The Reformation: A Return To The Primacy Of Preaching

INTRODUCTION

With humble gratitude to God we commemorate the great Reformation of the 16th century. We say humble because the Reformation was a mighty work of God's grace, and because we are the blessed recipients of this glorious tradition. Thus as we remember this event we must do so with thankfulness to God.

The heritage of the Reformation is rich. Consequently, there are many different aspects to the Reformation which are worthy of our consideration. But one of the most important is that it constituted a return to the primacy of preaching. In this we have the support of many other historians and analyzers of the Reformation. This is not our private opinion.

To quote one man who wrote on the Reformed tradition of worship:

"Whatever else it was, the Reformation was a great preaching revival, probably the greatest in the history of the Christian church. Riding a rising tide of preaching in the late Middle Ages, the Reformers expanded the practice still farther, and gave it a significantly new function and character." - James Hastings Nichols, Corporate Worship, the Reformed Tradition, p.29.

And another has written:

"...The activity God has commanded for the forwarding of his purposes is the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Here is the key to understanding the power of the Reformation. It lay in releasing the Word of God to a people who knew so little of it." - Gordon J. Murray, p.2.

In this respect it was a return to the days of the early church, when preaching was at the center of the service, and God's people came eagerly to feed upon the Word of God proclaimed from Lord's Day to Lord's Day. And this is what makes the Reformation so pertinent to our day. For it is especially this heritage of the pure preaching of the Word which we count so necessary for the church of all ages, and which is so precious to us. Every truly Reformed Christian wants faithful preaching, because he knows that this is the way of salvation God has ordained for his soul (Ephesians 4; Romans 10).

But we also realize that this heritage is being lost, being undermined, being replaced today in churches which have their roots in the Reformation. This grieves us as well as the Lord God. And that is why this subject is relevant for our consideration. Let us turn then, to our subject, dividing it into 3 parts: The Need for Such a Return; the Reformation as a Return: and the Significance of this for us the Church of Christ today.

THE NEED FOR SUCH A RETURN

During the Middle Ages (approximately 500 to 1500 AD) preaching gradually lost its place of primacy, until it was all but lost from the life and work of the church in the years before the Reformation. We should remember that the Middle Ages were a time of gradual but steady decline for the church. As she increased in her worldly power and influence, she decreased in her spiritual strength and influence. Sometimes the Middle Ages are referred to as the "Dark Ages". This was certainly true also with respect to the preaching. The days before the Reformation were preaching poor times.

This was true of the established clergy, the bishops and especially the priests. Many of them simply did not preach at all. It is said that the lay people could not expect any preaching from the priests in the local parish. Weeks and even months could go by without their hearing any sermon from the pulpit of their local church. Many priests simply forsook their parishes (local churches), checking up on them only once in a while. The English Reformer, Hugh Latimer, called such absentee priests "strawberry parsons", since "they came only once a year and stayed for a very short time" (G.J.Murray, "The Preaching of the English Reformers", p.9, 10). Writing already in 1520, Luther exclaimed,

"Lo, whither hath the glory of the church departed! The whole earth is filled with priests, bishops, cardinals and clerics, and yet not one of them preaches by virtue of his office, unless he be called to do so by another and by a different call besides his sacramental ordination." - The Babylonian Captivity, Works, II, p.280.

And if and when the bishops and priests did preach the quality of the sermons was very poor. There was preserved in the worship service a place for preaching. This was called the "homily", a brief sermon. But these homilies were for the most part nothing but borrowed sermons from the church fathers. The priests did no original work, no exposition of the Scriptures. The sermons were therefore not edifying but boring treatments of meaningless subjects of the Middle Ages. In addition these sermons were filled with many absurd stories and fables. Besides, even if the sermons were of good quality and content, they were most often read in Latin, which most of the people could not understand.

