# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juni 1855_S189
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

189

The Relation of Preaching to the Word and to the Church’s Confession.

Following the preceding suggestions of earlier theologians concerning preaching, we now present a good word from Professor Dr. Kahnis, which he expressed in the preface to this year’s volume of the “Sächsisches Kirchen- und Schulblatt,” which he edits, likewise concerning preaching. We call particular attention here to what this theologian of our time says about the relation of preaching to the confession. His words are as follows:

In view both of its origin and of its place in worship, preaching should be nothing other than the exposition and application of the Word of God. A sermon should not be a work of scholarly exegesis, but it should rest upon thorough exegetical studies; a sermon should not be a Bible lesson, but it should always lead the hearer into an understanding of the text. It would be far better if preachers succeeded in leading their hearers to turn to Scripture after the sermon, so that, on the basis of what they had heard, they might through prayer and prayerful reflection enter more deeply into Scripture, than if they demanded sermons in print in order to delight, not without a connoisseur’s sensibility, in the world of thought and diction of a celebrated so-called pulpit orator. The importance that the homily, or at least the homiletic form of preaching, has gained in recent times is a sign that congregations are once again beginning to seek in church not thoughts that one may have about the Word, but the Word itself. The homily is both the easiest and the most difficult kind of sermon. It is infinitely easy, without arrangement or eloquence, to string together along the thread of the text exegetical, practical, and other thoughts just as they happen to arise. But such homilies do not gather; they scatter. Yet to expound the text like a banquet without allowing the exegetical kitchen apparatus to be seen, to lead into the height, breadth, and depth of every individual word and nevertheless achieve one overall thought and one overall impression, to enter the text with the experiences of life and then draw from the text what is useful for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness—this requires no small abilities. Where application to life is lacking, the homily is not what it ought to be. The exegete strives for an objective understanding of Scripture; the preacher, however, seeks to edify the congregation on the basis of Scripture. As soon as the preacher draws upon what scholarship, experience, and Christian consciousness offer him merely in order to obtain colors with which to embellish the text, as is not uncommon among both old and new representatives of the homily, he loses himself in the exegete. The task of preaching is not to carry life into the Word, but to carry the Word into life. To edify means precisely to continue building up the faith and life of the congregation, which is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, through testimony to the Word of the apostles and prophets.