May 4, 2012 Sidney Greidanus’ experience as a pastor and professor of preaching enabled him, when confronted with the task of offering “Christocentric Preaching from the Old Testament” (xii) as an elective course in preaching, to write his own textbook when he was not able to find a suitable work. Thus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method 1 is a testament to both his dedication to his teaching and the extent of his scholarship. Greidanus’ stated purpose in writing this work is to provide seminary students and preachers with a responsible, contemporary method for preaching Christ from the Old Testament. A secondary, but no less important, aim is to challenge Old Testament scholars to broaden their focus and to understand the Old Testament not only in its own historical context but also in the context of the New Testament (xii). He begins by first laying the groundwork for the need for preaching Christ from the Old Testament. The current trend among some scholars of referring to the Old Testament as the “Hebrew Bible” (xiii) can be attributed in part to a lack of appreciation for the Old Testament’s message among Christians throughout the church’s history. The severity of those expressing this opinion has fluctuated between Marcion, who rejected the Old Testament outright, to Schleiermarcher who viewed it as pre-Christian. While most preachers do not intend to express either position, their practice of preaching fewer than 20 percent of their sermons from the Old Testament (15) tends to foster “marcionism” (22). Greidanus gives six reasons why pastors must preach from the Old Testament: The Old Testament is part of the Christian canon. The Old Testament discloses the history of redemption leading to Christ. The Old Testament proclaims truths not found in the New Testament. The Old Testament helps us understand the New Testament. The Old Testament prevents misunderstanding the New Testament. The Old Testament provides a fuller understanding of Christ (25). Based on these reasons, every preacher should consider his own practice of selecting preaching texts more closely. One must not contribute to marcionism. After showing the need for preaching Christ from the Old Testament Greidanus, next traces historically from the early church fathers, through the reformers, up to Spurgeon and Wilhelm Visher, the various usages the Church has employed in preaching Christ from the Old Testament. He shows that, in response to literalists such as Marcion, the apostolic fathers came to emphasize the hidden spiritual meanings of the Old Testament texts which gave rise to the use of the allegorical method of interpretation. In response to the abuses of this method, the Antiochian school began to emphasize the literal interpretation. These two methods were synthesized, resulting in the method of fourfold meaning which looked for The literal sense, The allegorical sense, The tropological or moral sense, and The anagogical sense (104). These methods of interpretation served the Church until Luther introduced a new Christological method during the Reformation. While Luther can be credited with the invention of a new form of sermon, “the scripture exposing sermon”(124), his method was not without weaknesses. Primarily, it tended to lead one to the eisegesis of reading Christ back into the text. Secondly, Luther’s insistence that every passage should be categorized as teaching either law or gospel caused God’s law to be underappreciated (125). Finally, Luther was unable to fully escape the allegorical method in which he had been trained. His contemporary , John Calvin, however, was more able to disavow himself of the allegorical method and greatly advance biblical interpretation. Calvin’s theocentric interpretation lead the church into what is today considered sound hermeneutical methods. While his preaching tended to be homily that expounded the text phrase by phrase rather than verse by verse, his method of preparation set the stage for the historical grammatical method which is used by evangelicals today. Sadly Calvin’s method has not consistently been applied in the modern era as Greidanus shows in his discussion of Spurgeon and Vischer. Spurgeon’s method of finding Christ in every passage, while effective in his context, is not a model which Greidanus wishes to perpetuate. He points out several instances where Spurgeon uses an Old Testament text as a “springboard” (160) to a New Testament concept that strained the original author’s intent. Greidanus also points out that Spurgeon based many of his Old Testament sermons on incomplete textual units. John Talbert examined 532 of Spurgeon’s sermons and found that he “used only one verse or a part of one verse . . . in almost 70 percent of the messages” (161). Wilhelm Vischer (1895-1988) (163) lived and taught Old Testament in Nazi Germany. During this time anti-Semitism led most scholars to reject the Old Testament. Visher, however, refused and continued to argue for “the unity of the two Testaments” (167). Visher’s method, though laudable in its intent, exhibits weaknesses. He resorts to “typologizing and allegorizing (175), [failing] to fully appreciate the progression of God’s revelation” (174). Because he often fails to pay enough attention to the historical setting or stage in God’s revelatory process of Old Testament texts, and this leads him to a fairly consistent reading of the New Testament back into the Old Testament (175). The New Testament writers offer valuable principles for how one should handle the Old Testament in preaching. One should always bear in mind that he never be guilty of Christomonism, separating Christ from God, in his interpretation. There is complete unity between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Greidanus’ great accomplishment in this work is the result of his decision, that instead of going to the Old Testament to seek types of Christ, he should reverse directions and begin