How to Preach Well According to Martin Luther

Although there are exceptions, like Luther, most pastors today make an effort to preach in a way that everyone in the audience can understand.

Luther did not pioneer this preaching style—Jesus did—but he helped the church return to the example of Christ.

CONCLUSION ABOUT HOW TO PREACH

Martin Luther’s reform of Catholic preaching has left a lasting impact on what Protestants think about how to preach today.

It was largely because of Luther that Protestant worship came to be symbolized by a preacher in the pulpit opening the Bible, in comparison to the Catholic imagery of a priest at an altar performing a ritual.³³

Luther’s emphasis on preaching being central to the worship gathering, being founded on God’s Word and being spoken in simplicity only begin to scratch the surface of how this Reformer’s teaching and example created a ripple in history that continues to influence the church today.

Notes:

1. Scott H. Hendrix, Martin Luther: Visionary Reformer (Wales: Yale University Press, 2015), 45.
2. Derek W.H. Thomas, The Legacy of Luther, Kindle ed. (ed. R.C. Sproul and Stephen J. Nichols; Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2016), Location 6148.
3. John T. Pless, “Martin Luther: Preacher of the Cross,” Concordia Theological Quarterly 51 (1987): 86.
4. Pless, “Preacher of the Cross,” 90.
5. Pless, “Preacher of the Cross,” 85.
6. Dennis Ngien, “Theology of Preaching in Martin Luther,” Themelios 28.2 (2003): 35.
7. Ngien, “Theology of Preaching,” 34-35.
8. Pless, “Preacher of the Cross,” 91.
9. Pless, “Preacher of the Cross,” 91.
10. Arthur Skevington Wood, Captive to the Word: Martin Luther, Doctor of Sacred Scripture (Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1969) 90.
11. Pless, “Preacher of the Cross,” 89.
12. Pless, “Preacher of the Cross,” 89-90.
13. Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, Kindle ed. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013), 359.
14. Hendrix, Visionary Reformer, 48.
15. Timothy George, Theology of the Reformers (Nashville, TN: B&H 2013), 54-55.
16. Wood, Captive to the Word, 89.
17. Patrick Ferry, “Martin Luther on Preaching: Promises and Problems of the Sermon as a Source of Reformation History and as an Instrument of the Reformation,” Concordia Theological Quarterly 54 (1990): 273.
18. Thomas, “Luther As Preacher,” Location 6181.
19. Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: A Man Between God and the Devil (London: Yale University Press, 2006) 173.
20. John W. Doberstein, ed., Luther’s Works vol.51 (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1959) XIX-XX.
21. Ngien, “Theology of Preaching,” 29.
22. Ngien, “Theology of Preaching,” 32.
23. Ferry, “Luther on Preaching,” 273.
24. Thomas, “Luther As Preacher,” Location 6132.
25. Doberstein, Luther’s Works, XX-XXI.
26. Ferry, “Luther on Preaching,” 273.
27. Ferry, “Luther on Preaching,” 273.
28. Pless, “Preacher of the Cross,” 91-92.
29. Thomas, “Luther As Preacher,” Location 6209.
30. Thomas, “Luther As Preacher,” Location 6203.
31. Pless, “Preacher of the Cross,” 92.
32. Wood, Captive to the Word, 92.
33. George, Theology of the Reformers, 91-92.

This article originally appeared here.