On the character of these sermons Calvin wrote:

"...What sermons in Europe then exhibited that simplicity with which Paul wishes Christian people to be always occupied? Nay, what one sermon was there from which old wives might not carry off more whimsies than they could devise at their own fireside in a month? For, as sermons were then usually divided, the first half was devoted to those misty questions of the schools which might astonish the rude populace, while the second contained sweet stories, or not unamusing speculations, by which the hearers might be kept on the alert. Only a few expressions were thrown in from the Word of God, that by their majesty they might procure credit for these frivolities." - Traces, I, p.40

This was also true of the travelling preachers, the friars. These were special religious orders of men in the Roman Catholic Church, whose beginnings had been sound and good. This class of clergy arose because of a lack of preaching in the church and care for the sick and poor. Founded by Francis of Assisi and Dominic in the 13th century, they were organized into preaching orders, which would travel throughout the countryside bringing the message of the gospel to the poor peasants. But gradually, these friars too fell victim to the abuses in the church. They gave in to the sermon style of the day, and worse became nothing more than instruments of the pope.

Hence also their preaching became corrupt and worthless. Instead of bringing the pure and simple gospel based upon the Scriptures, they resorted to embellished messages in which the stories of the Bible were mixed in with sensational fables and traditions, in order to entertain the peasants. Thus did they spread fact and fiction, truth and lie, and therefore confusion throughout the countryside. The result was that, though they still traveled preaching the message they brought was not that of the gospel, but of loyalty to the pope and the need of money for the church coffers.

It is also striking but sad that with the preaching so bad and the people so ignorant another method of bringing the gospel to the people was being used: drama. Groups of dramatists would travel from town to town putting on mystery plays and passion plays. Sound familiar?! Yes, history is being repeated in our day! And sadly, in Protestant churches which have their roots in the preaching revival of the Reformation!

But if there was little or no preaching done by the ordained clergy of the church, who was doing the preaching? Undoubtedly there were a few faithful bishops, priests, and friars scattered throughout the vast regions of the church world, who continued to bring the gospel to the humble city and country folk.

But one Reformer was convinced that there was one faithful preacher at work in the church. Hugh Latimer, in a 1548 sermon denouncing the sin of a lack of sound preaching among the clergy of his day, announced whom he considered to be the "most diligent preacher and teacher in all England." Said he,

"And will ye know who it is? I will tell you: it is the devil. He is the most diligent preacher of all other; he is never out of his diocese; he is never from his cure; ye shall never find him unoccupied... And his office is to hinder religion, to maintain superstition, to set up idolatry, to teach all kinds of popery. He is ready as can be ...to devise as many ways as can be to deface and obscure God's glory. Where the devil is resident, and hath his plough going, there away with books, and up with candles: away with bibles, and up with beads; away with the light of the Gospel, and up with the light of candles... Where the devil is resident that he may prevail, up with all superstition and idolatry; censing, painting of images, candles, palms, ashes, holy water, and new service of men's inventing; as though man could invent a better way to honour God with than God himself hath appointed. Down with Christ's cross, up with purgatory pickpurse, up with him, the popish purgatory, I mean. Away with clothing the naked, the poor and impotent: up with decking of images and gay garnishing of stocks and stones: up with man's traditions and his laws, down with God's traditions and his most holy Word. Down with the old honour due to God, and up with the new god's honour... Oh that our prelates would be as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine, as Satan is to sow cockle and darnel". - Latimer, Sermons, pp.70,71; quoted from The Preaching of the English Reformers, G.J.Murray.

Such was the situation. Not only was the true biblical preaching no longer central; it was also virtually non-existent.

How do we account for this? There are especially two reasons for this decline and dearth of preaching:

First, the RISE OF THE AUTHORITY OF THE POPE and with it the decline in the authority of the Scriptures. During the Middle Ages a gradual stress was laid upon the offices of the church. With this came a multiplication of the number of offices: cardinals, bishops, priests, monks, etc. In particular the office of the papacy came to dominate, when the bishop of Rome assumed the title of successor of Peter, and Head of the entire church of Christ. From that point all it took was a few dominant popes, and the power of the pope was firmly established. And that is what happened in the Middle Ages.

