| Preface | 9 |
| Publisher's Note | 11 |
| I | The Word and Men | 13 |
| 1 | The Word is to be preached, and men are to listen | 13 |
| 2 | Theology's recovery of the Biblical proclamation | 16 |
| 3 | The purpose of this book in the theological task | 20 |
| II | The Escape from False Dilemmas | 25 |
| 1 | The congregation is in the Bible | 25 |
| 2 | Christ's conquest is for the congregation | 27 |
| 3 | 'Edification' builds up the congregation in Christ | 32 |
| III | The Bible as Message | 37 |
| 1 | The Bible's unity is found when it is preached | 37 |
| 2 | The Bible's theme is the conflict of God and the Devil | 42 |
| 3 | The Bible's realism | 46 |
| IV | Christ the Lord of the Scriptures | 50 |
| 1 | The Scriptures proclaim a conflict and a victory | 50 |
| 2 | The Old and New Testaments are thus united | 55 |
| 3 | The death and the resurrection are inseparable | 58 |
| V | The Bible and Preaching | 61 |
| 1 | The centrality of preaching in the history of the world | 61 |
| 2 | The centrality of preaching in the Gospels | 65 |
| 3 | The Bible itself overflows into preaching | 69 |
| VI | Conquered Man | 72 |
| 1 | The creation of man by the Word | 72 |
| 2 | The image of God restored by the picture of Christ | 75 |
| 3 | Preaching's conflict with sin, death and guilt | 80 |
| VII | Creation and Redemption | 85 |
| 1 | Redemption: a critique of Pietism | 85 |
| 2 | Creation: a critique of Barthianism | 89 |
| 3 | The task of the preacher is to do battle | 94 |
| VIII | The Ministry of Reconciliation | 96 |
| 1 | The commission of the ministry | 96 |
| 2 | The authority of the ministry | 99 |
| 3 | The priest and the congregation | 104 |
| IX | The Word and Faith | 108 |
| 1 | Christ and I are present in the Word | 108 |
| 2 | God and man are active in the Word | 111 |
| 3 | Faith in the Word is true human life | 114 |
| X | Death and Resurrection | 119 |
| 1 | Preaching must answer: did Christ rise? | 119 |
| 2 | The nature of preaching's answer | 124 |
| 3 | The significance of Christ's resurrection for our faith | 129 |
| 4 | Preaching the resurrection to the twentieth century | 133 |
| XI | The Law and the Gospel | 137 |
| 1 | 'Law and grace' is 'death and resurrection' | 137 |
| 2 | The law and secular authority in Luther and today | 141 |
| 3 | Luther's doctrine of man under the law | 143 |
| Excursus: Emphasis on the outward in the New Testament and in Luther's thought | 147 |
| XII | Baptism and the Lord's Supper | 150 |
| 1 | The place of baptism in the Gospel | 150 |
| 2 | The Lord's Supper: 'the real presence is heard' | 154 |
| 3 | Word and sacraments in the Church | 156 |
| 4 | Word and sacraments in human life | 157 |
| XIII | The Downfall of Satan | 164 |
| 1 | Conflict with Satan is vital to preaching | 164 |
| 2 | Preaching is the restoration of nature | 166 |
| 3 | The forgiveness of sins and the resurrection of the dead | 170 |
| XIV | The Communion of Saints | 176 |
| 1 | Christian fellowship is natural fellowship | 176 |
| 2 | The Christian mission involves an open Church | 180 |
| 3 | The boundaries of the Church cannot be determined | 185 |
| XV | God Speaks--Man Listens | 191 |
| 1 | The Christian week and the Christian year | 191 |
| 2 | Preaching's exposition of the Christian year | 195 |
| 3 | Divisions of the text and of the congregation | 199 |
| 4 | Preaching's exposition of the Bible | 202 |
| XVI | The Divine and the Human | 204 |
| 1 | Luther's understanding of the communicatio idiomatum | 204 |
| 2 | The communicatio idiomatum in the Word | 207 |
| 3 | The necessary humanity of preaching and the Church | 209 |
| 4 | Our need of a theology of the Word | 214 |
| Index of names and subjects | 217 |
| Index of Biblical references | 219 |
