The Principle And Practice Of Preaching In The Heidelberg Catechism

By Daniel R. Hyde

“Are all your sermons that long?
My pastor only goes ten to twelve minutes.”

This is how a family member of one of my parishioners recently greeted me after a service. I had just finished what I considered a routine thirty-five minute sermon and thought to myself, “Sure, I could have wrapped it up five minutes earlier and possibly kept a few things for the next sermon in my series through Hebrews to make it a little shorter.” My response, though, was, “As a Reformed church we value the preaching of the Word.” Not that a thirty-five minute sermon is necessarily better than a twelve minute sermon, but the length of the sermon in Reformed churches is a practical reflection of our principle of preaching. The principle that preaching is central in the divine service is expressed in various ways such as the placement of the pulpit above the congregation, the placement of the pulpit in the center of the chancel in times and places where Reformed churches were able to design their own buildings, the amount of time given to the reading and preaching of the Word in Reformed liturgies, [1] and the length of the sermon in typical Reformed churches. [2] While the question

I was asked by this visitor was about practice, it really was about the principle of preaching.

What is this principle? While there are many sources to which we may turn in answering this question, none is clearer than the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), which places preaching at the pinnacle of Christian worship and Christian living because it is the very means and method that God uses to justify and sanctify His people. [3]

Preaching And The Structure Of The Catechism

The Heidelberg Catechism opens with the memorable question, “What is thy only comfort in life and in death,” to which the answer is given, in part, “That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” [4] This question and answer lays out the programmatic theme of the entire Catechism as “the Christian comfort derived from the work of Christ, the providential care of the Father, and the work of the Spirit in assuring us of eternal life and producing within us heartfelt gratitude.” [5] The Catechism’s overall macro-structure is then laid out in question and answer 2. This structure is remembered as guilt, grace, and gratitude. [6] Under these headings, the Catechism exposits the basic building blocks of the Christian faith:

GUILT (Q. 3-11)

• Summary of the Law

GRACE (Q. 12-85)

• The Mediator (11-19)
• Saving Faith (20-22)
• Apostles’ Creed (23-64)
• The Sacraments (65-82)
• Keys of the Kingdom (83-85)

GRATITUDE (Q. 86-129)

• Repentance (86-91)
• Ten Commandments (92-115)
• Lord’s Prayer (116-129)

For our purposes of surveying preaching, what is instructive is that the Heidelberg Catechism was not only structured in a threefold way for catechesis, but also was meant to guide the preachers of the Palatinate Reformation. According to the Palatinate Church Order (kirchenordnung), preaching was to follow this basic outline:

And inasmuch as the Word of God directs its doctrine to this end [referring to a previous reference to 2 Tim. 3:16], that men may be led to a knowledge of their sins and misery; then instructs them how they may be delivered from all their sins and misery; and thereby, how they shall thank God for such deliverance: therefore Preachers, in treating their texts, shall diligently consider these three points, and be careful to use the medicine according to the necessity of wounded consciences. [7]

The entire ministry of catechesis and preaching was to be guided by this threefold structure of the Heidelberg Catechism. Preaching was to be centered on the law and the gospel, of which Zacharius Ursinus (1534-83), the primary author of the Heidelberg Catechism, opened his Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, saying,

The doctrine of the church is the entire and uncorrupted doctrine of the law and gospel concerning the true God, together with his will, works, and worship...the doctrine of the church consists of two parts: the Law, and the Gospel; in which we have comprehended the sum and substance of the sacred Scriptures. [8]

The Palatinate’s preachers were to consider themselves under the metaphor of spiritual physicians. Not only were they to diagnose their people’s problems with the law, prescribe the remedy with the gospel, and issue directions on how to live henceforth in gratitude, they were to apply them like “medicine” to “wounded consciences.”

Preaching And Faith

The place to begin in the Heidelberg Catechism when discussing its teaching on preaching is Question 65. Question 65 plays a transitional role in the structure of the Catechism like questions 12 and 86, before and after it. Each of these questions begins in English with, “Since, then.” Question 12 moves the Catechism from guilt to grace; Question 65 from faith in Christ to receiving Christ’s benefits in the sacraments; and Question 86 from God’s grace in Christ to the Christian’s gratitude for Christ.

Question 65 asks, “Since, then, we are made partakers of Christ and all his benefits by faith only, whence comes this faith?” This question summarizes all that has gone before in the section on grace, namely, that the heart of who we are as Reformed Christians is that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. The question moves us from our belief that faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is the sole instrument of our justification and union with Christ to the question of what is the origin of that very faith? The answer is, “The Holy Ghost works it in our hearts by the preaching of the holy Gospel, and confirms it by the use of the holy Sacraments” (emphasis mine). [9]

In this question and answer, the Catechism merely echoes the words of Scripture, where the apostle says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). What we are taught is that faith is “worked,” or, created, in us by the Holy Spirit who uses the preaching of the gospel as the means by which we are given the faith to be justified. [10] Whereas this conjunction of both the Word and the Spirit here in the Heidelberg Catechism is a common theme in the Reformed tradition via John Calvin (1509-64), the Heidelberg Catechism particularly applies this common theme to the inseparability of the Spirit and the preached Word, especially the preaching of the gospel. The preaching of the gospel is, therefore, the chief means of grace (media gratiae), since it is the means whereby sinners become saints. [11]

