Theological Theology: Sydney Anglicans IV: the primacy of the word

Calvin's pulpit in Geneva 

The churches of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney are sometimes caricatured as Bible-centred rather than Christ-centred or God-centred. The truth behind the caricature is the attention we give to the proclamation of the word in public and private gatherings. While elsewhere Anglican churches might give more prominence to the sacraments or to an experience of the Spirit, Sydney Anglican churches typically place great store on the reading and exposition of Scripture. Expository preaching is the staple diet of most congregations. Fellowship groups routinely involve Bible study.

This central place given to reading, hearing and teaching the Bible goes back to the very beginnings of the colony. The first Christian sermon preached on Australian soil was Richard Johnson’s exposition of Psalm 116:12 — ‘What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me’. The influence of Charles Simeon on many of the evangelical clergy who travelled to the young colony could be seen in their biblical preaching. Some of the early settlers (e.g. Thomas Moore) became patrons of the Bible Society and helped to distribute Bibles in the colony. Unsurprisingly, confidence in the Bible as the written word of God, the supreme authority in all matters of faith and life, would soon become an enduring characteristic of the church in Sydney. But, of course, this has never been unique to Sydney. The primacy of the word of God is a defining element of evangelical Anglicanism the world over. It is part of our Reformation heritage.

Such an emphasis should not be taken to mean that there is no place at all for the sacraments or ‘experience’ or the Spirit in Sydney Anglicanism. In keeping with the emphasis of the great Reformers, the sacraments have often been described as tangible words, signs which are joined to the proclamation of the gospel and which point to its central realities — inclusion or immersion in Christ (baptism) and the forgiveness of sins through the broken body and shed blood of the Saviour (the Lord’s Supper). They do not convey salvation but attest to it and to its source in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Overemphasis upon the sacraments has carried with it a host of dangers, including a sacerdotal understanding of Christian ministry, a devaluing of the word and its place in ordering the personal and corporate lives of Christians, and an obscuring of the finished work of Christ which anchors Christian confidence and energises Christian mission. But in reaction some have gone too far in the other direction and dismissed the sacraments as entirely unnecessary and irrelevant. Such an extreme is not something most Sydney churches are willing to embrace. Read more