Journal: Journal of the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies
Volume: JIRBS 02:1 (NA 2015)
Article: "Praedicatio Verbi Dei Est Verbum Dei:" “The Preaching Of The Word Of God Is The Word Of God” — Heinrich Bullinger And The Second Helvetic Confession
Author: Ronald Baines

JIRBS 2 (2015) p. 25

Praedicatio Verbi Dei Est Verbum Dei:
“The Preaching Of The Word Of God
Is The Word Of God” —
Heinrich Bullinger And The Second Helvetic Confession1

Ronald Baines*

* Ronald Baines is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Brunswick, ME. He received the MAR from Reformed Theological Seminary and is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Maine.

The declaration “The Preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God” comes from the Second Helvetic Confession (SHC; Lat., Confessio Helvetica Posterior.2 The original title was Confessio et Expositio Simplex Orthodoxae Fidei.).3 This Confession was written by Heinrich Bullinger in 1562, apparently as a last bequest to the city of Zurich.4

JIRBS 2 (2015) p. 26

Heinrich Bullinger was born in the Swiss village of Bremgarten on July 18, 1504. His father was a parish priest who embraced the Reformation in 1529 (approximately seven years after his son) and subsequently married Bullinger’s mother. Though their relationship began outside of the legal bonds of marriage, Heinrich’s father, for whom he was named, had been a faithful husband and a good father.5

The younger Heinrich completed his education at the University of Cologne, achieving the master’s degree. In 1522 he was converted and embraced the Reformation which necessitated a change in his future plans as the priesthood for which he was training was no longer an option. In spite of his Protestant leanings, Bullinger was invited to teach the monks at the Cistercian monastery of Kappel in the canton of Zurich. It was during this fruitful tenure that he became acquainted with Ulrich Zwingli, meeting for the first time in 1523. On the tragic death of Zwingli in 1531, the 27 year old Bullinger was chosen his successor as antistes, the minister of the famed Grossmunster church of Zurich. Steinmetz notes:

On December 9, 1531, he stepped for the first time into the pulpit Zwingli had occupied with such distinction. Before he finished his first sermon, people realized that they had called a worthy successor to assume the leadership of the church of Zurich.6

He would remain in Zurich the rest of his life preaching as many as six sermons a week, writing some 12,000 letters and numerous theological treatises, and playing a pivotal role in the progress and success of the ...