Joseph Prince and the Grace and Favour of God: Sermon #2, Heir of the World Because of Righteousness

Joseph Prince and New Creation Church Joseph Prince is the pastor of the mega-church New Creation Church in Singapore. According to the church's website, newcreation.org, the pastor assisted in founding the church in 1983, and today it is the largest church in Singapore with more than 30,000 members. Having more than two decades of pastoral experience, Joseph Prince is a highly sought after public speaker by churches and conferences around the world. He has reached his fame by proclaiming the "unmerited favour" of God through His son Jesus Christ; this is what the pastor refers to in his "Sermon #2, Heir of the World Because Of Righteousness" as "The Grace Revolution." According to Pastor Prince in his sermon and his personal webpage, josephprince.org, he "received a commission" from the Lord to "preach radical grace" while he was on vacation with his family in the Swiss Alps. Since his revelation Pastor Prince has internationally preached the unmerited favour of God in Australia, several nations in Europe, Israel, South Africa, and most recently in the United States. Pastor Prince spent two weeks in November 2013 travelling to Houston, TX, Grand Prairie, TX, Newark, NJ, and Los Angeles, CA preaching for his "The Power of Right Believing" campaign, in which the pastor radically preached that knowing Jesus's love will produce right believing, and therefore right living. This is contrary to what the pastor says most preachers preach today; that one must live right first, and then they will believe right. The success of Joseph Prince's ministry, whom he credits to Jesus Christ's revelation to the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts, and the success of New Creation Church have been phenomenal since their humble beginnings in the early 1980's. The church boasts that by the 1

grace of The Lord their congregation has erupted from 25 original members to the mega-church that it is today. Pastor Prince is the author of Destined to Reign: The Secret to Effortless Success, Wholeness and Victorious Living and The Power of Right Believing: 7 Keys To Freedom From Guilt, Fear, and Addiction. He also has a number of CD and DVD ministries from his sermons and has his own show, Destined to Reign, that is broadcasted in over 150 countries across six continents. While Pastor Prince has been successful, one may beg the question "How?"; How has Joseph Prince's message gained so much popularity in recent years? I will attempt to answer that question by using the approach of Neo-Aristotelian rhetorical criticism as a lens into how Pastor Joseph Prince's rhetoric is changing minds about Christian ideology and making his contribution to rhetorical theory. The sermon I will be using is the fore mentioned "Sermon #2, Heir of the World Because of Righteousness". Pastor Prince preached this sermon at Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia in 2006 for their "Grace and Favour Seminar". Neo-Aristotelian Rhetorical Criticism Taken directly from New Creation Church's website, one of the ideologies of the church is "that salvation is the gift of God to man. This gift is effected by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and it produces works pleasing to God." Considering that Joseph Prince is a religious leader and public speaker, neo-Aristotelian rhetorical criticism can help to examine both the rhetorical appeal of the pastor and the ideology he represents in his rhetoric. Neo-Aristotelian criticism has been a topic of modern debate; there have been several interpretations of what neo-Aristotelian means. Foss adopts the definition and methods of neoAristotelian rhetorical criticism from an essay written in 1925 by Herbert A. Wichelns called "The Literary Criticism of Oratory". Foss states in her book that Wichelns's essay began by 2

"distinguishing literary criticism from rhetorical criticism, asserting that rhetorical criticism 'is concerned with effect. It regards a speech as a communication to a specific audience, and holds its business to be the analysis and appreciation of the orator's method of imparting his ideas to his hearers.'" By saying this, Wichelns believes that the purpose of neo-Aristotelian approach to rhetorical criticism is essentially to analyze an orator and judge the effect that his rhetoric has on his audience. Scholar of rhetorical criticism Edwin Black says in his book, Rhetorical Criticism: A Study in Method, "by far the dominant mode of rhetorical criticism in the present [twentieth] century in the United States has been neo-Aristotelian criticism." Black has an opposite view of modern scholars in that he does not believe that neo-Aristotelian criticism is meant to judge the work of the orator. He goes on to say "...neo-Aristotelian criticism cannot be certain of serving the purpose of Aristotle's rhetoric.'' Black argues that because very little of Aristotle's body of criticism is left behind that it is only a topic of discussion and not a judgment of effect, and that "there might be very little that neo-Aristotelians have in common with Aristotle besides some recurrent topics of discussion and a vaguely derivative view of rhetorical discourse..." In the end of his chapter on the neo-Aristotelian method of rhetorical criticism, Black does concede by saying, "...but even so, these topics and this view may serve to define neo-Aristotelianism," though he continued to be skeptical of the approach in this chapter. specialized For the sake of modernism and argument I will use Foss's adopted method of neoAristotelian criticism. Foss says that Wichelns's suggestion as a critic is to deal with several elements of the speaker and the speech. I will use the classic canons of rhetoric "as they were developed in Greek and Roman times, when the study of rhetoric began (Fosss)": invention,

