Using Metaphorical Language in Preaching: With Matthew 6:22-23 as an Example

Using Metaphorical Language in Preaching: With Matthew 6:22-23 as an Example

Takayasu FURUKAWA Poling J. SUN

This article argues that the use of metaphorical language is crucial for making preaching an event in which the listener would experience revelatory reality. The article begins with a study of the definitions of preaching from three perspectives of understanding: New Testament, theology, and homiletics. The study clarifies preaching as revelatory address of Jesus' continuous work through the Holy Spirit, which realizes the salvific event of Jesus Christ in the hearer and nurtures the faith of the community of God's people by creating a fresh textual impact. The article further examines the task, foundation, and artistic aspects of preaching. The triune God being the foundation of Christian proclamation, preaching as a task consists of hermeneutical and rhetorical facets. These dimensions of preaching adapt the preached word to the life context of the hearer, whose cultural situation is uniquely different from that of the original hearers of the gospel. This article then proceeds to introduce metaphorical language, as the locus of God's revelation, that is most fitting for creating a fresh textual impact. In the final part of this article, Matthew 6 :22-23 is utilized to illustrate the use of metaphorical language in preaching.