But these men were not satisfied with being the mere successors of Peter. For, assuming to themselves the office of Christ, these popes took the position that they were the direct mediators between God and men; they were the voice of God to the people. Hence, the pronouncements they made and the decisions they took were the infallible, authoritative word of God. The result was that the authority of the church and her tradition was exalted above the Scriptures. As far as the church was concerned, the people no longer needed the Bible nor the preaching of it: they only needed to hear and abide by the teachings of the popes. Besides, the Bible and the preaching of it were considered dangerous to the people. And so the Bible was to all intents and purposes taken out of the hands of the people. And with that went the preaching.

A second reason for the loss of the primacy of preaching was the emphasis placed on the Mass to the exclusion of the Word as the chief means of grace. During the Middle Ages great stress was also placed upon the sacraments, and with that, on the formal, outward worship of the church. The result was that at the time of the Reformation, the worship services of the Roman Catholic Church were filled with untold and unbiblical rituals and ceremonies. But at the center was the Mass. This was their sacrament of the Lord's Supper, only with many abominable additions. According to the Romish church in the mass a very marvelous thing took place. First, the bread and wine were transposed into the actual body and blood of Christ. And, second, the priest offered up the "body" of Christ in a real, atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people.

Consequently, the people were led to believe that they were fed with the actual body of Christ in the wafer, and that this was the chief means of grace. And they were taught that on the basis of the priest's repeat performance of Christ's death they had the forgiveness of sins. Their salvation, they were told, was tied to the mass.

It is not difficult to see that with this kind of idea of the sacrament the preaching of Christ crucified had to take a back seat. In the mind of the church at that time, was it not far better to have Christ really crucified again before your eyes, than simply to hear about it in the Word preached? Thus did the mass become the heart of worship, because it was seen to be the chief means of grace. And the preaching was relegated to a low, insignificant place in the worship; it was no longer primary. Indeed, it was unnecessary!

For these reasons the priests and other officers of the church did not really need to preach, and they were not trained to do so either. The priests did not have to bring the message of the gospel to the people. All they had to do was dispense the grace of God through the means the church established as the vehicles of grace. The attitude that prevailed was: Why resort to preaching the Word, when there were so many other easier ways to bestow divine blessings? Hence, for the most part the clergy of the Roman Catholic Church went untrained in the art of sermonizing; seminaries for the training of preachers were unheard of. Instead they were taught how to hear confessions, read the forms of the church, and follow her elaborate rituals and ceremonies. The result was an office of ministry that was woefully ignorant of God's Word, and how to deliver its message to the people. Even if a priest had wanted to preach, he did not know how.

But the most serious consequence was that God's people were deprived of a true knowledge of God through His Word preached. Souls were starving, as they were being fed stones for bread. There was a famine of the Word in the church. But God would not have it so for any longer.

THE RETURN TO PREACHING DURING THE REFORMATION

The Reformers restored the Church to her central task - preaching. The Reformers brought down the papal system and pointed out the errors of the mass. They had denied the mass the primary place in the worship of the church. They cried down the sad lack of knowledge among the clergy and laity. But what was to be done? What was to take the place of the Mass? How were the people to receive the grace of God? How were they to be built up in the knowledge of the truth? The unanimous answer was: by the preaching of the Word!

The Reformers came to this conclusion on the basis of the scriptures themselves. The Reformation was a return to the centrality of preaching because it was a restoration of the Scriptures. As the Bible came once again into their hands in their native language, and as they poured over it, they came under the powerful conviction that the Bible was the sole authority for the faith and life of Gods people. And so they took it as their sword to bring reformation to the church. With this sword they cut down the authority of the pope, and exalted the authority of God's Word, the Bible. With this sword they shredded the Roman Catholic Church's doctrine and practice of the mass. But with this instrument they also established anew the true doctrine and the pure worship of God. In the Scriptures they rediscovered the truths of God's absolute sovereignty in salvation, justification by faith without works, and Christ's Headship over His church. And here they found again that pure, simple, humble way of worship God has commanded - with preaching as the heart and core.

