We will try to devote a series of articles to the subject of preaching. However, this is such a broad subject that the material can scarcely be viewed in its entirety. We will therefore have to limit ourselves and shed light upon preaching only from one particular angle.

The Heidelberg Catechism considers preaching as the administration of the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Lord's Day 31). One could also view it from the centuries-old description, much beloved by the Reformed theologians, that the preaching is explanation and application of God's Word. In addition, one could emphasize the descriptions used in Holy Scripture that preaching must be "the ministry of reconcilia­tion" (2 Corinthians 5:18), as stew­ards dispensing "the mysteries of God" (1 Corinthians 4:1), or also a "rightly dividing the Word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). One could stress the fact that preaching must be Scriptural-experimental, or in other words: objective-subjective. Much could be said about the history of preaching, as to what the preaching was like in God's church during the course of the centuries. One could give extensive study to questions regarding the choice of texts and to the different topics which Holy Scripture offers to preaching. Not unimportant is the formal aspect of the sermon, in which questions arise concerning the structure of the sermon: foreword, theme, points, etc.

The reader will understand that all this is not possible within the scope of a few articles. It would become a complete book, for which, in writing it, very much sanctified knowledge of the matters and solemn searching would certainly be required. Such a book would deal with the art of preaching, or homiletics. During the course of the centuries quite a few handbooks on homiletics have appeared, both bad ones and good ones. Augustine and Chrysostom wrote treatises on homiletics, which the preachers in the old church could use. Among the important Reformed books on homiletics can be mentioned the one by Andreas Hyperius (1553), the one of Johannes Hoornbeek (1645), and, in the more recent time, especially the Gereformeerde Homiletiek by Dr. T. Hoekstra, a work which in those days was very much valued by Rev. G. H. Kersten, and from which even today many preachers have still been enabled to draw many profitable pieces of advice for preaching.

In this series of articles we now want to consider just one facet of all the matters which are dealt with in homiletics, namely, the fact that reaching ought to be separating. We take notice then, in the first place, what separating preaching actually is, where its roots lie, and how it has developed during the course of the centuries. In the second half of our series of articles, we then wish to pause and examine more closely the objections which in former days and also today are brought forward against separating preaching, and subsequently we shall try to counter those objections.

What is separating preaching?⤒🔗

Our word "separate" comes from the Latin word separere, which means taking apart. So when we say that a preacher separates or makes a separation in his preaching, we mean by this that he draws a line of separation, a dividing line. The pure Dutch expression for separating preaching is preaching onderscheidenlijk (in English: distinguishingly, or discriminatingly). The meaning of this has been put into words by Dr. T.Hoekstra as follows:

The pure line has to be drawn between those who fear God in truth and those who are disobedient to the gospel of Christ … Hence, the distinction is to be continually made between those who are converted and those who did not come to conversion. The ministry of the Word is an opening and closing of the kingdom of heaven. The line has to be drawn as sharply and clearly as possible in the application, in order that everyone who examines himself according to the preaching can know whether or not he belongs to the flock of the Good Shepherd. Gereformeerde Homiletiek, p. 303

Thus the minister who makes separation in his preaching has an eye upon the fact that, in spite of many shades of difference, there are actually only two kinds of people in his congregation. There is a deep and essential dividing line, which does not run between a churchgoer and a worldling (after all, that is not the issue here), but which runs right through the pews. It is that line of separation, invisible to the eye, of which Christ spoke in Matthew 25 when He compared His church to ten virgins, of whom five were wise and five foolish. It is the line of separation which the apostle draws in 1 John 3, when he speaks about the children of God and the children of the devil. A third kind of hearer does not exist. Every minister will have to take this scriptural fact seriously, both in family visitation and in preaching. The word which the Lord commissioned to Isaiah ought to resound in every sermon: "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him" (Isaiah 3:10,11). Every sermon should have a message, both for God's children as well as for those who do not have grace. A sermon is not an edifying speech, purely intended for God's people, nor an evangelistic address. A sermon is explanation and application of God's Word in the midst of a congregation in which are present death and life, chaff and corn, tares and wheat. Out of that one text, every time again, after the explicatio (explanation) must flow a richly varied applicatio (application), which contains in­struction, edification, and admonition for God's children, and discovery, warning, and invitation for the unregenerate. It needs no argument that for this so holy work God's servants cannot miss the daily secret dealings with God and the continual administration of His Spirit.

Still, with all this, we are not yet finished. Separating preaching is more than that which we have written above. Thus far we have observed that separation in preaching which concerns the state of the hearers. There are but two different states, as we said: death or life; a person is in Adam, or a person is in Christ. But now a further separation is still necessary in preaching. The right preaching will also separate, that is, make distinction, by reason of the standings which are found in the life of grace. Not all God's children are led equally far on the way of life or exercised to the same degree. Some Zionites are standing before certain matters, and others are standing behind them. How well Aquila and Priscilla realized this when they heard the bold preacher Apollos. They took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly, that is, with more precision! What a significant task the Lord Jesus gave to Simon Peter when He commanded him not only to feed His lambs, but also to tend and feed His sheep. If a minister neglects this further separation, the spiritual life of God's children languishes, and, on the other hand, the preaching loses its discovering character with respect to the unconverted.

Thus in separating preaching there will be food for the babes and little ones in grace. By the sincere milk of God's Word their heart shall be declared. When the marks of the new life are preached, they will hear proclaimed from the housetops what has happened in the closet. But in that preaching they will also always hear what they are missing. That takes place at such a time when the sheep are fed and all the riches which can be found in the Mediator Christ Jesus are displayed. After all, also for God's more exercised children the preaching must be separating. They, too, must hear, not only what the Lord has wrought in their life, but also that which they are still missing. Jacob's Bethel and Peniel, two rich, but so distinct, experiences of the soul, must receive their place in separating preaching.

Does separating preaching mean that in every sermon the entire order of salvation is dealt with? We do not think that this is necessary or even possible. The full riches of that which the Holy Spirit teaches the church here on earth cannot possibly be treated in a single sermon. Hoekstra remarks in this connection:

Of course, only a few conditions of spiritual life are dealt with in one sermon. Time is lacking for an intensive treatment of many cases; the preaching would become confused. Gereformeerde Homiletiek, p. 305

Moreover, it is true that every text has its own experience. One time light can be shed on this side, the next time on that side of the life of grace. How necessary then for a minister that he himself has knowledge of the matters which he preaches, and that his "profiting (Dutch: increasing) may appear to all" (1 Timothy 4:15).

Of great significance in this connection is the task which Paul gave to Timothy with respect to preaching, to be "a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). Very many different explanations have been given about the manner in which this rightly dividing of God's Word must be understood. The most striking, however, we find in the judgment which the authors of the marginal notes of the Statenvertaling (the Dutch equivalent of the King James version) presented, namely, that this expression is a picture of the householders who cut and hand to the members of the household their food, everyone according to his circumstances. As a father in olden days was accustomed to cut the bread and the meat in pieces accord­ing to what he knew each of his children needed, likewise the minister of the Word, in dividing the Word of truth, must take into account that which each one of God's children needs. He must not, for instance, preach in every sermon only the justification of the sinner and the assurance of faith, as if prior to this spiritual life would be out of the question; on the other hand, he must watch against stopping in every sermon at the marks of the beginning life, as if nothing more could be obtained.