Zacharius Ursinus explained this vital link between the work of the Spirit and preaching. [12] He utilized the classic philosophical categories of causality to say that the Spirit was the efficient cause of faith while the preaching of the gospel was the instrumental cause. [13] This means that because the Word and Spirit are inseparably linked; the Word can be said to be the external form of the Spirit, and the Spirit the internal power of the Word. [14] Caspar Olevianus (1536-87), therefore, called the minister of the gospel the “organ of the Holy Spirit” (Spiritus Sancti organum), [15] and, the preaching of the gospel the “chief testimony and principle organ of the Holy Spirit by which the substance of the covenant is offered to us.” [16]

Besides the commentaries of Ursinus and Olevianus, Jeremias Bastingius (1551– 95) produced the earliest work on the Heidelberg Catechism in his Exposition or Commentary Upon the Catechism, which he was requested to produce by the 1581 Synod of Middleburg. On the topic of preaching and faith he said “there is a perpetual relation between faith and the word, and it can no more be separated from it, than the beams from the sun, from whence they arise: so that, take away the word, there can be no more faith.” [17] Bastingius makes explicit that saving faith comes from hearing the Word preached, not only as Paul says in Romans 10:17, but also as the Old Testament priests were “expounders of [the law].” [18] He then asks whether God could have given faith to His elect without the Word. Bastingius answers this question in the affirmative: “Indeed, God were able without this means, to inspire faith into his elect,” but he goes on to invoke the medieval distinction between the absolute power of God (de potentia absoluta Dei) and the ordained power of God (de potentia ordinata Dei), saying,

But here we ought to weigh not what he is able to do, but what he will do: and his will is, that by this means we be brought unto the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the school of his Church, and therefore with a meek and pliable spirit we must yield ourselves to be ruled and taught by them that are better learned, and are thereunto appointed by him. [19]

Bastingius then concluded with a rejection of errors concerning this subject, contrasting the Reformed position with that of Caspar Schwenkfeld (1490 –1561), who divided the Word from the Spirit, saying faith comes from the essence of God, not the Word of God. [20]

Question 65 is illuminating for several other questions in the Catechism. In Question 19 we are asked how we know of our mediator and redeemer Jesus Christ. The answer is, “From the Holy Gospel.” [21]

Understanding what Question 65 is saying about preaching leads us to interpret “from the Holy Gospel” as speaking of the gospel as we hear it proclaimed in preaching. This was also the understanding of Ursinus and Olevianus. In his commentary on the Catechism, Ursinus speaks of the gospel in this question as an announcement, and then goes on to quote Romans 10:17, 2 Corinthians 3:8, and Romans 1:16 — texts which speak of preaching. [22] In one of his commentaries on some of the material in the Heidelberg Catechism, Olevianus speaks of this “gospel” as “doctrine” as well as “a word of salvation.” He then proceeds to quote Romans 1:16 and to speak of the “gospel” as being “the power of God unto salvation.” [23] The aforementioned Jeremias Bastingius also understood this phrase to refer to the gospel preached when he said the word “gospel” itself means “glad tidings,” as well as the fact that this gospel was proclaimed by God Himself in Genesis 3:15 and by the patriarchs, prophets, and Jesus Himself, citing the language of Question 19. [24]

The same is also true of Question 21, which discusses the nature of true, saving, justifying faith. True faith, we are told, is “not only a certain knowledge whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his Word, but also a hearty trust which the Holy Ghost works in me by the Gospel.” [25] Again, Olevianus’s own exposition of the Catechism bears this out. In commenting upon Question 20, which introduces Question 21 and the nature of true faith, he says, “In sum, Christ is offered to us by the Father in no other way than through the foolishness of preaching, or the promise of the gospel (1 Cor. 2).” [26] Bastingius distinguished between the efficient cause of faith, the Holy Spirit, and the instrumental cause, the preaching of the Gospel, reminding his readers that, “Indeed, the Holy Ghost is able to breed faith in our hearts without the Word: but so it hath pleased God to use this instrument partly to apply himself to our infirmity, partly to produce our obedience.” [27] For these reasons the preaching of the gospel is pre-eminent among the means of grace mentioned in Question 65.

Preaching And Christ

The purpose of this preaching of the gospel as expressed in Question 65 is the creation of faith in the hearts of sinners. The Catechism goes on to specify the content of this preaching that the Holy Spirit uses to create faith. It is not the preaching of the law that the Holy Spirit uses to create faith, but the preaching of the gospel — the preaching of Christ. This distinction between preaching the Word in general and preaching the gospel in particular is essential. Ursinus noted this vital distinction when he said, “The instrumental cause of faith in general is the word of God.... The chief and peculiar instrument of justifying faith is the preaching of the gospel.” [28] It is not the preaching of the Bible in general, nor is it the law, which only reveals to us our guilt and gratitude (Q. 2), but it is the proclamation of Christ — the gospel — that brings lifeless sinners to life. We learn this in Question 67:

Are both these, then, the Word and the Sacraments, designed to direct our faith to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation? 