with “Christ as we know him from the New Testament” (183) and then move back to the Old Testament. Based on this shift in direction, Greidanus develops five presuppositions one should hold when interpreting the Old Testament. These presuppositions are, God acts uniformly but progressively in redemptive history. Jesus ushered in the messianic or kingdom age. Jesus is truly God and as the Son of God, has existed with God the Father from all eternity. The understanding of the corporate personality of Israel. Read the Old Testament from the perspective of the reality of Christ (191-199). Based on these considerations, Greidanus finds that the writers of the New Testament use the Old Testament to preach Christ in six ways. They utilize contrast, longitudinal themes, analogy, typology, promise-fulfillment and redemptive-historical progression (203). Greidanus next applies these six methods of preaching Christ from the Old Testament to current hermeneutical discussions. The hermeneutical method which Greidanus proposes “falls somewhere between Calvin’s theocentric method and Luther’s christological method” (227); he calls it the “christocentric method, or more precisely, the redemptive-historical christocentric method” (227). Two critical elements in Greidanus’ redemptive-historical process are the importance of understanding the text “in its own historical context” (228) and understanding the message of the text withing the context of the “canon and redemptive history” (230). Greidanus then shows how one can combine his christocentric method with the New Testament writers’ use of the Old Testament into a process for preaching Christ from the Old Testament. He then closes the work with five examples from traditionally misused Old Testament texts. The major strength of this work is the call to preach from the Old Testament and not inadvertently foster Marcionism. Greidanus has recognized a major weakness in current homiletics, and this book serves as a needed and informative corrective. Greidanus is correct to point out that most preachers preach from the New Testament because it is less difficult to do so. The six reasons why one must preach from the Old Testament are on target and will hopefully have their intended effect. Another strength of the work is found in the five presuppositions Greidanus argues should be held as one prepares to preach from an Old Testament text. Historically those who have preached from the Old Testament frequently have used typology or allegory to interpret the text. Greidanus’ five presuppositions will help one avoid these pitfalls of allegory and typology by giving one greater confidence that he may properly approach the Old Testament texts. Greidanus also rightly argues that historical meaning be maintained as a proper hermeneutical method. He is correct to point out that “historical meaning . . . offers the only objective point of control against driving from the text all kinds of subjective and arbitrary messages” (228). Greidanus’ admission of his change of mind related to Christ-centered preaching, is refreshing in that it reveals that scholars also need to correct their own thinking from time to time. Because of his great fear of forced interpretation in The Modern Preacher, he taught that in some biblical texts one could not legitimately preach Christ. In these cases he rationalized that one should preach a God-centered message but not force Christ. In this book, however he makes plain that he is “arguing . . . not merely for the general category of God-centered preaching but for the more specific category of explicitly Christ-centered preaching” (37). He still maintains that one must guard against forcing one’s interpretation upon a text, but he has come to the conclusion that the two are not mutually exclusive. Yet another strength of this book is Greidanus’ commitment to clarity. At the risk of sounding verbose he is careful to state what he means and does not mean so as not to be misunderstood. For example, many homilticians state that they are in favor of Christ-centered preaching, but never clearly state what they mean by that phrase. Greidanus specifies exactly what he means by stating “To preach Christ is to proclaim some facet, person, work, or teaching of Jesus of Nazareth so that people may believe him, trust him, love him, and obey him” (8). One weakness of the book is Greidanus’ attack on Spurgeon’s preaching Christ for the purposes which Greidanus himself has advanced (see above). He lists a shortcoming of Spurgeon’s preaching to be his “sole focus on individual salvation” (162). While the point that Spurgeon did not always live up to current theological and hermeneutical standards is well taken, to advance the idea that his focus on salvation had a reductionist tendency on the gospel strains credulity. Since the whole point of the gospel is the salvation of individuals, Greidanus’ point is not well taken. Another weakness is technical in nature and could be construed as nit picking by some. Greidanus takes Ken Mathews to task concerning a “disappointing” (293) sermon outline with which he concluded an article about preaching from historical narratives. Greidanus goes on to use the article positively to make several points. The problem is that in the first footnote, Greidanus misspells Mathews name. If one is going to take on a scholar one should at the very least get his name right (293, Note 27). Greidanus has done the Church and the field of homiletics a wonderful service with the writing of this book. While the book is not easy to read, it is profitable reading and should be required for all who take seriously the preaching of God’s word. This author has certainly been challenged to preach from the Old Testament more often. The methodology Greidanus has listed in this volume is also readily transferable to preaching from the New Testament. End Notes 1. Greidanus, Sidney, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.