God Speaks When the Scriptures Are Read:
Pastoral Reflections on BCO 50
On Polity Matters we are currently working our way through the final section of the Book of Church Order, so all of our newest episodes are about worship. I thought it would be worthwhile to reflect on these matters here, as they pertain to the aim of this blog as a whole. What follows is a reflection on BCO 50.
This chapter of the Directory for Worship sets before the Church a striking truth: in the public reading of Scripture, God Himself speaks directly to His gathered people. Scripture reading is not a warm‑up to preaching or a logistical transition or a decorative element meant to set a mood. It is a distinct ordinance of divine address.
BCO 50 matters for ministers and sessions because it guards the authority of God’s Word, preserves the ministerial character of worship, and resists the ever‑present temptation to subordinate Scripture to explanation, personality, or emotional effect. Before we speak to God in prayer, and before we hear a sermon about God, God speaks to us in His Word.
BCO 50‑1 — God Addresses His People
The public reading of the Holy Scriptures is performed by the minister as God’s servant. Through it God speaks most directly to the congregation, even more directly than through the sermon. The reading of the Scriptures by the minister is to be distinguished from the responsive reading of certain portions of Scripture by the minister and the congregation. In the former God addresses His people; in the latter God’s people give expression in the words of Scripture to their contrition, adoration, gratitude and other holy sentiments. The psalms of Scripture are especially appropriate for responsive reading.
This paragraph is intentionally strong: God speaks more directly in the reading of Scripture than even in preaching.
This does not diminish preaching. It rightly locates it. Preaching explains, applies, and presses home the Word—but it does not replace the Word. The sermon is authoritative only insofar as it is tethered to Scripture.
This single sentence guards the Church from treating Scripture reading as filler—something to be endured until the “real” work begins. It places weight not only on what is read, but on how it is read. The minister reads as God’s servant, conscious that he stands as a mouthpiece of divine address. Careless reading, rushed reading, or poorly prepared reading is therefore not just unfortunate, it is pastorally negligent.
BCO 50‑1 also draws a careful distinction between two different uses of Scripture in worship. When Scripture is read by the minister, God addresses His people. When Scripture is used responsively, God’s people address God, giving expression to their contrition, adoration, gratitude, and other holy affections. Responsive readings are not diminished by this distinction; they are honored by being properly categorized.
The Psalter in particular uniquely equips God’s people with divinely given language for prayer and praise. In responsive readings, the Church learns not only that it may speak to God, but how.
BCO 50‑2 — Scripture Reading as Worship
The reading of the Holy Scriptures in the congregation is a part of the public worship of God and should be done by the minister or some other person.
Scripture reading is ordinarily done by the minister, but the Directory allows for delegation when appropriate.
Here it is crucial to begin with the nature of the act, not the identity of the reader. BCO 50‑1 has already defined public Scripture reading as a ministerial act in which God addresses His people. Once that category is established, the question becomes unavoidable: Who may rightly perform acts of divine address in public worship on God’s behalf?
The Directory consistently treats Scripture reading as ministerial. The authority of the act does not rest in eloquence, literacy, or sincerity. It rests in Christ’s appointment of both the ordinance and the office. Public Scripture reading is authoritative not because the reader is impressive, but because Christ speaks through ordained means for the good of His Church.
The phrase “some other person” has generated understandable confusion. Read expansively, it seems to permit indiscriminate participation. Read constitutionally and pastorally, however, it assumes lawful authorization and oversight. The exception does not erase the rule. It allows delegation, not democratization.
When this distinction collapses, the logic of the Directory for Worship begins to unravel. If anyone may perform acts of divine address simply because the words are God’s, then the same logic would apply to benedictions, sacraments, and preaching. The authority rests not in the man, but in Christ who governs His Church through appointed means.
What is often gained by an “anyone may read” approach is perceived inclusivity and informality. What is often lost is weight, clarity, and the formative truth that worship is first received before it is offered.
BCO 50 is shaping instincts, not merely regulating logistics.
BCO 50‑3 — Hearing God Clearly
The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments shall be read from a good translation, not a paraphrase, in the language of the people, that all may hear and understand.
A paraphrase is an interpretation. It may be helpful in teaching or private devotion, but it is not Scripture itself. To substitute a paraphrase for Scripture in public worship is to replace God’s Word with human explanation at precisely the moment God is meant to speak.
At the same time, this paragraph presses pastoral responsibility. A translation may be technically accurate but pastorally inaccessible. Ministers must ask not only, “Is this faithful?” but also, “Can my people hear and understand?” The Word must be read in the language of the people to ensure its intelligibility.
This principle echoes the Reformational insistence that Scripture be heard in the common tongue. God’s authority is not diminished by clarity; it is displayed through it.
BCO 50‑4 — Proportion, Judgment, and Restraint
How large a portion shall be read at once is left to the discretion of every minister; and he may, when he thinks it expedient, expound any part of what is read; always having regard to the time, that neither reading, singing, praying, preaching, nor any other ordinance, be disproportionate the one to the other; nor the whole rendered too short, or too tedious.
Scripture reading should be substantial enough to be meaningful, but not so long that it overwhelms the service. The goal is harmony among the ordinances, not competition.
The allowance for brief exposition is noteworthy. At times, a short explanation may help God’s people hear what they are about to receive. But the Directory is careful not to collapse Scripture reading into a second sermon.
This paragraph calls ministers to maturity, judgment, and restraint. Worship should not feel rushed, nor should it feel bloated. Both extremes obscure the purpose of the ordinances.
Importantly, BCO 50‑4 returns again to the minister’s role, underscoring the internal consistency of the chapter’s theology even where its wording elsewhere is less precise. Scripture reading is not an isolated act; it belongs to a carefully ordered whole.
A Necessary Clarification
It is worth stating plainly what BCO 50 does not say. It does not deny that others may read Scripture clearly or reverently. It does not claim that authority flows from personality or gifting. It does not reduce worship to a performance by professionals.
What it does say is that public Scripture reading is a ministerial act of divine address. Once that is granted, the range of appropriate readers necessarily narrows. Office matters, not because Christ is absent, but because He is present and active through appointed means.