What is the Difference Between a Speech and a Sermon? Stephen Bedard, August 23, 2016March 19, 2022 I was asked today on Facebook about the difference between a speech and a sermon. I thought that was a good question and so I have decided to look more closely at it. What is a speech? According to one online dictionary, a speech (at least in the relevant context) is: A formal address or discourse delivered to an audience:‘he gave a speech about the company’ According to this definition, a sermon is a speech as it is an address or discourse delivered to an audience. That same dictionary gives this definition of a sermon: A talk on a religious or moral subject, especially one given during a church service and based on a passage from the Bible:‘I preached my first sermon on original sin’ So is a sermon just a speech on a religious topic? I have taught the New Testament for a number of years at a couple of schools. In those classes, I spoke on the Bible to a Christian audience. Was it preaching? While there were times when I would slip into preaching, in general it was not preaching. The difference was not just that it was not taking place in a church service. What do I see as being different between a sermon and a speech on a religious or biblical topic? A sermon has an authority that a normal speech does not have. I need to make it clear that the authority does not come from the position of the pastor. The authority comes from the passage of Scripture that is being preached on. A sermon should not be a motivational speech with a little illustration from the Bible. A sermon should be an expounding of Scripture and it should be authoritative because it is so thoroughly biblical. A sermon should not be a motivational speech with a little illustration from the Bible. Click To Tweet The other difference is that a speech often passes on information, while a sermon seeks transformation. I must make it clear that I’m a teacher by nature, and so my sermons do pass on information. But I’m always asking myself the “So what?” question. What is it that I want my congregation to do with what they hear from Scripture? There must be a clear application. So a sermon is a speech. But it is a special kind of speech. A sermon is an authoritative expounding of Scripture that seeks to transform the audience with a biblical challenge. Liked it? Take a second to support Stephen Bedard on Patreon! Related Posts What's the Difference Between Teaching and Preaching?Is there a difference between preaching and teaching? There certainly is overlap. There are some… What is the Difference Between Evangelism and Apologetics?Evangelism and apologetics are related activities but they are not the same thing. Evangelism literally… What is the Difference Between a PhD and a DMin?There are a number of different doctorates that Christian leaders work toward but two of… Bedard on Discipleship Leadership and Ministry Blog PreachingSermonSpeech
Alistair Begg, referring to a Scottish pastor of yesteryear, answered this question as such; a sermon is a personal, passionate, plea. Reply
A little simplistic of an assertion, when you consider the plethora of books written on homiletics, and the large volume by John Broadus, which examines the many rhetorical elements of preaching! The overlap between homiletics and classical rhetorical theory is immense and much of it is untaught — as Haddon Robinson realized — himself a student of classical theory. Reply
The post was not meant to be an academic study of homiletics. It was meant to be a summary for laypeople. But thanks for your input. Reply