Resisting the decline of the text

I recently ran across an excellent article by David L. Larsen from the archives of Preaching magazine. Prof. Larsen offers a warning against "The Decline of the Text." Subordinating the biblical text to anything--liturgy, doctrine, application--is deadly to preaching's power. The warning against allowing doctrine to eclipse the text rang especially true:

The subordination of the text to doctrine has a lethal effect. We honor the Puritans for their love of Scripture and of preaching. Few eras in church history have listened to so much preaching so long as among the Puritans. But after some exegesis, the typical Puritan sermon concentrated on the doctrinal section and its uses or application. Very little text was exposed; one great Puritan preached four years on the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). This is the phenomenon of the inverted pyramid where a tiny piece of text is used as a base for the exploration of Scripture as a whole on its doctrinal concomitant. Seldom did the Puritan preacher deal with a natural thought unit. 18 sermons on John 3:6 is not calculated to model for any hearer how Scripture is to be used.

To an extent we must always view the text through the lens of doctrine. Problems arise, however, when we allow those lenses to distort the real picture of what the Scripture says. It's distressing to conclude that all preachers allow this to happen to some degree. Preachers, then, need to ask ourselves this question: Are we willing to look at the text honestly enough to let Scripture continue shaping our doctrine--and our hearts?