Knox believed a reformed pastor’s first duty was to preach God’s Word. Two other basic duties were to administer the sacraments and to enforce church discipline. As a true reformer, Knox dethroned the Mass. His calling was to preach the Word of God. Though it is still debated whether he kept the sacraments on a par with preaching, the weight of his writings supports preaching as central.10

And it was not mere preaching that he elevated but reformation preaching, the kind that returned the Bible to the pulpit as well as the pew. It was preaching a literal understanding of Scripture instead of the moralizing and allegorizing of the Middle Ages. Knox was convinced that the Bible was clear and intelligible to the average person. The preacher’s task was not so much to interpret the Bible as to declare what was self-evident in it.11.

He liked to preach through books of the Bible verse by verse. He preached through large books in the Old Testament and New such as Isaiah and the Gospel of John.  Knox tended to emphasize the Old Testament. His view of God as unchanging led him to conclude that plagues, invasions, and natural disasters must judge Scotland and England as surely as Israel and Judah of old. Deuteronomy 12:32 was something of a key verse for his hermeneutic: “All that I command you, be careful to do it; you shall not add to it, nor take away from it.” By this standard he sought to purify religion. Knox preached long sermons and preached often. In Geneva he preached several times each week, and each sermon was two or three hours long.

He also was a pastoral preacher. He preached to comfort and encourage Christian living especially after Queen Mary’s rule ended in Scotland.12 His sermon on the first temptation of Christ in Matthew 4 starts with his specific objective that his hearers not fear the crafty assaults of Satan. He previews a three-fold outline in the first paragraph. First, what the word temptation means and how it is used in Scripture. Second, who is here tempted and at what time this temptation happened. Third, how and by what means he was tempted and what fruits ensue. It is notable for a clear Biblical basis and for systematic treatment of theology of testing and temptation. He presents a Biblical theology of themes such as the forty days as a period of testing, and he gives evidence of thorough research of earlier expositors on the text.13

Knox typically organized his sermons into a two-fold structure. First he expounded the text. Then he drew doctrinal or practical application.  His closing exhortations often applied the text to society. He focused on political leaders especially, making them heroes or villains. He earned their wrath more often than not. He also liked to select a practical subject like prayer and build a doctrinal sermon from an appropriate text.