In this way did the Reformers become convinced of the indispensability of the preaching. Having studied the Scriptures themselves, they came to see that the church could do without all the ceremonies and elaborate services. But there was one thing she could not do without, and that was the pure preaching of the Word. As they studied the Scriptures, they noticed that the prophets, Jesus Himself, and the apostles had all been instruments to bring the Word of God. Consequently they rediscovered the truth that the proclamation of the Word was God's method of salvation.

This is easily verified from the writings of the Reformers. We are familiar with Martin Luther's 95 theses, which he nailed to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg on Oct. 31, 1517. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these theses is #62 which reads, "The true treasure of the church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God." A little later Luther, eq., wrote in his Treatise on Christian Liberty:

"One thing and one only is necessary for Christian life for righteousness and liberty. That one thing is the most holy Word of God, the Gospel of Christ... Let us then consider it certain and conclusively established that the soul can do without all things except the Word of God, and that where this is not there is no help for the soul in anything else whatever. But if it has the Word it is rich and lacks nothing, since this Word is the Word of life, of truth, of light, of peace, of righteousness, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of wisdom, of power, of grace, of glory, and of every blessing beyond our power to estimate... On the other hand, there is no more terrible plaque with which the wrath of God can smite men than a famine of the hearing of His Word, as He says in Amos, just as there is no greater mercy than when He Sends forth His Word, as we read in Psalm 57... Nor was Christ sent into the world for any other ministry but that of the Word, and the whole spiritual estate, apostles, bishops and all the priests, has been called and instituted only for the ministry of the Word." - Works Vol. II, p.314.

And Calvin reiterated this when in preaching on Ephesians 4:11-14, he said:

"Now the fact is that it [i.e., the church - CJT] cannot be built up, that is to say, it cannot be brought to soundness, or continue in a good state, except by means of the preaching of the Word. So then, if we earnestly desire that God should be honoured and served, and that our Lord should have his royal seat among us peaceably, to reign in the midst of us, if we are his people and are under his protection, if we covet to be built up in him and to be joined to him, and to be steadfast in him to the end; to be short, if we desire our salvation, we must learn to be humble learners in receiving the doctrine of the gospel and in hearkening to the pastors that are sent to us...", - Sermons on Ephesians, p.374.

In fact, it may be said that the Reformation itself was brought about through the power of preaching. How did the Reformation begin? It began with preaching. Men such as Wycliffe, Huss, Savanarola, and others before Luther brought about reformation by preaching. And how did the Reformation move forward as an unstoppable force? With preaching!

This was because the Reformers believed that preaching was the power of reformation. There was always the radical wing of the Reformation which wanted to use physical force and human power to effect change in the church. But the Reformers despised this, and instead held that only the preaching could effect change. This was very concretely manifested in Wittenburg when Luther returned there after he had been excommunicated at the Diet of Worms and subsequently hidden at the castle at Wartburg. The radical element was threatening to ruin the true reformation of the church there by resorting to the arm of flesh. But Luther came and preached 8 sermons in 8 days, pleading with the people not to use force but the power of the Word.

In his second sermon Luther stated clearly that the Romish mass was evil and that he wished it to be abolished. But he went on to say,

"Yet Christian love should not employ harshness here not force the matter. It should be preached and taught with tongue and pen, that to hold mass in such a manner is a sin, but no one should be dragged away from it by force. The matter should be left to God: His Word should do the work alone, without our work. Why? Because it is not in my power to fashion the hearts of men as the potter moulds the clay, and to do with them as I please. I can get no farther than to men's ears - their hearts I cannot reach. And since I cannot pour faith into their hearts, I cannot, nor should I, force anyone to have faith. That is God's work alone, who causes faith to live in the heart. Therefore we should give free course to the Word, and not add our works to it." - Works, Vol. II, p.397-398.