organization, style, memory, and delivery. These five canons will be a format for analysis of Joseph Prince's sermon in Hillsong, Sydney, Australia. Context In this sermon Pastor Prince introduces his ministry to the congregation of Hillsong Church. He tells his audience that he has been preaching the "Gospel of Grace by Jesus Christ" very radically since 1998 after he received a message from God to do so. He uses direct quotations from the Bible, like pastors do, but remarks in the beginning of his sermon that the scriptures must be delivered in their "original context". Pastor Prince bases the gospel of grace on the two covenants made between God and his people in the book of Exodus in the Old Testament and the gospels of the apostles in the New Testament. He explains that the Ten Commandments were given on Mt. Sinai to teach God's people that they could not keep the laws. He tells his congregation that if they live their lives under the law, "it will bring you to the end of yourself." Prince goes on to explain the new covenant made between God and his people upon the sacrifice of his son, Jesus Christ. He quotes a passage from the book of Hebrews that says, "And I will be their God, and they shall be my people... For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Invention and Logos, Ethos, and Pathos Foss is very clear of the neo-Aristotelian canon of classic invention; "Invention is based on two major forms of proof. External or inartistic proofs are those are those the rhetor uses from other sources but does not create, including the testimony of witnesses and documents such as contracts and letters. Internal or artistic proofs, those that the rhetor creates, fall into three categories: (1) logos or logical argument; (2) ethos or the appeal of the rhetor's character; and (3) pathos or emotional appeal (26)." Joseph Prince's sermon is full of the characteristics that make 4

up classical invention; however, these ideas are topics of religious study and are not considered reliable by all audiences. For the purpose of approach I will be looking at Pastor Prince's appeal to the Christian audience of the "Grace and Favour Seminar", who, one can safely assume, are listening to the sermon with an already grounded belief in the Bible as a source of truth and/or scholarly study. Prince argues that his stance on the belief in the grace of Jesus Christ is actually not a new idea, and that the Bible is full of examples of God's graces between the covenants He makes His people. Prince openly credits the first radical preaching of grace in the form of the Christian Savior, Jesus, to the Apostle Paul and quotes scripture from his writings and other books of the Bible to prove his arguments. He believes that the Christian church has been mixing the messages of the Bible, or the covenants of God. This scenario is set up by discussing Abraham's righteous walk with God, as recorded in the Bible, being 400 plus years before the laws of Moses were given. Prince says that Christians should live a life free from the spiritual bondage of the Mosaic laws and that right believing in the grace of Jesus Christ will produce right living, and not the other way around. Prince accomplishes logos with his audience by quoting scriptures "in their context", which means that Prince gives insight into the original writings of the Apostle Paul and the parallels between the beginning of the law on Mt. Sinai and the beginning of grace on Mt. Zion. Specifically, Pastor Prince discusses the house of Abraham being 400 years before the Law of Moses was given, explaining that Abraham "walked with God" by faith and not by keeping any law. The two sons of Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, are used to illustrate this. Pastor Prince says that Isaac is the son given by grace and spared by God, foretelling of a time when God's own son would be given up for mankind, while Ishmael represents the law because of his birth to a 5

