This article is by Rev. P Helmus of the Reformed Church of Zuidhorn, The Netherlands. It appeared in De Bazuin, March 2025, and was subsequently translated by Sr Rita Ballast. The translation is published here with Rev. Helmus’s kind permission. JN
Every Sunday, we go to church to listen to the preaching of the WORD.
Why?
We all know the answer.
Christ has mandated His church to proclaim the gospel. She must do this with authority, with the command to repent and believe. That’s why the church began preaching at Pentecost and has done so ever since. Preaching is not some cultural phenomenon like a popular TED talk. This task of the church comes directly from the Bible, God’s Word. So, it must also meet the norms of that Word.
It must be true.
But how must we assess that?
Here, the problems begin. The church consists of sinful people with limited abilities, so how can its preaching be pure? Just look at all the different ‘denominations’ we have, with as many differing doctrines and teachings in their preaching, and you begin to understand the dilemma.
You have light and weighty preaching.
You have churches where the ministers proclaim God’s promises so broadly that true faith is hardly necessary.
Then there are churches where it seems that hardly anyone can be saved. The differences can be so significant that contradictory messages can be heard from different pulpits.
As a result, believers are often left grappling with uncertainty, questioning the consistency and reliability of the messages they hear. One preacher may emphasise God’s boundless love and promises, while another may focus on the weight of repentance and the narrow path to salvation. Such diversity of emphasis stems from differing interpretations of Scripture and the unique influences of culture, education, and personal experience that shape each minister’s approach. This divergence challenges congregants to discern the essence of faithful preaching amid these varied voices.
What one church labels sin, another church celebrates as blessed by God.
In the words of the Belgic Confession: Who will determine what is true or false?
To discern this in real-life situations, believers must determine what standards the preaching should meet for it to be faithful. For that, we must focus on the only authoritative Source of true and infallible knowledge on this subject: the Bible. That starting point immediately shows that we work from a Scriptural point of view and not a human scientific one. The social sciences, the humanities, or culture do not teach us what preaching is or its required standards. Only Scripture, which we confess contains normative and infallible knowledge for our faith and congregational functioning, can be our guideline. And that Scripture teaches us that the command to preach comes from the Word itself: “Preach the Word!” (2 Timothy 4:2)
THE PURE SOURCE
This article is entitled ‘Pure Preaching’. Reformed people know this term well. After all, Article 29 of the Belgic Confession of Faith speaks of pure preaching as one of the three marks of the true church. But what does that mean? Why the addition ‘pure’? And who decides what is pure and how pure it should be? Is preaching determined by human subjective standards?
People ask these questions because doubts and uncertainty easily arise on this topic. And from that uncertainty, people quickly label the word ‘pure’ as human work and then attack it. This perceived subjectivity is the main reason for this article.
Yet God’s Word puts terms like true, false and pure into our mouths. We may not be ashamed of that. After all, God is the One Who reveals to us that there are false prophets and that only His Word can teach us the truth. Pure here means that it comes from a pure source. Paul writes to Timothy, “Preach the Word” (2 Tim 4:2). The Word of God is the content of the preaching. Otherwise, it is not preaching.
In the previous verses, Paul declared: …” All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16 & 17).
“All Scripture”, says Paul, is inspired by God and thus the Word of God. The purpose of the preaching cannot be anything other than proclaiming the Word of God itself. Not self-willed preaching, not a human word, but God’s Word. So, the preaching must also be judged by the standard of that Word.
ASSESSMENT OF THE PREACHING
Each attendee evaluates the sermon. And that assessment is very diverse. In addition to grateful acceptance, much criticism is audible. Let me mention a few examples:
Not current enough.
Out of touch with reality.
Not concrete.
Meaningless generalities or too confrontational.
Too much meditation\contemplation.
Too many big words.
Too much scripture explanation.
Too little scripture explanation.
Too formal.
Too colloquial.
Not pitched at the right level.
Not constructive.
There are truths in all this criticism, and the preacher who takes his office seriously will always have to respond to this type of criticism. However, the above assessments do not get to the heart of the matter. None of them allude to the actual criteria of sermon assessment.
Preaching is not simply a theological speech or a current analysis of the present time. A sermon is not a discourse about the truth, a correct exegesis, or an exposure of human sin, although it does have to include all those things.
To develop the proper criteria, we must first recognise and believe that God is speaking.
He addresses us, even in a difficult or long-winded sermon. This reality means that man does not criticise the sermon, but the message criticises man: The minister does not speak man’s Word, but God’s Word from the pulpit. That Word is not there for shallow discussion and fluffy criticism. It is a message to which you must answer yes or no.
KEYS OF THE KINGDOM
But what is pure preaching, then? What is the benchmark?
In 2 Tim. 4:1&2, Paul charges Timothy to preach and connects that to “the Lord Jesus Christ Who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His Kingdom” at the final judgment. The Kingdom of God is a term we know from our confession. In Lord’s Day 31 we confess that faithful preaching is one of the two keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. The preaching opens the kingdom of heaven to those who receive the message with true faith.