A little later in the same sermon Luther gave an example of how his preaching had been the power in effecting the Reformation. He said,

"I have opposed the indulgences and all the papists, but never by force. I simply taught, preached, wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And then while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my Philip and with Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy, that never a prince or emperor inflicted such damage upon it. I did nothing; the Word did it all... For it is almighty and takes captive the hearts, and if the hearts are captured the evil work will fall of itself." - JD., p.399-400

Thus it was that the Reformers' labors involved chiefly the proclamation of the Word. Luther, Calvin and all the other Reformers were chiefly preachers. It is true that they were all men who wrote much and lectured much. All of them wrote books, commentaries, catechisms, and letters. And of course, as pastors of established churches, they had their regular duties of the ministry - bringing the Word privately, leading meetings, and so on. But all of these labors were founded on and the fruit of their preaching. The chief thing that has come down to us from them is their sermons. And that is because they saw their primary task to preach the Word. That becomes plain when we consider their labors in their respective places.

Beginning in 1510 Luther the priest preached at Wittenburg; and here he continued until his death in 1546. For 36 years then, Luther expounded the Bible in Wittenburg, first in the little chapel, and then in the great city church. He preached often - at least two times on Sunday, and usually three times a week, in the morning. And he preached systematically through the Bible.

The centrality of preaching comes to the foreground especially in the ministry of John Calvin at Geneva. When he came here for the first time in 1536 he immediately set himself to the task of preaching. But it was when he came back in 1541 that the labor of preaching the Word became all dominant in his life and in the city of Geneva. Not only did Calvin himself labor in Geneva for 23 years chiefly as a preaching pastor; but he also established the preaching of the Word as central to the life of the entire city. Shortly after he returned in 1541, he worked with the government of the city to adopt an organized policy for the churches of the city. The result was the "Ecclesiastical Ordinances". In these "Ordinances" the work of the pastors was outlined. In the three congregations preaching was to be conducted twice on Sunday, and every day of the week! These sermons were at least an hour in length and usually longer.

Furthermore, both Luther and Calvin trained men to preach and sent them out with the Reformation gospel. Believing that the chief task of office of pastor was preaching, they established schools and seminaries where men might be prepared for this work. Luther did this at the University of Wittenburg, and Calvin did the same with his Academy at Geneva. At these schools young men were trained in the doctrines of the truth and in the knowledge of the Scriptures. And with this knowledge these men went out into all of Europe and Asia and beyond with the message of the gospel. Thus did they make the preaching the primary part of the peoples' lives and the center of the worship service.

For this reason too God's people came readily to hear the preaching. In the preaching was the message their souls needed and craved. It was a refreshing well in the otherwise barren desert of the church world. This God used to feed and nourish His people once again. Once more God's people had the pure preaching, and with that, a true knowledge of God. This was the great benefit of the return to the primacy of preaching at the time of the Reformation.

T.H.L. Parker, a serious and sympathetic biographer of Calvin, makes these comments regarding the preaching which the people heard due to Calvin's diligence in the pulpit:

"Before he smiles at such unusual activity of the pulpit, the reader would do well to ask himself whether he would prefer to listen to second-hand views on a religion of social ethics, or the ill-digested piety, delivered in slipshod English, that he will hear today in most churches of whatever denomination he may enter, or three hundred and forty-two sermons on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, sermons born of an infinite passion of faith and a burning sincerity, sermons luminous with theological sense, lively with wit and imagery, showing depths of compassion and the unquenchable joyousness of hope. Those in Geneva who listened Sunday after Sunday, day after day, and did not shut their ears, but were 'instructed, admonished, exhorted, and censured', received a training in Christianity such as had been given to few congregations in Europe since the days of the fathers." (John Calvin: A Biography, p.92)

This is our heritage. This is what God has given us through the Reformation. But where do we stand today? Is the conviction of the Reformers still our own? Do we believe that the preaching ought to be primary in the labors and life of the church today? Is it that which we seek and love to receive each Lord's Day?

THE SIGNIFICANCE FOR US TODAY

The church today needs once more to return to the primacy of preaching. Once again we are seeing a tragic decline in the important place of preaching in the church, evangelical and Reformed. Ministers of the gospel are forsaking their God-given duty to "preach the Word", period! They are busy with counseling sessions and church meetings, with social activities and their own personal interests. And what is it that suffers? What is neglected? It is exposition of the Word of God before the public assembly of the church on the Lord's Day!