"bondwoman" and the fact that Abraham's wife, Sarah, chose to "cast out the bondwoman and her son"; she did not believe Isaac was meant to share an inheritance with Ishmael. By creating this parallel Pastor Prince is able to display his symbolic understanding of scripture and provide his audience with the background information of a time in the book of Genesis when the grace of God provided the standard of living before the law was given in the book of Exodus. Ethos for Pastor Prince is more easily established by quoting scriptures and other parallels of the Bible that correlate with the internal struggle between grace and law in the house of Abraham. He quote's the Apostle Paul and conveys the context of the introduction to the book of Galatians as the Apostle Paul writes in anger to the Galatians, '"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel...'" Prince explains that Paul is issuing a rebuke to the Galatians for being "removed" from the gospel of the grace based salvation of Jesus Christ "unto another gospel", because according to Prince "Judaists have come on the scene and robbed the believers of Galatia of the joy and blessedness in Christ by reintroducing the law." By quoting scripture and providing context, along with syncing his ministry with that of the Apostle Paul, Pastor Prince makes himself more credible to his audience. The pathos created by Pastor Prince's rhetoric is more identifiable as he sums up his concepts with meaning. He creates his logos by displaying a logical argument that the grace of Jesus Christ is evident throughout the Old and New Testaments, and he provides his ethos by quoting scriptures from other books of the Bible and providing context to support his logos. His pathos is the fruit of the combination of the other two appeals. Prince explains 2 Corinthians 3 by saying, "Paul calls the law 'the ministry of condemnation', and a few verses after that he calls it 'the ministry of death'. I believe many people are sick in the body of Christ, not because of 6

their sin. Their sin has been taken care of at the cross. They are suffering guilt and condemnation that brings stress, heaviness, depression. The Bible says, 'the strength of sin is the law.'" Prince interprets the Apostle Paul by quoting Paul's language that evokes a negative connotation to the old covenant of the law. He provides context by providing his own belief that guilt and self-condemnation produced by the law cause stress and sickness in the body. Organization Organization is what Foss describes as "the general pattern of arrangement adopted for the rhetoric." Pastor Prince's sermon is very organized with claims and scriptural support from multiple books of the Bible between the Old and New Testament. In the beginning of his sermon he requests that the audience have an "open mind and open heart" to hear what he has to say. He then goes on to define the topic of grace; "Grace is not a doctrine. Grace is a person, Jesus Christ. The law was given by Moses, but 'grace and truth came'... It is one thing to give and it is another thing to come personally." From this definition of grace, Pastor Prince goes on to describe the Apostle Paul's anger with the Galatians in the book of Galatia for preaching a legalistic gospel instead of one that is based on the grace of Christ. He continues to argue against "some" who would say the sacrifice of Christ has relieved his people of the ceremonial law of the ritual killing of animals and that the Ten Commandments must be kept in order to be Holy. Prince says, "We are all for holiness, but the question is how to get there from here." After he gives definition to grace and law Prince parallels Bible stories with the generous grace of God and the failure of man to keep the law: Adam and Eve disobeyed one law given by God in Eden; The Israelites broke the first commandment after Moses received them on Mt. Sinai. He then expounds on the symbolism of Abraham's wife, Sarah, and his bond servant, Hagar; he says that Sarah is the covenant of grace and Hagar is the covenant of law because of 7

the recorded inheritances of Abraham's sons by the two women. In the story of Abraham's sons, Ishmael and Isaac, Ishmael represents the law and persecutes Isaac who represents grace, which is why God tells Abraham in Genesis to "cast out the bond woman and her son." Prince says the same goes for people under grace today, that religious Christians practicing the covenant of the law will persecute Christians practicing the gospel of grace and anyone else they see as sinners. Soon after Pastor Prince speaks about roles of law and grace in today's context he touches briefly on the opposing viewpoints, that the blessings of Christ must be balanced with God's laws. He says, "You know? I used to be a very safe preacher... Jesus says 'woe to you when all men speak well of you.'" Prince tells his audience that some people oppose him because they believe that his preaching will give people in the church "license to sin," but quickly follows up with, "Haven't you noticed that people are sinning in the church without license already?" He continues to defend himself by comparing his preaching to that of the Apostle Paul's. Prince explains that the Apostle Paul was accused of preaching radical grace just like him, because the people of the book of Romans asked Paul, "Should we sin more that grace may abound?", but the Paul responds by explaining that "where sin increases grace super abounds." Pastor Prince interprets Paul as saying he is against sin, but where there is sin in the church the grace of God swallows it up, referring back to the original promise of the new covenant in the book of Hebrews, "I will remember their sins no more." Then, Prince tells a story of reading a passage from an English theologian named Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones. He says that in the passage, Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones asks why more people aren't accusing preachers of preaching radical grace today. By telling this story he is justifying his sermon on the basis of Bible scripture and an outside source to provide credibility.