Yes, truly; for the Holy Ghost teaches in the Gospel, and by the holy Sacraments assures us, that our whole salvation stands in the one sacrifice of Christ made for us on the cross. [29]

According to Question 67, preaching is to point people to “Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23). While it is generally true that this preaching should have as its hearers all men, in this question we learn that the preaching of the gospel pertains to those who already believe. Preaching is “designed to direct our faith” (emphasis mine) to “Christ with all his merits.” [30]

We also notice in relation to this answer that the Holy Spirit teaches His people through the preaching of the Holy Gospel. This is what Jesus spoke of when He said the Holy Spirit was to be sent to “teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). We are taught about Christ by Christ Himself through His Spirit in the voice of ministers.

Ministers and future ministers learn very important truths in this question. First, Christians need to hear the gospel preached every time they hear a sermon. Christ-centered, evangelistic preaching is not just for the world of unbelievers, but also for the believing covenant community. While Christianity today teaches that “evangelism” is what is done on special occasions at rallies, revivals, and crusades, our principle and practice of preaching is different; for although it is foolishness and seemingly weak, it is the power of God to salvation. Second, because all preaching is to be Christ-centered, it must be redemptive-historical preaching. When Question 67 is compared with Question 19, we learn that no matter what part of Scripture is being preached, God’s people must be directed to Christ. As Charles Haddon Spurgeon is reported to have said: “I take my text and make a bee-line to the cross.”

Preaching And The Kingdom

Preaching is also described in the Heidelberg Catechism in connection with the kingdom of God. It is important to note that the Catechism locates the “kingdom” in the context of the two-kingdoms theology of John Calvin. [31] This is shown in that every occurrence of “kingdom” in the Catechism refers to the spiritual kingdom of grace, which is manifest in the church. Excluding questions 119 and 128, which simply quote the word “kingdom” (Reich/regnum) in the Lord’s Prayer, there are five other occurrences of “kingdom” in the Catechism. In questions 83-85, the Catechism explicitly refers to preaching and discipline, which occur in the church, in relation to the “kingdom of heaven” (Himmelreich/regnum coelorum) and “kingdom of Christ” (Reiche Christi/regno Christi). Question 87 speaks of the possibility of the unthankful and impenitent being “saved,” i.e., inheriting “the kingdom of God” (Reich Gottes/regni Dei). Finally, Question 123 exposits the petition, “Thy kingdom come.” The exposition speaks of the kingdom in relation to “us,” “we,” “ourselves,” and “thy Church,” which are clearly speaking of the spiritual reign of Christ over His people. As well, the answer speaks of the spiritual “weapons” of God’s warfare, namely, the Word (which we have seen refers to the preaching of the gospel) and Spirit. These “preserve and increase thy Church” as well as “destroy the works of the devil, every power that exalteth itself against thee, and all wicked devices formed against thy holy Word.” Finally, the answer speaks of the not yet aspect of the kingdom, saying “until the full coming of thy kingdom (Reichs/regnes), wherein thou shalt be all in all.” [32]

This is important for the exposition of the Creed’s use of “holy catholic Church” in Question 54. Here we find a similar answer to that found in Question 123 and its reference to the “increase of thy Church.” In Question 54 we confess, “That out of the whole human race, from the beginning to the end of the world, the Son of God, by His Spirit and Word, gathers, defends, and preserves for himself unto everlasting life, a chosen communion in the unity of the true faith.” [33]

The means by which the Son gathers (“increase” in Q. 123), defends (“destroy” in Q. 123), and preserves (same in Q. 123) His people is the preaching of the gospel, united together with the power of the Holy Spirit. Olevianus’s commentary is illuminating as to what “Word” here is referring to. In answering the question, “What do you believe when you confess, ‘I believe a holy catholic church,’” he inserts several clarifying words in the answer given above (italicized words are added to the Catechism’s answer):

I believe that the Son of God, out of the entire human race, which is mired in sin and eternal death, gathers unto Himself from Adam to the end of the world a people chosen for eternal life by grace and not by merit, whom He through the preaching of the Word and power of the Holy Spirit here in this life regenerates from eternal death through faith in Him. [34]

The Son uses the preached Word along with the sovereign power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish His purposes in His kingdom-church. On this question and answer, Ursinus gives us an even more clear and explicit answer that it is the preaching of the gospel that Christ uses, saying,

The church is an assemblage of persons brought together, not by chance, nor in a disorderly manner, but called out of the kingdom of Satan by the voice of the Lord, and by the preaching of the gospel for the purpose of hearing, and embracing the word of God. [35]

Once again, we note that the Catechism links the Word as it is preached with the Spirit as the means to bring about this powerful work of Christ Himself. What is it about the Word preached, that when it is accompanied by the Spirit’s power, it is able to gather from the mass of sinful humanity a chosen communion? The answer is found in relation to Questions 83 and 84 and our belief concerning the keys of the kingdom, in general, and the key of preaching, specifically. Besides church discipline, “The preaching of the Holy Gospel” is the other key of Christ’s kingdom, “by which two things the kingdom of heaven (Himmelreich/regni coelorum) is opened to believers and shut against unbelievers” (Q. 83). So then, “How is the kingdom of heaven (Himmelreich/regnum coelorum) opened and closed by the preaching of the holy Gospel?”

