Early Christian Beliefs About Preaching and Homilies
Early Christians treated preaching as a normal part of church life: Scripture was read, then leaders taught and exhorted the people. Justin Martyr gives a clear picture of Sunday worship, and Origen, Tertullian, and others connect preaching with apostolic truth and public instruction. The evidence is strong for preaching as teaching from Scripture, but thinner on the exact form of a formal homily.
102 early-church witnesses · 195 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about homilies and Christian Preaching?
Early Christian writings link preaching with apostolic teaching, public reading, exhortation, and guarding the Gospel, not just with eloquent speech. Justin Martyr describes Sunday gatherings with the apostles’ writings read aloud and the leader giving instruction, while Origen and Tertullian connect preaching with the spread of the faith and the reading of Scripture. Several writers also stress that true preaching must stay close to apostolic teaching and reject false doctrine.
The evidence is broad for preaching as a normal church practice, but thinner for detailed homily structure, since most cards speak generally about teaching, exhorting, or preaching rather than formal sermons. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christians tied preaching to Scripture reading, teaching, and exhortation.
- Justin Martyr says the reader finished, then the leader verbally instructed the people.
- Origen and Tertullian link preaching to the spread of the Gospel and apostolic truth.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did the early Christians see preaching as central to the Gospel?
These sources present preaching as the ordinary public way the Gospel was announced and taught. The Bible cards show Jesus and the apostles preaching, while early Christian writers describe preaching as divinely empowered, apostolic, and foundational to the faith.
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Justin Martyr, Connection to Acts 2:42 Direct teaching
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.
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Tertullian, Apology Supporting witness
...an obstinate refusal to offer sacrifices, he found in their religious services nothing but meetings early in the morning for singing hymns to Christ and God, and sealing their way of life by a united pledge to remain faithful to their religion, forbidding murder, adultery, dishonesty, and other crimes. In reply, Trajan wrote back that Christians were by no means to be sought out. But if they were brought before him, they should be punished. O miserable deliverance. Under the necessities of the case, it is a self-contradiction. It forbids them to be sought out, as innocent, and it commands them to be punished, as guilty. It is at once merciful and cruel. It passes by, and it punishes. Why do you play this game of evasion with yourself, O Judgment? If you condemn, why do you not also inquire? If you do not inquire, why do you not also absolve? Military stations are set throughout all the provinces for tracking robbers. Against traitors and public enemies every man is a soldier. Search is made even for their confederates and accessories. The Christian alone must not be sought, though he may be brought and accused before the judge, as if a search had any other end than that! And so
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1 Timothy 4:13 Direct teaching
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
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2 Timothy 4:2 Supporting witness
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
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1 Corinthians 14:26 Supporting witness
How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
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Acts 2:42 Supporting witness
And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
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Acts 13:15 Supporting witness
And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”
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Acts 5:42 Supporting witness
And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
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Colossians 1:28 Supporting witness
Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
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Titus 2:15 Supporting witness
These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
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Romans 12:7 Supporting witness
or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching;
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1 Timothy 4:16 Supporting witness
Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
More related quotations from this section 2 shown
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1 Timothy 4:11 Supporting witness
These things command and teach.
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Luke 3:18 Supporting witness
And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.
What did early Christian worship services include besides prayer?
The sources show gathered worship that included Scripture reading and spoken exhortation or teaching. Justin and the Apostolic Constitutions are especially clear that the assembled church heard readings and then received verbal instruction or exhortation.
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Irenaeus, Against Heresies: Book III Direct teaching
We have learned about the plan of our salvation from no others than those through whom the Gospel has come down to us. They proclaimed it publicly at one time and later, by the will of God, handed it down to us in the Scriptures, which serve as the foundation and support of our faith. It is wrong to claim that they preached before they had “perfect knowledge,” as some boldly suggest, considering themselves as enhancers of the apostles. After our Lord rose from the dead, the apostles were given power from above when the Holy Spirit came upon them, filling them with all His gifts and perfect knowledge. They traveled to the ends of the earth, spreading the glad tidings of the good things sent from God to us, and proclaiming the peace of heaven to people, all of whom have the Gospel of God equally and individually. Matthew also wrote a Gospel in the Hebrew language while Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, wrote down what Peter had preached. Luke, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Later on, John, the disciple of the Lord, who had leaned upo
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Tertullian, Against Marcion Supporting witness
Luke himself desired the authority of his predecessors for both his own faith and preaching, how much more may not I require for Luke's Gospel that which was necessary for the Gospel of his master.
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Origen, Against Celsus Supporting witness
...se concerning the divinity of His teaching would not have shown itself. For if the teaching and the preaching had consisted in persuasive speech and well-arranged words, then faith too, like the faith of the philosophers of the world in their opinions, would have come through the wisdom of men, and not through the power of God. Now who, on seeing fishermen and tax collectors, who had not learned even the most basic elements of learning, as the Gospel says about them, and on this point Celsus believes they speak the truth, since they are recording their own ignorance, speaking boldly not only among the Jews about faith in Jesus, but also preaching Him successfully among other nations, would not ask where they got this power to persuade? For theirs was certainly not the usual method followed by the crowd. And who would not say that the promise, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men," was fulfilled by Jesus in the history of His apostles through a kind of divine power? Paul also refers to this with approval, as we said a little earlier, when he says, "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power
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Justin Martyr, Connection to Mark 16:15 Supporting witness
For from Jerusalem there went out into the world, men, twelve in number, and these illiterate, of no ability in speaking: but by the power of God they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the word of God.
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Romans 10:14 Supporting witness
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
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Matthew 4:23 Supporting witness
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
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Matthew 9:35 Supporting witness
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
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Luke 9:6 Supporting witness
And they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the gospel, and healing every where.
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Acts 11:20 Supporting witness
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
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Titus 1:3 Supporting witness
But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
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Romans 10:15 Supporting witness
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
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Mark 16:15 Supporting witness
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
More related quotations from this section 2 shown
Common Questions
Did early Christians preach in church services?
Yes. Justin Martyr says that after Scripture reading, the leader verbally instructed and exhorted the people.
Did early Christians think preaching had to stay close to apostolic teaching?
Yes. Writers like Irenaeus and Tertullian stress that preaching must stay with the Gospel handed down by the apostles.
Were homilies based on Bible reading?
Yes. Justin Martyr describes readings from the apostles or prophets before instruction, and other writers connect preaching with Scripture.
Source Index for Homilies and Christian Preaching
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 195 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 102
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
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Didache, Connection to Acts 2:42
Bible Passages 80 shown of 93
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.