The Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture 

The sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments comprise the Holy Scriptures, the entirety of which is breathed out by God, each word inspired, and thus infallible, inerrant, and authoritative as the revelation of God’s own mind (2 Tim 3:16–17; 2 Pet 1:21; cf. 1 Cor 2:7–14). Scripture is the sole sufficient, certain, and infallible authority for faith and practice, entirely sufficient to sanctify the people of God (John 17:17; 2 Pet 1:3–4). Therefore, its content is the only lawful subject of Christian preaching (2 Tim 4:2). The canon of Scripture being closed, no other source of revelation is to be sought for the sanctification, edification, or guidance of God’s people, including the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and healing, which miraculous sign gifts ceased at the close of the first century (Eph 2:20; Rev 22:18).

The Sound Interpretation of Scripture 

The faithful preacher must diligently study God’s Word in its original languages in order to rightly interpret its true meaning (2 Tim 2:15). Though many applications may be drawn from a passage of Scripture, there is only one true interpretation: the original intent of the author, which is discerned by fidelity to the rules of grammar, to the facts of the text’s historical and literary context, and to the proper interpretation of the rest of Scripture (2 Pet 1:20–21; cf. John 10:35; Gal 3:16).

The Bold Exposition of Scripture 

The inspiration, infallibility, inerrancy, sufficiency, and authority of Scripture mandate the expositional preaching of Scripture, in which the preacher takes the content and structure of the text for the content and structure of his sermon, faithfully explaining the meaning of the text in its context and boldly applying the text to his hearers by reproving, rebuking, and exhorting with great patience, instruction, and authority (Titus 2:15; 2 Tim 3:15–4:2).