In this way: that according to the command of Christ, it is proclaimed and openly witnessed to believers, one and all, that as often as they accept with true faith the promise of the Gospel, all their sins are really forgiven them of God for the sake of Christ’s merits; and on the contrary, to all unbelievers and hypocrites, that the wrath of God and eternal condemnation abide on them, so long as they are not converted; according to which witness of the Gospel, will be the judgment of God both in this life and in that which is to come (Q. 84). [36]

Through the voice of men the very gates of heaven itself are opened and closed to those who hear. Surely this gets at the heart of what the Catechism teaches us about preaching. Preaching is that solemn and earnest proclamation of the way of escape from the wrath of God in hell by means of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Lord. Cornelis P. Venema comments on this aspect of Question 84, saying, “The definition provided in the Catechism of preaching as the primary exercise of the keys of the kingdom is instructive. God’s judgment will ultimately be executed according to the witness of this gospel.” [37] Ministers and congregations that believed this would be transformed, emboldened, and empowered to be salt and light; their worship would be given a sense of holy transcendence; and the world would be brought to their knees alongside us.

The Manner Of Preaching

The foregoing leads us to Question 98. Since preaching is the chief means of grace, whereby Christ Himself speaks to create faith in us and to open the doors of His heavenly kingdom, it is not to be a theological lecture, an ear-tickling time of sharing pious advice, or a moralistic brow-beating. Instead, preaching is to be a passionate and bold pronouncement of what God has done in Christ. In explaining the second commandment, the Catechism contrasts two methods of teaching God’s people in worship. The people of God are not to be taught by “dumb idols” (i.e., mute idols), but instead “by the lively preaching of his Word.” [38] On the one hand there is the method of speechless idols. On the other hand there is the method of speaking ministers.

To say that preaching is “lively” is to say that it passionately and clearly shows forth Jesus Christ and all his benefits. We see a striking text to this effect in the New Testament when the apostle Paul rebuked the Christians in Galatia, “Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth among you” (Gal. 3:1). We see the full force of this Greek word brought out by multiple translations of the verb proegraph: clearly portrayed (NIV, NKJV), publicly portrayed (ESV, NASB), openly set forth (ASV), openly and graphically set forth and portrayed (AMP), and as clearly as though I had shown you a signboard with a picture of Christ dying on the cross (NLT). True preaching of Christ is lively because the real presence of Christ is found in the voice of the minister. This is why the Second Helvetic Confession summarized the Reformed view of preaching when it said, “Wherefore when this Word of God is now preached in the church by preachers lawfully called, we believe that the very Word of God is preached, and received of the faithful” (I.4). [39]

To preach the Word in a lively manner is to have Paul’s passion, but more importantly, it is to preach Christ so clearly, so plainly, that it is as if we ourselves were holding up a large placard with Christ vividly portrayed on the cross before our people. Our preaching must be vivid, clear, earnest, and plain. This is a part of what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 2:4: “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” To preach in a lively way is to “get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!” (Isa. 40:9). It is to stand before the world in the spirit of Isaiah, who said, “For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest” (Isa. 62:1).

Bastingius rhetorically exposited this question and answer, contrasting images made by hands with the images made by God:

Surely he himself knew better than we how we were to be instructed unto salvation, and therefore meant to prevent this superstition, and gave us the Scripture, and the lively preaching of the Gospel to direct us in his service; therein it is taught that Christ died to bear our curse upon the cross, to satisfy for our sins by the sacrifice of his body, and to wash them away by his blood, finally to reconcile us unto God the Father: to what purpose then was it to have everywhere in Churches so many crosses set up, of wood, of stone, of silver and gold: whereas by Christ alone painted out in the preaching of the Gospel, and in the manner crucified before our eyes, and by the hearing and reading of the Scripture, and meditation in the word, and by the use of the sacraments, we might learn more, than out of a thousand crosses of wood or stone? [40]

In contrast to man’s wisdom, preaching is God’s wisdom. In contrast to man’s superstition, preaching is according to God’s Scriptures. In contrast to man-ordained images, preaching is God-ordained. The use of this doctrine was threefold, according to Bastingius. First, ministers were “to cast the idols out of the minds of men as much as may be by the preaching of the Gospel”; second, the people were “not to fly unto idols, but to the ministers and true servants of Christ”; and third, the Magistrate was to “provide that images may be taken away, after the example of the godly kings, as Hezekiah and Josiah.” [41]

Preaching And Sanctification

As we have seen, preaching is the primary means of grace whereby the Holy Spirit creates in us faith to embrace Christ for our justification. As a means of grace, preaching is also the means by which the Spirit sanctifies us more and more into the image of Christ. Thus preaching is a twofold means of grace whereby the Holy Spirit brings us into communion with Christ’s twofold benefit — justification and sanctification. [42] In his Larger Catechism, Ursinus made this connection explicit:

What is the sanctification of the elect? 

