Preaching Christ from the Old Testament Quotes

“Illustrative of the sterility of theological training was the resignation of Julius Wellhausen (of source-criticism fame) as professor of theology at Greifswald University and his acceptance of the position of professor of Semitic languages at Halle. He explained the reason for his switch from theology to Semitic languages as follows: “I became a theologian because I was interested in the scientific treatment of the Bible; it has only gradually dawned upon me that a professor of theology likewise has the practical task of preparing students for service in the Evangelical Church, and that I was not fulfilling this practical task, but rather, in spite of all reserve on my part, was incapacitating my hearers for their office.”41”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“Fred Meuser writes, "Luther deeply loved Jesus - the beautiful, caring, human Jesus of the Gospels. Any sermon that failed somehow to hold up that Lord - whose love reached its pinnacle in his self-giving on the cross - so that others could be amazed, as he had been, and then be drawn to trust in the promises and find peace with God and with self, could not be described as preaching Christ."40”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“No other literature is subjected to such abuse, but practical commentaries will frequently cut biblical narratives into little pieces for the sake of attaching to these pieces some morals or other "relevant" applications.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“Redemptive-historical interpretation seeks to understand an Old Testament passage first in its own historical-cultural context. Only after we have heard a passage the way Israel heard it can we move on to understand this message in the broad contexts of the whole canon and the whole of redemptive history. It is at this point that the questions concerning Jesus Christ, the center, emerge.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“Your God reigns! John Piper quotes Cotton Mather, who said three hundred years ago, "The great design and intention of the office of a Christian preacher [is] to restore the throne and dominion of God in the souls of men." And Piper asks, "Is this what people take away from worship nowadays - a sense of God, a note of sovereign grace, a theme of panoramic glory, the grand object of God's infinite Being? Do they enter for one hour in the week ... into an atmosphere of the holiness of God which leaves its aroma upon their lives all week long?"9 New Testament writers as well as Jesus himself clearly teach us that Christ-centered preaching must aim at the glory of God.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“Unfortunately, Calvin failed to evaluate this traditional tropological/moral sense in the light of the intention of the author, as he did the allegorical sense. Was this moral sense the author's intention for Israel? Although Calvin's historical emphasis on the author's intention gave him the key to break out of this character-imitation mold, he often fails to connect this intention with the message for ancient Israel. Thus in his sermons on narrative texts, his homily style of explaining and applying every sentence and clause leads to the loss of the central message of the biblical author for Israel. This loss of focus, in turn, leads to a lack of unity in his sermons, and, ultimately, blurs the Christ-centered focus.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father."122”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“The chief and fundamental thing in the Gospel is this, that before you take Christ as your example, you recognize and accept Him as God's gift to you; so that when you see or hear Him in any of His work or suffering, you do not doubt but believe that He, Christ Himself, with such work or suffering of His, is most truly your very own, whereon you may rely as confidently as if you had done that work....”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“Allegorical interpretation was first developed in Greece in the third century B.C. to make the embarrassing elements in Homer and Hesiod philosophically correct. "The stories of the gods, and the writings of the poets, were not to be taken literally. Rather underneath is the secret or real meaning. .. ."48 This method of interpretation spread to Alexandria, Egypt, where the Jewish scholar Philo (ca. 20 B.C.-A.D. 54) used it to demonstrate that the Septuagint was consonant with Plato and the Stoics. And from Philo it spread to the Christian church via Clement of Alexandria and Origen.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“Committed Christians as well as non-Christians will benefit from explicitly Christ-centered preaching today. In a post-Christian culture such preaching will enable Christians to sense the centrality of Christ in their lives and in the world. It will help them to distinguish their specific faith from that of Judaism, Eastern religions, the new age movement, the health-and-wealth gospel, and other competing faiths. It will continually build their faith in Jesus, their Savior and Lord. Preaching Christ in a non-Christian culture sustains Christians as water sustains nomads in the desert.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“Positively, preaching Christ is as broad as preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. One has only to look at a concordance to see how often the New Testament speaks of "the gospel of the kingdom," "the gospel of Christ," "the gospel of Jesus Christ," "the gospel of the grace of God," and "the gospel of peace." In these terms two characteristics stand out. Preaching Christ is good news for people, and preaching Christ is as broad as preaching the gospel of the kingdom - as long as this kingdom is related to its King, Jesus.
More specifically, to preach Christ is to proclaim some facet of the person, work, or teaching of Jesus of Nazareth so that people may believe him, trust him, love him, and obey him.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“Preaching Christ is not, of course, merely mentioning the name of Jesus or Christ in the sermon. It is not identifying Christ with Yahweh in the Old Testament, or the Angel of Yahweh, or the Commander of the Lord's army, or the Wisdom of God. It is not simply pointing to Christ from a distance or "drawing lines to Christ" by way of typology.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“On a time line, the cross is but a point in the sweep of redemptive history from creation to the new creation. But exactly in the sweep of redemptive history, the cross is such a pivotal point that its impact echoes
all the way back to the fall of humanity and God's penalty of death (Gen 3:19), even while it thrusts kingdom history forward to its full perfection - when all the nations will come in, there will be no more death and tears, and God will be all and in all (Rev 21:1-4). For, says Paul, "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them" (2 Cor 5:19).”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“If the church addressed is selfishly enjoying the prosperity of the nation and has lost sight of the universal battle, one can apply this passage to urge God's people to get involved in the battle against the evil one in our day and age. If the church addressed is engaged in the battle but is relying on its own strength, one can urge God's people to allow God to work through them, for God fights the battle by empowering his servants.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“Although Paul in his battle against works righteousness sets up a radical contrast between "law" and "gospel," these terms, as contrasted, refer not to the Old Testament and the New Testament but to two ways of salvation: works and grace.60 Moreover, "according to the Gospel
of Matthew, the law is indeed fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but the effect of that fulfillment creates no dichotomy between law and gospel. Authentic discipleship necessarily entails doing the righteousness expressed in the law, a righteousness rooted in creation itself."61”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the training of priests was in disarray, and often they would simply recycle the sermons of the church fathers.158 Further, the increasing centralization of celebrating Christ in the Mass decreased the proclamation of Christ in the sermon. Moreover, the unofficial shift to a semi-Pelagian position shifted the emphasis in preaching from the grace of God in Christ for salvation to the good works that Christians needed to perform. In other words, of the four senses, the moral sense gained the upper hand in preaching.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method

“obeyed as King over all the earth."75 According to the clear expectation of the Old Testament, God's kingdom (reign) would be returning to this earth. Did Jesus change this expectation from earth to heaven? A clearer translation of Jesus' words to Pilate is, "My kingdom is not from this world" (John 18:36, NRSV), implying that Jesus' kingdom originates in heaven. But Jesus continues the Old Testament expectation that the kingdom of heaven (= kingdom of God) is coming to this earth.”
― Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method