Worship services are packed full of many new innovations - beautiful singing by trained choirs, liturgical dancing, testimonies, dialogues, dramatic presentations, and many other forms of entertainment. And what gets less and less time and attention? What is shoved to the rear of importance in the worship service? It is the preaching of the Word!

But why is this? What is the cause or (are) the causes of this near loss of the centrality of preaching? Is it simply that many Protestant and Reformed seminaries are no longer training their students to be chiefly preachers of the gospel, but counselors and liturgists and administrators? Is it simply because the churches are full of unfaithful shepherds, who are feeding themselves and not the sheep of God? These may be reasons, but they are all subordinate to a more basic and underlying reason.

And that is, that Protestant churches have forsaken the sole authority of the Scriptures, and have therefore, lost her confidence in the preaching of this Word. Reformed churches have been influenced by the higher-critical view of Scripture that swept this country at the beginning of this century. Men denied that the Bible was the inspired and infallible Word of God through and through. They claimed it was more the Word of man than of God. Thus they undercut its authority and power. And Reformed and Protestant churches have fallen for this lie. This is "the great evangelical disaster" as Francis A. Schaeffer points out in his book by that very title.

Hence, Reformed churches have lost their confidence in preaching this Word. If it is in fact mainly the word of man, why preach it?! The late 20th century English preacher D.M. Lloyd-Jones in his book Preaching and Preachers, p.13, makes precisely this point in commenting on the decline of preaching in the 20th century. He gives as the leading factor accounting for the decline in the place of preaching this: "...The loss of belief in the authority of the Scriptures, and a diminution in the belief of the Truth." And so he continues,

"While men believed in the Scriptures as the authoritative word of God and spoke on the basis of that authority you had great preaching. But once that went, and men began to speculate, and to theorise..., the eloquence and the greatness of the spoken word inevitably declined and began to wane. ...As belief in the great doctrines of the Bible began to go out, and sermons were replaced by ethical addresses and homilies, and moral uplift and sociopolitical talk, it is not surprising that preaching declined."

That is where we stand today. What's the answer to this? A return to the Scriptures first of all. And then on the basis of that Word a conviction that preaching is God's method of saving faith. This top is what Lloyd-Jones prescribes:

"So I would sum up by saying that it is preaching alone that can convey the Truth to people, and bring them to the realisation of their need, and to the only satisfaction for their need. Ceremonies and ritual, singing and entertainment, and all your interest in political and social affairs cannot do this. ...What men and women need is to be brought to a 'knowledge of the truth': and if this is not done you are simply palliating symptoms, and patching up the problem for the time being. In any case you are not carrying out the great mandate given to the Church and her ministers." Preaching, p.40.

This is the way the church will prosper and her saints remain strong. What is it that God's people need? What is it that will effect true reformation in the life of the church yet today in these days of apostasy? It is the preaching of God's holy Word. This alone will be effective and blessed, because it is God's way. To this primary labor He has called and does call His church yet today. Anything less then this is disobedience to Him. Let us be warned that a departure from this God-ordained method is sure to spell doom for Reformed churches. Let us pray and work for faithful pastors to bring us the faithful Word. Let us preserve the pulpit!

We close with a quote from Luther found in A.S.Wood's book Captive to the Word, p.94:

"Therefore, it must be a grievous sin not to listen to the gospel, and to despise such a treasure and so rich a feast to which we are bidden. But it is a much greater sin not to preach the gospel, and to allow so many people who would gladly hear it to perish, for Christ has so strictly commanded that the gospel and this testament be preached that He does not even wish the mass to be celebrated unless, the gospel be preached. ...For this reason it is so dreadful and horrible to be a bishop, pastor, and preacher in our times, for no one knows this testament any longer, not to mention that they ought to preach it: although this is their highest and only duty and obligation. They will certainly have to account for the many souls who perish because of such feeble preaching."

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