Good Preaching and the Ladder of Abstraction
A preacher can improve his communication by using the "ladder of abstraction." It can also get him in a lot of trouble.
Any preacher can improve the clarity and effectiveness of his communication by utilizing the "ladder of abstraction." It can also get him in a lot of trouble.
This is a helpful concept I’ve learned and applied at my church the last 15 years.
What is the Ladder of Abstraction?
The ladder of abstraction is a communication tool that describes how thoughts and words move from concrete details at the bottom to abstract concepts at the top. Both are necessary for good communication. Good communicators move up and down the ladder, connecting top-of-ladder principles with bottom-of-ladder specificity.
Scripture tells us, faith is the “assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). The truths of the Christian faith are mostly unseen, making them more abstract. Scripture also says, we “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7). The Christian life is not merely a matter of believing abstract truth propositions. Ours is an ethical faith, and we must learn how to “walk” according to things we can’t see.
That’s where the ladder of abstraction comes in. Abstractions are essential to our faith but harder to understand. For example, Christians believe in concepts like justification by faith, penal substitutionary atonement, original sin, covenant headship, and so forth. But when Christians hear these concepts being discussed or preached about, they think, “yeah but what am I supposed to do?”
To answer that question, they need those concepts brought down the ladder of abstraction. The bottom of the ladder is much more practical and easier to relate to. For example, bottom of the ladder includes things like praying for your mother who is sick, serving your church as a greeter, showing up on time for work, being a faithful husband/wife, and children obeying their parents.
Even still, if people only hear preaching from the bottom of the ladder, they may not learn how the ethical requirements of the Christian faith are connected to the unseen theological principles of the Bible. People who attend churches that over-focus on ethical requirements of the Bible might fail to understand that “by works of the law no one will be justified” (Gal 2:16). Christianity is not merely ethical. Ultimately, every thought, word, action, and motive has theological significance, because in God “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
Top of the Ladder Preaching
Preachers who focus too much on the top of the ladder will be less engaging, doctrinaire, and boring. The preacher may give you all kinds of details about Paul’s missionary journeys, who was emperor of Rome when the book of Ephesians was written, or defend the Pauline authorship of various NT books against 19th century German liberal scholars. He may be 100% correct in his conclusions, but his congregation is bored to tears.
Why? Because there’s nothing to do. It’s all abstract. It doesn’t connect to their daily lives.
Another problem with “top of the ladder” preaching is that very abstractness of some concepts enables the pastor can conveniently avoid pressing the ethical demands of the gospel onto the consciences of his congregation. Boring, doctrinaire preaching offends no one. It’s just not very helpful. It doesn’t rebuke, train, or correct anyone. Preaching that stays at the top of the ladder is so vague that it leaves room for individual hearers to hear whatever they want to hear.
For example, “sexual immorality” is a top of the ladder concept. A preacher can talk about the dangers of sexual immorality, why Christians should avoid sexual immorality, verses that condemn sexual immorality, and so on. The phrase “sexual immorality” is specific enough to sound concrete, but vague enough to allow everyone to supply their own definitions.
Any preacher who brings that concept down the ladder will more likely offend people, which will actually make him more helpful to them. How? By not allowing them to hide behind the abstractions. Someone living in gross sexual sin may sit comfortably in a doctrinaire sermon about “sexual immorality” because the preacher hasn’t defined it for him. He supplies his own definition, which may include every other kind of sexual sin except the one he’s committing and which he’s excluded from his self-supplied definition.
Good preaching has to be more specific to be helpful, which means, it has to come down the ladder.
A good preacher will talk about pornography on people’s smartphones. He might cite how persistent porn use is connected to lower testosterone levels in men and how it deadens the conscience. He might talk about the pornification of all modern entertainment and how to avoid it. He might talk about young women reading erotica and indulging lustful fantasies in their hearts. He might talk about how the sexual sin of engaged couples can erode trust in the relationship after they’re married. He might talk about the sin of homosexuality, even if the people involved say they love each other and are in a committed, monogamous relationship. He might need to address the sin of approving such sinful relationships.
The more specific he gets, the more helpful he will be to his people, and the more angry emails he’ll get the following week. That’s a good thing, because preaching that never offends is preaching that never helps.
But he doesn’t stay at the bottom of the ladder, he also moves back up the ladder, perhaps connecting his message to the biblical imagery of Christ as the faithful bridegroom who purifies his bride. He might talk about how the scriptures describe the relationship between God and his people as a marriage and sin as “whoring” and idolatry.
Bottom of the Ladder Preaching
Preachers who focus too much on the bottom of the ladder can be very engaging. Bottom of the ladder preachers may talk about real world problems people experience every day like broken marriages, rebellious teenagers, financial struggles, dealing with work stressors, overcoming anxieties, building Christian friendships, and so on. His practical counsel may be spot on, but it’s relevance to deeper Christian doctrine is neglected, thus making them into “good people” (from a worldly point of view) but with a shallow faith and faint acknowledgement of God’s holiness, wrath, or justice.
This is a common pattern with mega-churches. They’ve perfected the church growth formula, which insists upon man-centered preaching that seem helpful and relevant, but the God-talk is shallow and one-dimensional. Their doctrine of God is all about his love. Their theology of atonement is all about God’s acceptance and forgiveness. Their ethics is focused on showing you how to have a great life.
Bottom of the ladder preaching is popular because it’s easier to understand and people like hearing man-centered messages. But any TED talk can do that.
Good preaching grounds the practical ethics of the Bible in the eternal character and holiness of God. Good preaching doesn’t merely speak of these things as life hacks, but as the law of God, which teach us how to live a God honoring life while highlighting our need for a redeemer because we’ve all fallen short.
Moving Up and Down the Ladder
Good preaching is neither always at the top nor always at the bottom. It moves up and down the ladder, ensuring that abstract concepts and practical applications are always connect.
Good preachers do this not merely for the sake of good rhetorical technique, but because they are shepherds who want their people to truly comprehend Christian doctrine and help them live obedience lives that please their master. They preach the deep doctrines of God while teasing out the ethical demands of the gospel. They preach practical life lessons while anchoring them in the eternal truths of God’s word and the character of our infinitely holy God.