Here is our fifth conversation on the lectures on preaching that Bonhoeffer delivered during his time (1935-1937) at the Confessing Church seminary at Finkenwalde. In the fifth lecture, Bonhoeffer addresses the form of the sermon, making the fundamentally theological claim that preaching is governed not by technique or personal freedom but by Christ’s presence in the scriptures. Bonhoeffer’s homiletics are less prescriptive about style than they are demanding about fidelity— to the text, to the tradition, and to the living Word.
In this fifth lecture Bonhoeffer distinguishes between instructional, conversion, and edification sermons, but insists that every form must be in service to the text. The preacher does not decide in advance what the sermon should accomplish; rather, the text itself determines whether the sermon teaches, comforts, judges, or converts. He notes how Augustine held that every sermon should do all those things.
At the heart of this discipline is Bonhoeffer’s Christology. Scripture is the means by which Jesus Christ makes himself present to the congregation. Because Christ is present, the sermon shares in Christ’s freedom to teach, edify, promise, condemn, and convert. Yet this freedom never belongs to the preacher. In the discussion of conversion sermons, for example, Bonhoeffer draws a sharp distinction: God alone converts a person to God. Preachers, he says, can convert only to ideals—an abstraction Bonhoeffer treats negatively. True conversion is transformation into an unfamiliar image, the crucified Christ, which often goes unrecognized because the cross contradicts human expectations. Bonhoeffer also critiques sermons aimed at edification or measurable results. When preaching seeks visible outcomes (emotional uplift, moral improvement, altar calls) it risks replacing truth with spiritual self-satisfaction.
Finally, Bonhoeffer underscores the seriousness of language in worship. The church is the church of the Word, not of spectacle or technique. Every spoken word reveals theology. As soon as the preacher speaks, one can hear whether the scriptures are proclaimed as living address or reduced to abstraction. Preaching, therefore, is not self-expression but disciplined participation in Christ’s own speaking—a Word that judges, saves, and makes all things new.
