How to Preach Through a New Testament Letter

The letters of the New Testament can look like the easiest part of the Bible to preach. They address churches directly, they explain the gospel in plain terms, and they are full of instructions that seem ready to apply. Yet series through the letters often go wrong in predictable ways. Verses get preached as stand-alone sayings, cut off from the argument around them. Commands get preached without the grace that grounds them. And by the fifth week, the congregation has lost track of why the apostle was writing in the first place.

A letter is not a collection of proverbs. It is usually one side of a conversation between an apostle and a church, written for a reason and meant to be heard as a whole. Preaching a letter well means honoring that.

Read the Whole Letter Before You Preach Any of It

The first churches heard these letters read aloud, most likely from beginning to end. Paul asks for his letter to the Colossians to be read in the church at Laodicea as well (Colossians 4:16), and he charges the Thessalonians to have his letter read to all the believers (1 Thessalonians 5:27). The letters were written to be received whole.

So before you plan a single sermon, read the letter in one sitting, and then read it again. Read it aloud at least once. The shorter letters take less time than a lunch break, and even the longest can be read in an evening. Nothing else you do in preparation will pay off as much.

As you read, look for the occasion. Who is writing, to whom, and why? Galatians burns with urgency because the churches were turning to a different gospel. Philippians overflows with thanks and joy, even though Paul writes in chains. First Corinthians answers questions the church had sent and confronts its divisions. James writes to believers who are scattered and under trial. First Peter speaks to Christians living as exiles. The occasion is the key that unlocks the rest, and it will keep your application honest.

Then try to write one sentence that captures the purpose of the whole letter. That sentence becomes the backbone of your series, something you can remind people of every week.

Follow the Argument, Not Just the Verses

Letters argue. They move from one thought to the next with connecting words that are easy to skim past: for, therefore, so then, but now, because. Those small words tell you how the ideas relate, and they often show you where a sermon should begin and end.

Watch especially for the turn from what God has done to how believers should live. Ephesians spends three chapters on the riches of God's grace, and then a single therefore at the start of chapter 4 turns to how believers should live in light of it. Romans gives eleven chapters to the mercy of God before 12:1 urges believers, in view of that mercy, to offer themselves to Him. Colossians grounds its commands in the believer's union with the risen Christ (Colossians 3:1-4).

This pattern matters for preaching. If you preach the commands without the grace behind them, you will produce weary moralism. If you preach the grace without the commands that flow from it, you will produce comfortable abstraction. A good sermon on a letter keeps both, in the order the apostle put them.

Divide the Letter into Preaching Units

The chapter and verse numbers in our Bibles were added many centuries after the letters were written, so they are a guide, not a rule. Divide the letter by units of thought instead. Look for where an argument begins and where it lands. Some units are a single paragraph, and some run for half a chapter.

Then decide on a pace. Short letters can often be preached well in four to six weeks. The library's six-week Philippians series and its five-week Galatians series each move through a whole letter at that pace. Longer letters such as Romans or 1 Corinthians may call for a longer series, several shorter series with breaks between them, or a clearly announced selection of key passages. Whatever you choose, be honest about it. If you skip a section, say so and say why.

Give the congregation a map. In the first week, walk them through the shape of the whole letter. Each week after that, take a minute to show where the day's passage fits in the argument. People who know where they are in a book will read it on their own with more confidence, which is one of the best fruits of a series like this.

Bridge from Their Church to Yours

Every letter was written into a situation that differs from yours. Few congregations today argue over food offered to idols or over circumcision. Look beneath the surface issue for the principle the apostle applies. In 1 Corinthians 8, the principle is that knowledge must be governed by love for a weaker brother or sister. In Galatians, the principle is that nothing may be added to Christ as a requirement for belonging to God's people. Principles like these travel well.

Remember too that most of the letters were written to congregations. When a letter speaks to its readers directly, it is very often speaking to the whole church at once. Apply these passages to your people as a body, not only as individuals. How does this church pray, forgive, give, welcome strangers, and handle conflict? The letters were meant to shape communities, not only private lives.

And keep Christ at the center. Each letter is the gospel applied to the life of a particular church. When you trace the argument back to its root, you will find the person and work of Jesus. A series that makes that visible week after week will teach your people not only what one letter says, but how to read the rest of the New Testament too.