacher understands that ONE dominat idea, then he can begin to contemporize the central idea by creating a thesis statement (how the ancient text relates to the modern listener). The Thesis takes the preacher into the homiletical aspects of the sermon preparation process. Then the preacher is in a better position to create relevant expository preaching outlines.

The sermon, as a living word from God to his people, should make its impact on them then and there. They will not remember all the details. We should not expect them to do so. But they should remember the dominant thought, because all the sermon’s details have been marshaled to help them grasp its message and feel its power.

The proposition of the message, derived from a solid CIT and Thesis statement (see chapter 4 of Crossing the Homiletical Bridge) answers the question, What is the sermon about? … Whether a sermon has two points or ten points, it must have one point, it must be about something (it must propose something).

“The first thing in making a sermon, the sine qua non, is the idea. There can be no sermon that was not first preceded by an idea or a theme.”
John Killinger,
Fundamentals of Preaching, 44

I have a conviction that no sermon is ready for preaching, not ready for writing out, until we can express its theme in a short, pregnant sentence as clear as crystal. I find the getting of that sentence is the hardest, the most exacting, and the most fruitful labour in my study.
J. H. Jowett, The Preacher: His Life and World, 133

Haddon Robinson says ideally each sermon is the explanation, interpretation, or application of a single dominant idea (C. I. T) supported by other ideas, all drawn from one passage or several passages of Scripture. He notes that sermons fail because:

a. They have too many ideas; but more often they deal with unrelated ideas.
b. Preachers may conceive of sermons as a collection of points that have little relationship to each other.
c. Fragmentation; little more than scattered comments based on words and phrases from a passage.

Get to the heart of the passage first and foremost, then all else will become quite easy. To create meaningful expository preaching outlines, learn to discover and expand upon the central idea of the text.

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• Blog | Knox Theological Seminary – On the first day of Dr. Haddon Robinson’s DMin in Preaching and Teaching class, the first thing his students expected was a syllabus. What they got was a … Dr. Robinson opened the Bible and asked, “What’s the big idea?”.
• Staying Awake | preaching.org – Indeed, the well-established development of the Big Idea, as described by Haddon Robinson, is helpful, as the pastor needs to determine what the passage is talking about (the subject) and what the passage is saying about …
• “Biblical Preaching” by Haddon Robinson (Book Review) | Bro … – So says Dr. Haddon Robinson as he offers this second edition of this classic volume known as Biblical Preaching: The Development and Delivery of Expository Messages. Though … Chapter Two, entitled “What’s the Big Idea?
• Personal Method and Model for Expository Preaching | Exposition Ave. – Haddon Robinson designates this purpose as the Big Idea. Ramesh Richard calls this the Central Proposition of the Text, or CPT. Whatever the designation, the purpose is to find the central idea of the text. Haddon Robinson …
• A Tribute to Neal Plantinga – Calvin Theological Seminary – I had come to greatly admire him and his well-crafted words, his knack for describing ordinary things in extraordinary ways, and his ability to make the muddiest theological ideas clear. … Yesterday Haddon Robinson told me, “When people outside the Christian Reformed Church think of your denomination, your seminary, and your pastors, they think of Neal Plantinga. … Under your watch we have made big strides toward seeing each student as a whole person.