There is an apparent formula that Pastor Prince uses in order to organize his sermons. In the beginning he claims that Jesus is the gospel of grace and then offers scriptural support. He claims that Christians today are no longer judged by their performance in the eyes of God because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He uses the story of Abraham in the Old Testament to prove that man walked with God before the law was given and the story of Moses giving the laws and creating a work based salvation for the Israelites. He also uses the writings of Paul to show that Christians walk with God now in the same way Abraham did, because sins have been forgiven forever, and that the knowledge of that would make people "want to fall in love with Jesus" and not sin. Then, after making his claims and supporting them, Prince acknowledges the opposition to his preaching and provides scriptural support to counter the opposition. Pastor Prince then makes another claim to support his message and the cycle continues: claim, support, opposition acknowledgement, opposition rebuttal, claim, and so on. Style Foss defines style by saying, "The canon of style deals with the language used by the rhetor. A critic assesses how particular kinds of words or other symbols are used by the rhetor to create varying effects and how the symbols are arranged to form larger units such as sentences, figures of speech, images, and so on." Pastor Prince tells his audience in the very beginning what the purpose of his sermon is by saying, "Tonight you are about to receive spiritual seed that will birth something powerful, life transforming. That's what we're here for. God is not interested in behavior modification. He wants life transformation... Please come with an open heart and open mind." By opening this way, Prince makes a claim about what God really wants for his people. By asking the audience to come with and open heart and mind, Prince readies his audience for something they may have never heard, or may be controversial. 9

Pastor Prince's style in rhetorical delivery can also be found in the interpretation of symbolism. Prince uses the symbolism of Abraham's sons Ishmael and Isaac to represent law and grace. He quotes the Apostle Paul in the book of Galatians as calling the law "weak and beggarly elements." Prince says, "If you are under the law you'll be weak, you'll be sick, ...it makes you a beggar, it makes you poor." He uses the illustration of Ishmael in Genesis when Hagar, "the bond woman", and Ishmael, "her son", go into exile in the desert. Ishmael represents the law because he was sick and weak as a teenager and Hagar had to "fend" for him, but Isaac represents grace because he was strong enough to carry a load of wood up a mountain for Abraham when he was a young teenager. Delivery According to Foss "the canon of delivery is concerned with the speaker's manner of presentation." She says that mannerisms of the speaker, articulation, and whether or not the speaker spoke impromptu or from memory are all elements to analysis of delivery. Being that Pastor Prince is a world-renowned public speaker, he should be capable of rhetorical delivery. Upon observing Prince's mannerisms it becomes obvious that he is very confident in front of the congregation. He rarely stands still, and when he does it isn't for long. He keeps the large audience alert by walking back and forth across the stage to address the people from all arrangements of seating. Pastor Prince is also articulate in word pronunciation. He is Singaporean and has an accent that makes it evident that English is not his first language, but he speaks clearly and never trips over his words. Prince is also able to preach his sermon from memory. He holds nothing on stage with him but his Bible, and has developed his organization and material well enough to deliver his message without referring to any notes. How does, however, provide his scriptural support on a large projector for the congregation. 10

Receptiveness of the audience, when examined, seemed to be very positive toward what Pastor Prince had to say about the covenant of grace. The large audience applauded for him many times throughout his sermon, and some gave him a standing ovation. There were other audience members sitting closer to the stage making remarks to the pastor by saying things like, "That's right" and "Wow". Judging by the reaction of the audience it is clear that they enjoyed the sermon and are encouraged, maybe even curious, about the message. Memory Memory, Foss says, was not "dealt with systematically by Aristotle", but it "deals with the control of the materials of the speech and the relation of memory to the mode of presentation selected." What makes Pastor Prince's sermons seem harder than just standing in front of a large audience is the memory of his organization and the specific scriptures and passages he uses for his logos, ethos, and pathos. By preaching to the masses without referring to any notes, or even looking in the Bible, Prince adds to his credibility with the audience. He preaches about the love of Jesus Christ and quotes verses from the Bible while keeping his composure and walking back and forth on stage to address his audience. But Pastor Prince doesn't just know his material. He also knows what is being said in opposition to his ministry. This enables him to address questions about what he believes people may misunderstand, and gives the audience the opportunity to hear what constraints he preaches under and how he overcomes them.