It is that by the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the gospel the elect are taught the will of God for them, they are regenerated, and through faith made temples of God and members of Christ, so that they might mortify the works of the flesh, walk and advance in newness of life, feel comfort and joy in God, and be preserved for eternal life (Q. 110). [43]

The Catechism locates this work of sanctification in relation to the preaching of the ten commandments. Question 115 asks, “Why, then, doth God so strictly enjoin upon us the ten commandments, since in this life no one can keep them?” After saying that this is in order to teach us to turn from sin and flee to Christ, the answer states, “that we may continually strive and beg from God the grace of the Holy Ghost, so as to become more and more changed into the image of God, till we attain finally to full perfection after this life.” [44] In contrast to the Antinomians and Libertines who denied the normative use of the law in the Christian life, Ursinus wrote that the Holy Spirit “uses the doctrine of the law, for the purpose of inclining them [i.e., believers] to true and cheerful obedience.” [45] He continued his comments when he said that although there is no condemnation for the Christian, he is freely and cheerfully bound to obedience: “We are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh, but to the Spirit.” [46] So the Catechism teaches the irony that those to whom the Spirit has been “given unto” (Q. 53) are by the strict preaching of God’s law to strive and beg throughout their lives for the grace of that very same Spirit. The purpose of this is so that we might receive His life-giving work in experientially changing and transforming us into the image God intended for us. In this another aspect of preaching comes forth from the Catechism. Not only must it be guided by the Law and the gospel according to Question 2 and centered upon the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Question 67, but it must also be experiential according to Question 115. [47]

Ursinus explained in more detail this preaching of the law in his Larger Catechism. He opened his section on “The Law,” when he asked, “Do Christians, who have already been received into God’s covenant, also need the teaching of the Decalogue?” His answer was twofold: “Yes, for the law of God must be preached both to those converted through the gospel and to those not yet converted.”48 He then went on to explain the preaching of the law to both groups of people:

Why is the law preached before the gospel to those not yet converted? 

So that, terrified by the knowledge of sin and of the wrath of God, they might be stirred up to seek deliverance; and so that they might be prepared to hear the gospel and be converted to God. [49]

But why must the law still be proclaimed to the converted after the gospel has been preached?

First, so that they may learn what worship God approves and requires of his covenant partners. Second, so that seeing how far they are in this life from the perfect fulfillment of the law, they may continue in humility and aspire to heavenly life. [50]

According to Ursinus, the differences are that the law is preached before the gospel to the unconverted to prepare for justification, while it is preached after the gospel to the converted for their sanctification, both to teach them how to worship as well as how to long for heavenly life.

Ursinus also appended many questions to the end of his exposition of the Decalogue. One of these questions asks, “But since by ourselves we are incapable of thinking anything good, surely we shouldn’t indulge in unbelief and other sins while we await being forcibly changed by the Holy Spirit?” Part of his answer is a beautiful summary of the Reformed understanding of sanctification:

The Holy Spirit does not force or pressure us to believe and repent unwillingly, but through the hearing and reflecting on God’s Word he renews and moves our wills and hearts so that we sincerely desire to be governed by him. [51]

Ursinus went on to conclude this section of his Larger Catechism in the following way:

How then do we obtain and retain the grace of the Holy Spirit to keep God’s covenant? 

When we earnestly and persistently ask this of God, diligently learn God’s Word, use the sacraments as divinely instituted, and are zealous for holiness of life. [52]

Preaching And The Lord’s Day

The final area of exploration concerning preaching in the Heidelberg Catechism is the context in which the preaching of the law and the gospel is to occur. This is expressed in the Heidelberg’s exposition of the fourth commandment (Q. 103). God’s will for the Christian in relation to the Sabbath commandment, is, in part, “In the first place, that the ministry of the Gospel and schools be maintained; and that I, especially on the day of rest, diligently attend church, to learn the Word of God.”53 Ursinus, in fact, described the “conservation or maintenance and use of the ministry of the Church” as the “end of the commandment.”54 Among the “causes,” or, purposes, for the ministry are, first, “that in mankind God might be praised and called upon,” and second, “that the public and ordinary preaching of doctrine, the rehearsing of prayers, and thanksgiving, and using of ceremonies might be an exercise stirring up and fostering faith and godliness.”55 In his explication of the “works of the Sabbath,” Ursinus lists first, “Truly to teach the Church concerning God, and his will.”56 This is the work of the minister, while the work of the people is, “to learn the doctrine of the Church, that is, to come often unto the assemblies of the Church, to hear and learn the heavenly doctrine.”57 These are parts of the sanctification of the Sabbath, while its profanation, on the part of ministers, “is set the leaving...of the duty of teaching,” and on the part of the people:

. . . is the contempt and neglecting of doctrine, that is, either not to be present at holy Sermons, when there is no lawful cause to let [hinder] us, and on the Sabbath to do works that might be put off until another time, or to give no ears unto holy Sermons, or not to meditate and search the doctrine of the Church. [58]

In Heidelberg, as in all the Reformed churches, this diligent attendance at church to “learn the Word of God” occurred at least twice on the Lord’s Day. [59] In the morning, the Scriptures were proclaimed according to the lectio continua method, while in the afternoon, the Scriptures were proclaimed via their summary in the Heidelberg Catechism. These catechetical sermons have a long history in the Christian church as exemplified in the Didache [60] and the catechetical sermons of such great ancient preachers as Cyril of Jerusalem (313-86), [61] John Chrysostom (347-407), [62] Theodore of Mopsuestia (350-428), [63] and Augustine of Hippo (354-430). [64]

The practice of Heidelberg in holding a second service on the Lord’s Day in which public catechesis was conducted was a feature of all Reformed churches. [65] In fact, besides its use in educating the youth of the Palatinate, one of Fredrick III’s purposes for the Heidelberg Catechism was for its use by his ministers. In his “Preface” to the Heidelberg Catechism, dated January 19, 1563, he said it was written