The second key closes the kingdom of heaven to those who reject the message. God will judge in accordance with His gospel promises and demands (Matt. 16:19).
The preaching must point out and display the rich content of that kingdom. And the Son of God is the only One Who determines and reveals that content through His Word and Spirit. After all, His Word and Spirit are the means He uses to gather His church and make His disciples and followers the subjects of His Kingdom. That leaves no room for non-commitment in either preaching or listening.
In 2 Tim. 4:3&4, Paul speaks of truth and sound doctrine. Those words leave no room for human preference and interpretation. For it to be pure, preaching must be according to Scripture. That is why Paul says, “Preach the Word.” That is essential because preaching is nothing less than opening and closing the Kingdom of God. The man standing on the pulpit must keep his mouth shut if he does not know that God has called him to use the keys of the Kingdom of God.
THE GRAVITY AND AUTHORITY
One cannot think of a greater gravity than the knowledge of salvation or condemnation for both the preacher and the hearers. The hearers need to know where they stand. The preaching may not open where Jesus would close or close where Jesus would open. When that happens, the preaching is no longer pure. Then, the King of the Kingdom no longer backs the preaching. God must be able to say of every sermon: “Whoever hears this hears Me” (Luke 10: 16a). That is the authority of the preaching and that determines its seriousness.
Do we realise this enough? It is not natural that the people in the pew appreciate the minister addressing them with such seriousness. Reactions to such sermons bear this out. The hearers usually attempt to soften this emphasis in a sermon. Let it be clear that the intent of a good sermon is not to cause problems and make us doubt our faith unnecessarily. Yet, it is good to reflect critically on our personal faith life. We can be too confident about our faith: “Of course I believe!”
But if our faith is so ‘natural’, we don’t need the double-edged, sharp sword of God’s Word either! Then, we have already accepted God all by ourselves! But no matter how much this thought pleases mankind, it is fundamentally wrong. So, it is very possible that when the seriousness of a sermon is perceived as problematic, a false confidence is exposed. After all, the sharp sword of the Word cuts deeply into our hearts. And that sword is not the Word of a man, but the Sword of the Spirit. He gives words that are like deep goads to stimulate our faith, and our only Shepherd prompts them.
God is the One Who reaches into the human heart through the preaching of the gospel and thus opens and closes His Kingdom. Every time a minister preaches, he must do it under the banner: “God will judge in accordance with this message, both now and in the final judgement.” The minister must dare to say: “Whoever hears me hears Jesus; whoever rejects me rejects Jesus.”
MAINTAINING THE PURE PREACHING
And that sounds quite challenging. How can a sinful person say that? Yet the assignment is: “Preach the Word!” But how can a sinful institution like the church do that in all purity?
To answer that, we must check out our Belgic Confession of Faith in article 29. We read that the true church practices the pure preaching of the gospel and must keep it pure. The church is not only a true church when every sermon and sentence is perfect. As a rule, every effort must be made to ensure that the preaching agrees with and matches the written Word of God. Not the perfection of every sermon characterises the church, but its faithful maintenance.
Faithfully maintaining pure preaching means the church willingly focuses on His Scriptural truth in faithful obedience. After all, God has instituted His church in and through His Word and made it possible by His Spirit. So, we may believe that God will make His people recognise the voice of the Good Shepherd even through a fallible sermon.
Preaching is a matter of believing in the reliability of God’s own Word. God can make His sheep hear His voice through the human mouth. We must remember that His sheep know His voice! When the preaching is according to God’s Word, the hearts of the believers will be burning within them. After all, preaching the Word is a divine command to the church; so it is God’s work. That is why we may believe that when we focus on His infallible Word, He maintains the pure doctrine of the Bible in the fallible speaking of the church itself. After all, He is the pure Source.
UNDERSTANDING THE WORD
When God commands us to obey and uphold His Word, He also gives us the knowledge to understand that Word. It is all related to understanding the Scriptures correctly. And this is the dilemma that modernism gives us: what is the correct explanation? Isn’t that subjective?
The answer of faith must be a resounding: no!
God’s Word explains itself. That is the nature of the Word, for it is God’s own Word. Its authority lies in itself and does not depend on human interpretation. Therefore, it is not so that the minister explains the Scriptures to the congregation as if he were the only one to understand it. No, he shows the congregation that the Word explains itself. The minister does not rule Scripture, but Scripture rules the minister, who is a servant of the Word. That is only possible when people faithfully work in dependence on God. After all, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. When the Spirit of the Lord has called the minister to preach the Word, that minister may boldly proclaim that Word to the congregation as the true Word of God. When the message is full of awe and echoes God’s Word, the sheep can accept that message as the voice of the Good Shepherd, for His written Word is the same as His preached Word.
Then, the preaching will be pure.