The Content of Preaching

For Latimer, the Word of God was central to the content of preaching. Scripture could transform lives, but Scripture preached was the power of God unto salvation. Holding to the principle of sola scriptura, Latimer viewed Scripture as a great and eternal book, penned by a great and eternal author.10 Because the Word comes from God, it is authoritative, and every person, including rulers, should give credence to it and order their steps according to it.

In his famous analogy, Latimer likened the preacher to a ploughman whose seed was the Word of God; the ground was the people of God. The word of God, not the word of man, was the seed. Latimer proclaimed, “Many teach men’s way, but that should not be. We should learn viam Dei, God’s way; and that truly, without mixture, temperature, blanching, powdering.”11 Only God’s Word can teach God’s way. If any person wondered what constituted the Word of God, Latimer clarified, “Those [words] which are of God written in God’s book.”12 To assure the proper proclamation of the truth, Latimer insisted that preachers be ruled by the word of God through careful hermeneutics.13 Sola scriptura was the rule in theory and practice, in study and pulpit.   

The Aim of Preaching

Latimer likened preaching to an angler’s net, which brings people to shore so that God can open their hearts.14 This imagery reveals Latimer’s aim for preaching. Though he did not neglect the need for sermons to provide edification, Latimer emphasized the need for them to lead people to salvation. For Latimer, preaching was not a means of grace but the means of grace.

Two passages in Romans were especially important. First, Latimer interpreted Rom.1:16 as a reference to preaching saying, “God’s word opened: it is the instrument, and thing whereby we are saved.”15 The second passage was Rom. 10:14. Latimer commented, “[I]f we will come to faith, we must hear God’s word: if God’s word be necessary to be heard, then we must have preachers which be able to tell us God’s word.”16

When one considers Latimer’s understanding of the aim of preaching, he can see readily why Latimer was so concerned over the lack of preaching prelates. Latimer proclaimed, “God commanded thee to preach: and . . . if thou warn not the wicked, that they turn and amend, they shall perish in their iniquities. . . . If you do not your office . . . you shall be damned for it.”17

Because preaching was so powerful in bringing people to salvation, Latimer believed preaching to be “the thing that the devil wrestleth most against: it hath been all his study to decay this office.”18 While Christian prelates may be content to neglect their office, the devil is never content to neglect his. He is the most diligent preacher of all.