…that the Pastors and Schoolmasters themselves may be provided with a fixed form and model, by which to regulate the instruction of youth, and not, at their option, adopt daily changes, or introduce erroneous doctrine: We do herewith affectionately admonish and enjoin upon every one of you, that you do, for the honour of God and our subjects, and also for the sake of your own soul’s profit and welfare, thankfully accept this proffered Catechism or course of instruction, and that you do diligently and faithfully represent and explain the same according to its true import, to the youth in our schools and churches, and also from the pulpit to the common people. [66]

In the Netherlands, the practice of catechetical preaching goes back to at least 1566, when the Latin edition of the Catechism was divided into 52 Lord’s Days and the Dutch Reformed pastor Petrus Dathenus (1531– 88) added the Catechism to his Psalter. This practice was first made binding on Reformed ministers at the 1586 Synod of The Hague and reiterated in the Church Order of the Synod of Dort (1618 –1619). Article 68 of the Church Order said,

The Ministers everywhere shall briefly explain on Sunday, ordinarily in the afternoon sermon, the sum of Christian doctrine comprehended in the Catechism which at present is accepted in the Netherland Churches, so that it may be completed every year in accordance with the division of the Catechism itself made for that purpose. [67]

This is still the practice of Reformed churches whose heritage is in the Netherlands, such as the United Reformed Churches in North America, the Canadian Reformed Churches, the Protestant Reformed Churches, the Free Reformed Churches, the Netherlands Reformed Congregations, and the Heritage Reformed Churches. In fact, the venerable B.B. Warfield (1851-1921) once said of the Christian Reformed Church, “Two things keep the small Christian Reformed Church straight in the midst of a crooked ecclesiastical world, its Catechism preaching and its catechetical instruction of its youth.” [68]

The Synod of Dort gave much guidance for catechetical preaching as there were many complaints about it. Among the reasons catechetical preaching was not done were ministers failing to hold afternoon services, the peoples’ negligence in going to work or play instead, ministers who served two or more parishes, the Remonstant party’s opposition, and the government’s failure to uphold the Sabbath day. The advice of the Synod was five-fold: [69]

1. The decision of the Synod of 1586 mandating catechism preaching was re-iterated. As well, the catechism was to be explained “in brief sermons, and in such a way that the children also could understand it.” [70]
2. Second services were to be held despite low attendance. In fact, catechism services were to be held “even though the minister had to preach to his family alone.” [71]
3. The government was asked to uphold the Sabbath day.
4. As much as possible, churches should have their own minister.
5. Church visitors were to take close note of whether a minister was preaching catechism sermons; if not, he was to be reported to Classis for censure.

Conclusion

The seriousness of the Synod in relation to catechetical preaching was a result of its principles, as expressed in the Heidelberg Catechism, among other places. In this sixteenth century catechism we learn that preaching is the central point of Reformed worship because it is the primary way God meets with His people to create faith in the Christ who justifies, opens the gates of His eternal kingdom, and sanctifies them throughout their life in preparation for the life to come. These are the principles behind why Reformed churches take up so much time every Lord’s Day to say, “Thus saith the Lord.”