Answering the Question How has Joseph Prince's message gained so much popularity in recent years? As Prince was preaching he addressed those who live by the ministry of the law and the ministry of grace. He tells the story of Isaac and Ishmael and why Hagar and Ishmael were cast out of Abraham's 11

camp; he clarifies that Ishmael persecuted Isaac, and for that he and Hagar were sent into exile. He says that those who live by the ministry of the law will persecute those who live by the ministry of grace, "Oh, they'll persecute you at the drop of a hat." Considering that Prince has been invited to seminars all over the world to share the message of the grace of Jesus Christ, there must be a need for his message. Perhaps the members of the Christian churches today are ridden with guilt and self-condemnation, like Pastor Prince claims, by being taught that they have to obey the laws of God to have salvation and holiness. By analyzing Pastor Prince's rhetoric using the five canons of neo-Aristotelian rhetorical analysis, I can say that his sermon, "Heir to the World Because of Righteousness," was a success. His audience was receptive and some shared his enthusiasm by shouting "Amen" and "Hallelujah". There were many bursts of clapping throughout the one and a half hour long sermon, and the camera crew included shots of the audience standing to their feet in applause for Prince. There were also the occasional close-up shots of individuals that had tears in their eyes or appeared to me intently listening. He told the audience that grace based preaching was not his invention, but rather a reemerging concept that was preached originally by the Apostle Paul. His sermon was well organized and flowed smoothly from one argument to the next with scriptural support from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. The language Prince uses to convey his message is full of the ideas of hope and freedom from spiritual oppression, and his interpretation displayed his knowledge of the subject and symbolism in the scriptures. He kept his audience active by walking back and forth across the stage to make sure he addressed the whole church, and he quoted scripture and provided context with no notes to guide him.

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Analyzing Pastor Joseph Prince's rhetoric using neo-Aristotelian rhetorical criticism contributes to rhetorical theory by keeping this form of rhetorical criticism relevant for critics today. Neo-Aristotelian rhetorical criticism also helps to reveal characteristics about a rhetor and his rhetoric that lead to an approving audience. By analyzing the pastor's rhetorical devices and his audience's reactions, complemented with the knowledge of Pastor Prince's background and personal accomplishments as a public speaker, one can reason that he produces something with his Christ-centered, grace "super-abounding" rhetoric that consumers of Christian rhetoric want more of. The traits that Prince displays as a rhetor and his tactful, enthusiastic delivery are changing minds all over the world with preaching that Jesus's grace is the only true way to salvation, and not law-based performance. Whether or not some audiences accept what Prince has to say, people are still responding.

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Works Cited Black, Edwin. Rhetorical Criticism: A Study in Method. Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, 1978. 91-106. eBook. <http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=lVG_dCNbYo4C&oi=fnd&pg= PR9&dq=Neo-aristotelian criticism&ots=_d9kuc7CNy&sig=Y8TQefnWacOe0lZfGqSAdJ9Q2Go. (Black 91131) Foss, Sonja. Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practicum. 4th ed. Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press, INC., 2009. Print. (Foss ) Prince, Joseph, perf. "Heir of the World Because of Righteousness: Sermon 2." Destined to Reign. The Victory Television Network: KVTN, Little Rock, 06 Nov 2013. Television. ("Heir of the World Because of Righteousness: Sermon 2") Prince, Joseph. "About: The Ministry." Joseph Prince Ministries. Joseph Prince Ministries, n.d. Web. 20 Nov 2013. <http://www.josephprince.org/About_The_Ministry.html?active=about>. (Prince) "Welcome to New Creation Church." New Creation Church. New Creation Church, n.d. Web. 20 Nov 2013. <http://www.newcreation.org.sg/>. ("Welcome to New Creation Church")

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