Forgiveness is ours, Luther continually proclaimed, because Christ has put His claim on our sins and taken them as His own to the Cross and into His tomb.
This restoration to righteousness that results in our freedom for loving and supporting other people whom God places within our reach takes place, Luther believed, through Christ’s liberating victory over Satan.
In the final analysis it isn’t a matter of whether you use rhetoric, but how. Inasmuch as your preaching is still public speaking...you’re going to get rhetorical.
This is one of the earliest bits of New Testament literature, and the words of this relative of our Savior are inspired and useful for teaching and reproof, for correction and training in righteousness.
If you find yourself preaching through epistles for multiple weeks, maybe, just maybe, your hearer will find something familiar from last week in what you are talking about this week which piques their interest, and even whets their appetite for what else might be coming.
It might be said of Thielicke’s preaching of the parables, he does not throw sticks of dynamite, but sets little time bombs which explode, sometimes in unexpected ways, in the minds and hearts of those who hear him.