Notes

1. E.g., The Directory for the Publik Worship of God (1645) says, “…ordinarily one chapter of each Testament be read at every meeting; and sometimes more, where the chapters be short, or the coherence of matter requireth it.” The Confession of Faith, the Larger Catechism, the Shorter Catechism, the Directory for Publik Worship, the Form of Presbyterial Church Government with References to the Proofs from the Scripture (Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons Ltd., 1963), 139.
2. Raymond A. Blacketer, The School of God: Pedagogy and Rhetoric in Calvin’s Interpretation of Deuteronomy, Studies in Early Modern Religious Reforms (Dord-recht: Springer, 2006), 65– 66, demonstrates that John Calvin preached roughly an hour, since they average about seven thousand words, the sermon was timed with an hourglass in Geneva, and Calvin himself complained in his final sermon on Psalm 119: “For if there be but three words of the word of God spoken, we will soon be weary of it, nay, we shall not hear it spoken of at this day…and although it be here lawful to speak in the pulpit one hour in the name of God, yet shall you have a great number of dogs which will not stick even to girn [ed. snarl, complain] at it, as if God were too much privileged” (John Calvin, Sermons on Psalm 119 [Audubon, N.J.: Old Paths Publications, 1996], 443). Cf. Richard A. Muller, The Unaccommodated Calvin: Studies in the Foundation of a Theological Tradition, Oxford Studies in Historical Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 250, n33.
3. For a brief survey of preaching in the Catechism, see Fred H. Klooster, Our Only Comfort: A Comprehensive Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism (Grand Rapids: CRC Publications, 2001), 2:767-71.
4. The Creeds of Christendom, ed. Philip Schaff, rev. David S. Schaff, 3 vols. (1931 ed.; Grand Rapids: Baker, reprinted 1996), 3:307; cf. The Psalter with Doctrinal Standards, Liturgy, Church Order, and Added Chorale Section (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 1999), 27.
5. Daniel R. Hyde, “The Holy Spirit in the Heidelberg Catechism.” Mid-America Journal of Theology 17 (2006): 212 –13.
6. This threefold knowledge of guilt, grace, and gratitude was a part of “the common stock of Protestant theology” (Lyle D. Bierma with Chalres D. Gunnoe Jr., Karin Y. Maag, and Paul W. Fields, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism: Sources, History, and Theology, Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought, gen. ed., Richard A. Muller [Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005], 86); cf. Paul Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther, trans. Robert C. Schultz (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966), 272-73.
7. J. H. A. Bomberger, “The Old Palatinate Liturgy of 1563,” The Mercersburg Review (January 1850): 85-86.
8. Zacharias Ursinus, The Commentary of Dr. Zacharius Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism, trans. G. W. Williard (1852; Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, reprinted 1985), 1, 2.
9. Schaff, Creeds, 3:328; The Psalter, 53. Cf. Zacharius Ursinus, The Smaller Catechism, Q. 53, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 150.
10. Cf. Jan Rohls, Reformed Confessions: Theology from Zurich to Barmen, trans. John Hoffmeyer, Columbia Series in Reformed Theology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), 177– 78.
11. Hyde, “The Holy Spirit in the Heidelberg Catechism,” 222-23. Cf. Wilhelm Niesel, “The Witness of the Power of the Holy Spirit in the Heidelberg Catechism” (unpublished essay, 1963): 9-10. On the union of the Word and Spirit in Calvin’s thought, see Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), 1.9.1, 3; cf. 4.8.13.
12. On Ursinus being the primary author of the Catechism, see Lyle D. Bierma, “The Purpose and Authorship of the Heidelberg Catechism,” in An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 49-74.
13. Ursinus, Commentary, 340.
14. Eugene P. Heideman, “God the Holy Spirit,” Guilt, Grace, and Gratitude: A Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, ed. Donald J. Bruggink (New York: The Half Moon Press, 1963), 118.
15. Caspar Olevianus, De substantia, 2.33, cited in R. Scott Clark, Caspar Olevian and the Substance of the Covenant: The Double Benefit of Christ, Rutherford Studies in Historical Theology, eds. David F. Wright and Donald MacLeod (Edinburgh: Rutherford House, 2005), 192.
16. Caspar Olevianus, De substantia, 2.51, cited in Clark, Caspar Olevian and the Substance of the Covenant, 193.
17. Jeremias Bastingius, An Exposition or Commentarie Upon the Catechisme of Christian Religion Which Is Taught in the Schooles and Churches both of the Low Countryes, and of the Dominions of Countie Palatine (London: John Legatt, 1589), 91, column 1. All words have been conformed to modern English spelling for ease of reading.
18. Ibid., 91, column 1.
19. Ibid., 91, column 1. On this classic distinction, see Heiko Oberman, The Harvest of Medieval Theology: Gabriel Biel and Late Medieval Nominalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), 30-56.
20. Bastingius, Exposition, 91, column 2.
21. Schaff, Creeds, 3:313; The Psalter, 33.
22. Ursinus, Commentary, 101-105.
23. Caspar Olevianus, A Firm Foundation: An Aid to Interpreting the Heidelberg Catechism, trans. and ed. Lyle D. Bierma, Texts and Studies in Reformation and Post-Reformation Thought, gen. ed., Richard A. Muller (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995), 8.
24. Bastingius, Exposition, 21, column 1-2.
25. Schaff, Creeds, 3:313; The Psalter, 34.
26. Olevianus, A Firm Foundation, 11.
27. Bastingius, Exposition, 24, column 2.
28. Ursinus, Commentary, 112.
29. Schaff, Creeds, 3:328 –29; The Psalter, 54.
30. Bastingius, Exposition, 93, column 2.
31. Institutes, 4.20. On Calvin’s doctrine, see the work of David VanDrunen: “The Context of Natural Law: John Calvin’s Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms,” Journal of Church and State 46 (Summer 2004): 503-25; “The Two Kingdoms: A Reassessment of the Transformationist Calvin,” Calvin Theological Journal 40 (Nov. 2005): 248-66; A Biblical Case for Natural Law, Studies in Christian Social Ethics and Economics, Number 1, ed. Anthony B. Bradley (Grand Rapids: Acton Institute, 2006), 23-35; “The Two Kingdoms Doctrine and the Relationship of Church and State in the Early Reformed Tradition,” Journal of Church and State 49 (Autumn 2007): 743 ­– 63; “Abraham Kuyper and the Reformed Natural Law and Two Kingdoms Traditions,” Calvin Theological Journal 42 (2007): 283-307.
32. Schaff, Creeds, 3:352-53; The Psalter, 85.
33. Schaff, Creeds, 3:324-25; The Psalter, 49. Cf. Ursinus, The Smaller Catechism, Q. 40, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 148; The Larger Catechism, Q. 125, in ibid., 186.
34. Olevianus, A Firm Foundation, 98.
35. Ursinus, Commentary, 286.
36. Schaff, Creeds, 3:337; The Psalter, 64.
37. Cornelis P. Venema, “The Doctrine of Preaching in the Reformed Confessions,” Mid-America Journal of Theology 10 (1999): 153.
38. Schaff, Creeds, 3:343; The Psalter, 72. Cf. Ursinus, The Smaller Catechism, Q. 86, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 157.
39. Proinde cum hodie hoc Dei verbum per prædicatores legitime vocatos annunciatur in Ecclesia, credimus ipsum Dei verbum annunciari et a fidelibus recipi (Schaff, Creeds, 3:832).
40. Bastingius, Exposition, 134, column 1.
41. Ibid., 134, column 2.
42. On this theme in the theology of Caspar Olevianus, see Clark, Caspar Olevian and the Substance of the Covenant. On this theme in the theology of John Calvin, see Cornelis P. Venema, Accepted and Renewed in Christ: The “Twofold Grace of God” and the Interpretation of Calvin’s Theology, Reformed Historical Theology: Volume 2 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007).
43. Ursinus, The Larger Catechism, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 183.
44. Schaff, Creeds, 3:349; The Psalter, 81.
45. Ursinus, Commentary, 616 –17.
46. Ursinus, Commentary, 617.
47. On experiential preaching see Joel Beeke, “The Lasting Power of Reformed Experiential Preaching,” in Puritan Reformed Spirituality (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2004), 425-43.
48. Ursinus, The Larger Catechism, Q. 148, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 190.
49. Ursinus, The Larger Catechism, Q. 149, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 190.
50. Ursinus, The Larger Catechism, Q. 150, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 191.
51. Ursinus, The Larger Catechism, Q. 218, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 203.
52. Ursinus, The Larger Catechism, Q. 223, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 204.
53. Schaff, Creeds, 3:345; The Psalter, 74. Cf. Ursinus, The Smaller Catechism, Q. 89, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 158; The Larger Catechism, Q. 186, in Ibid., 197. For a study of Ursinus’s doctrine of the fourth commandment, see Lyle D. Bierma, “Remembering the Sabbath Day: Ursinus’ Exposition of Exodus 20:8 –11,” in Biblical Interpretation in the Era of the Reformation: Essays Presented to David C. Steinmetz in Honor of His Sixtieth Birthday, ed. Richard A. Muller and John L. Thompson (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 272-91.
54. Zacharius Ursinus, A Discourse Concerning the Keeping of the Sabbath, trans. John Stockwood (London: John Harrison, 1584), 1, col. 2.
55. Ibid., 2, col. 1-2.
56. Ibid., 16, col. 1.
57. Ibid., 17, col. 2.
58. Ibid., 23, col. 1, 24, col. 1. Cf. Ursinus, The Larger Catechism, Q. 187, in Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 197.
59. For the Lord’s Day schedule in Heidelberg, see the discussion of the two Lord’s Day services in Deborah Rahn Clemens, “Foundations of German Reformed Worship in the Sixteenth Century Palatinate” (Ph.D. diss., Drew University, 1995), 197– 200, 223-58; for Geneva, see T. H. L. Parker, Calvin’s Preaching (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1992), 59. Cf. Ecclesiastical Ordinances in The Register of the Company of Pastors of Geneva in the Time of Calvin, ed. and trans. Philip Edgcumbe Hughes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1966), 40; for the various regions of the Netherlands in the sixteenth century, see Donald Sinnema, “The Second Sunday Service in the Early Dutch Tradition,” Calvin Theological Journal 32 (1997): 298-333.
60. On the development of catechetical preaching and its relation to the Didache, see Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church: Volume 1 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 255-65.
61. See the commentary on these sermons in Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church: Volume 2 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 5-18.
62. Ibid., 196-202.
63. Ibid., 224-28.
64. Ibid., 382-85.
65. For an extensive history, see Donald Sinnema, “The Second Sunday Service in the Early Dutch Reformed Tradition,” Calvin Theological Journal 32 (1997): 298-333.
66. As cited and translated in George W. Richards, The Heidelberg Catechism: Historical and Doctrinal Studies (Philadelphia: Publication and Sunday School Board of the Reformed Church in the United States, 1913), 195-97. Cf. Bierma, An Introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, 50-51; Fred H. Klooster, The Heidelberg Catechism: Origin and History (Grand Rapids: Calvin Theological Seminary, 1989), 151-52.
67. As translated in The Psalter (1912; Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, reprinted 1999), 187. On the history of Catechism preaching in the Reformed churches, especially those in the Netherlands, see Ronald Cammenga, “The Homiletical Use of the Heidelberg Catechism: An Examination of the Practice of Systematic Preaching of the Heidelberg Catechism in the Dutch Reformed Tradition” Protestant Reformed Theological Journal 41:1 (November 2007): 2-28; Peter Y. De Jong, “Comments on Catechetical Preaching [1],” Mid-America Journal of Theology 1, 2 (Fall 1985): 155-89; “Comments on Catechetical Preaching [2].” Mid-America Journal of Theology 2, 2 (Fall 1986): 149-70; “Comments on Catechetical Preaching [3],” Mid-America Journal of Theology 3, 1 (Spring 1987): 89 –134; N. H. Gootjes, “Catechism Preaching (Part 1),” in Proceedings of the International Conference of Reformed Churches 1993 (Neerlandia: Inheritance Publications, 1993), 136-52 and “Catechism Preaching (Part 2),” in Proceedings of the International Conference of Reformed Churches 1993 (Neerlandia: Inheritance Publications, 1993), 153-63.
68. As cited in Jan Karel van Baalen, The Heritage of the Fathers: A Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948), 25.
69. As cited in Idzerd Van Dellen and Martin Monsma, The Church Order Commentary (1941; repr. Wyoming: Credo Books, 2003), 279.
70. J. L. Schaver, The Polity of the Churches: Volume II, 3rd ed. (Chicago: Church Polity Press, 1947), 159.
71. Ibid., 159.