Preaching the Old Testament Quotes

“In sum, we have attempted to show at least four major respects in which our exquisitely beautiful and precious Old Testament is a necessary source of much preaching by expositors of our time.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“That Christ was to be born of a woman, as the seed of Abraham through Isaac and of the fourth son of Jacob is clear. That the Messiah would be a prophet like Moses and a sin-bearer for the race and that he would suffer and die as the means of propitiation are right there. Where he would be born, his earthly poverty, the precise circumstances of his death, and the certainty of his resurrection from the dead are all laid out in meticulous detail.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“The Old Testament was the Bible of our Savior, the apostles, and the early church. We cannot understand them or their work if we ignore the fount from which they drank or the authoritative library from which they read.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“By helping a congregation grow in their understanding of the ways in which the arguments and theology of the New Testament are dependent upon an understanding of the Old Testament, a pastor or preacher may both demonstrate a personal love and passion for the Old Testament as the Bible of the authors of the New Testament and develop such a love and passion in the church that it becomes more “Berean” and less likely to fall into Marcionite ways of thinking.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“While Kaiser has steadfastly refused to silence the prophets, he also repeatedly warns against giving them the last word.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“the prophetic books, as books, have the same theological purpose as the books of the New Testament. They speak of God’s continuous commitment to his covenant pledge to bless Israel and the nations by means of a “new” covenant (Gen. 12:1–3). The mediator of that pledge is the “seed of Abraham” (Gen. 22:18; Gal. 3:16). God’s means of accomplishing his pledge is to inscribe the divine law upon the hearts of all believers. The prophets did not write their books to teach their readers the Sinai covenant. Their intent, like Moses’s, was to call their readers to a life of faith under the new covenant (Isa. 7:9b).”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“While a prophet’s primary task was to confront the ungodly with words of warning, the primary task of the prophetic books was to give comfort to those who read them. That comfort came in the reassurance of God’s faithfulness to his “new covenant” promises. That is what the prophetic authors intended to give to their readers as a basis for their continued hope. Preaching from the prophets ultimately means extending the range of their biblical sermons about the “new covenant” to include the church audience.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“Given such an emphasis on the written Scriptures in the prophetic tradition, understanding the prophets as authors of books, rather than merely proclaimers of divine judgment and salvation in particular social settings, should be the central focus of the question of preaching from the prophets.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“In any preaching from the law it is important to get across early and often the following simple but crucial concept: No rules, no relationship. That’s the essence of what people need to understand about the value of the law for them as they seek to follow Christ. The law wasn’t—and isn’t—there to make us busy keeping rules so we won’t get into trouble; it’s there because through it God’s people were brought into relationship with him. Biblical laws are covenant stipulations: a means of formally connecting two parties (God and his people) with all the benefits that the connection provides.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament

“Kaiser well understands what many people often fail to realize: that God knew perfectly well that there would be a twenty-first century AD back when he was inspiring Moses to write down the Old Testament law, and that the words God revealed in that law would remain essential information—in fact, life-and-death stuff—for believers of all ages, not just Old Testament Israelites.”
― Scott M. Gibson, Preaching the Old Testament