Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 65:2 (Jun 2022)
Article: Preachers In The Hands Of A Gracious God
Author: Michael P. Knowles

JETS 65:2 (June 2022) p. 225

Preachers In The Hands Of A Gracious God

Michael P. Knowles*

^* Michael P. Knowles occupies the George Franklin Hurlburt Chair of Preaching at McMaster Divinity College, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1. He may be contacted at [email protected]. This study expands on themes previously addressed in Michael P. Knowles, Third Voice: Preaching Resurrection (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021), 33–57, etc. I wish to thank Michael Krause for his perceptive corrections to an earlier draft of the article.

Abstract: A key premise of the Protestant Reformation is the authority of Scripture as the written Word of God, on which basis churches of Reformation heritage have elevated the office of the preacher and the role of the sermon in forming the life of the congregation. Yet a careful review of Pauline theology and Reformation doctrine—that of Calvin and Luther in particular—offers a helpful corrective to distorted views of preaching and preachers that derive from our cultural context and are frequently implicit within contemporary Protestantism. In this regard, it is important to distinguish the rightful authority of Scripture from excessive claims for the authority of the pulpit and those who occupy it. The difference hinges on our understanding of human agency: rather than viewing Scripture as an instrument to be wielded by human intermediaries, Calvin and Luther describe preachers themselves as “instruments” in the hand of God.

Key words: homiletics, theology of preaching, authority, Calvin, Luther, instrumentalism, human agency, character of the preacher, cruciformity

I. The Authority Of Preaching

True to its core principles, a Reformation theology of preaching appeals in the first instance to the text of Scripture. Paul writes to the church of Thessalonica, “We … thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe” (1 Thess 2:13 NIV). His contrast between the λόγον θεοῦ (“Word of God”) and a λόγον ἀνθρώπων (“human word”) is categorical. As he tells the Galatian believers, “I would have you know that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man [κατὰ ἄνθρωπον]” (Gal 1:11 NASB). Still more explicit is the succinct but theologically comprehensive homiletic that he articulates in 2 Corinthians: “For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity...