Preaching Christ from the Old Testament

1. The Imperative of Preaching Christ and the Old Testament

"Preach Christ, always and everywhere. He is the whole gospel. His person, offices, and work must be our one great, all-comprehending theme."

The Core Message. Preaching Christ is the indispensable heart of Christian ministry, affirmed across diverse traditions from Roman Catholic to Baptist. This isn't a narrow focus on "Christ crucified" alone, but encompasses His birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and exaltation as the fulfillment of God's promises, His present work through the Spirit, and His imminent return. To preach Christ is to proclaim some facet of His person, work, or teaching, inviting belief, trust, love, and obedience.

Beyond Imitation. The necessity of preaching Christ today extends beyond merely imitating the apostles. It stems from Jesus' own command to make disciples and teach His commands, a mandate valid "to the end of the age." This message is also exciting, life-giving, and exclusive, offering salvation from sin and eternal death through faith in Him alone. In a world searching for meaning, Christ remains the urgent, sole hope.

Reclaiming the Old Testament. Despite its foundational role, the Old Testament is often neglected in modern preaching, constituting less than 20% of sermons despite being three-fourths of the Christian canon. This neglect is due to factors like lectionary biases, critical scholarship that de-emphasizes theological relevance, and historical rejections (Marcionism). However, the Old Testament is vital for understanding God's redemptive history, revealing unique truths, clarifying the New Testament, and providing a fuller understanding of Christ.

2. The Old Testament: A Christian Book, Not Just Pre-Christian

"The Old Testament and the New are both parts of the Christian Bible; both reveal the same covenant-making God; both reveal the gospel of God's grace; both show God reaching out to his disobedient children with the promise, 'I will be your God, and you will be my people'; both reveal God's acts of redemption."

Challenging Misconceptions. Historically, the Old Testament has faced rejection, being labeled "sub-Christian" (Schleiermacher, Harnack, Bultmann) or "non-Christian" by those who interpret it independently of the New Testament. This perspective creates a false dilemma, forcing interpreters to struggle to extract a "Christian" message from a supposedly alien text. However, the Old Testament was Jesus' own Bible and the foundation for apostolic preaching.

A Unified Narrative. For Christians, the Old Testament is inherently "Christian" in character, not merely "pre-Christian" in a chronological sense. It forms an integral part of God's single, unfolding story of redemption. Just as the headwaters are essential to a river, the Old Testament is essential to the full stream of God's revelation. Jesus Himself affirmed this unity, stating He came "not to abolish but to fulfill" the Law and the Prophets.

Beyond the Veil. The perceived "breach" between the Testaments is a human construct, not a biblical reality. The Bible presents one God, one redemptive history, and one covenant of grace, progressively revealed. Reading the Old Testament through the lens of Christ removes the "veil" (2 Cor 3:15-16), allowing its true, Christ-centered essence to shine forth. This unified perspective is crucial for authentic Christian interpretation and preaching.

3. Christ as the Unifying Link of Redemptive History

"Jesus Christ is the link between the Old Testament and the New. God's revelation reaches its climax in the New Testament - and this climax is not a new teaching or a new law, but a person, God's own Son."

An Unfinished Story. The Old Testament, far from being a complete work in itself, is a story "in search of a conclusion." It consistently points forward to a future fulfillment of God's promises, particularly the full liberation and redemption of Israel and the world. This inherent openness to the future is resolved only in the person of Jesus Christ, who brings God's grand narrative to its decisive climax.

One Redemptive River. A single, God-guided redemptive history flows through both Testaments, connecting them in an "indissoluble unity." While there is progression in revelation and distinct covenants (old and new), the underlying substance is one covenant of grace. This continuity allows for understanding Old Testament promises, types, and themes as finding their ultimate meaning and fulfillment in Christ.

The Incarnate Bridge. Jesus, though belonging to the world of the Old Testament in His earthly life, is simultaneously the "creator of the events" of the New Testament. He is the pivotal figure, the "cornerstone," who unites the two Testaments. The New Testament writers, having experienced the reality of the risen Christ, deliberately fused their writings with the Old Testament, quoting and alluding to it extensively to demonstrate that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

4. Historical Misinterpretations: Allegory, Typology, and Fourfold Senses

"The curse of the allegorical method... is that it obscures the true meaning of the Word of God.... The Bible treated allegorically becomes putty in the hand of the exegete."

Allegory's Allure and Danger. Allegorical interpretation, popular from the 3rd to 16th centuries (e.g., Clement, Origen), sought to find a "deeper, spiritual sense" behind the literal meaning, often to defend the Old Testament against charges of immorality or to find Christ in every detail. While useful for actual allegories, applying it to historical narratives (e.g., Noah's ark wood = cross) distorts the text's historical nature and author's intent, leading to arbitrary, subjective interpretations.

Typology's Historical Roots. Typological interpretation, championed by the School of Antioch (Theodore, Chrysostom), emphasized the literal-historical sense while discerning "double senses" where past events, persons, or institutions (types) prefigured future realities (antitypes) within God's redemptive history. This method, rooted in the Old Testament itself (e.g., new exodus), offered a more disciplined approach than allegory, focusing on historical correspondence and escalation.

The Fourfold Labyrinth. Augustine and later medieval scholars formalized the "four senses of Scripture": literal (historical facts), allegorical (faith, prefiguring Christ/Church), tropological (moral, cleansing life), and anagogical (hope, heavenly mysteries). While Thomas Aquinas stressed the literal as foundational, this system often diminished its importance, allowing for multiple, uncontrolled meanings and diverting focus from Christ to moralizing. These historical methods highlight the ongoing struggle for a responsible, Christ-centered hermeneutic.

5. Reformation's Christological and Theocentric Approaches

"The whole Scripture is about Christ alone everywhere, if we look to its inner meaning, though superficially it may sound different." - Martin Luther

Luther's Christocentric Fire. Martin Luther, driven by his discovery of justification by grace through faith, vehemently rejected allegorical interpretation in favor of a "literal-prophetic" sense. For Luther, Christ was the "sun and truth in Scripture," the indispensable key to understanding the Old Testament. He saw the Old Testament as primarily "law" revealing sin, and the New Testament as "gospel" offering Christ, advocating that every sermon should present both law and gospel, ultimately leading to Christ.

Calvin's Theocentric Balance. John Calvin, while agreeing with Luther on sola Scriptura and Christ as Scripture's center, adopted a more balanced "theocentric" approach. He emphasized the unity of the Old and New Testaments in one covenant of grace, recognizing God's sovereignty and glory as the overarching theme. Calvin insisted on rigorous grammatical-historical interpretation, seeking the author's original intent, and was critical of Luther's tendency to read Christ back into texts without sufficient historical grounding.

Christ in the Old Testament. For Calvin, Christ was known to Old Testament believers as the eternal Logos and through promises and types, though "hidden and as it were absent" until His incarnation. He saw progressive revelation, moving from "feeble spark" to "full daylight" in Christ. While Calvin's sermons on the Old Testament were often God-centered, he believed that God's grace, revealed in these texts, ultimately flowed through Christ. Both Reformers, despite their differences, sought to anchor preaching firmly in Scripture and its ultimate witness to Christ.

6. Modern Challenges and the Need for a Balanced Christocentric Method

"You have called our attention to the reality of the Old Testament witnesses to Christ." - Karl Barth (to Wilhelm Vischer)

Spurgeon's Passionate Pursuit. Charles Spurgeon, a fervent Baptist preacher, passionately advocated preaching Christ "always and evermore," believing every text contained a "road to Christ." He employed a "spiritual sense" that included types, metaphors, and even allegories, often using Old Testament texts as "springboards" to preach Jesus. While his preaching was clear, personal, and urgent, it sometimes led to reading Christ back into texts, using textual fragments, and a focus on individual salvation that could border on Christomonism.

Vischer's Timely Defense. Wilhelm Vischer, writing amidst rising anti-Semitism and theological sterility in Germany, courageously defended the Old Testament's Christian character. His core presupposition was that "theology is Christology," and the Old Testament inherently "witnesses to Christ." He used typology, links to New Testament texts, and parallels to Jesus' life, often with a creative, intuitive approach. Vischer's work was crucial in reclaiming the Old Testament for the church, though critics noted his speculative tendencies, static view of revelation, and occasional Christomonism.

The Christocentric Imperative. The historical journey reveals the persistent challenge of preaching Christ from the Old Testament responsibly. The pitfalls of allegorizing, typologizing, and Christomonism highlight the need for a method that honors both the Old Testament's original context and its ultimate fulfillment in Christ. A balanced "redemptive-historical christocentric method" is essential, ensuring that Christ is proclaimed not by forcing the text, but by discerning legitimate connections within God's unified story of salvation.

7. New Testament Principles: Christ-Centered Preaching is God-Centered

"Worship which stops at him and does not pass through him to God, the all in all, at the end of the day falls short of Christian worship."

Beyond Christomonism. A crucial New Testament principle is that Christ-centered preaching must always be God-centered, avoiding the pitfall of Christomonism—preaching Christ in isolation from God. Paul consistently links Christ's person and work to God's glory and purpose, emphasizing that Christ was sent by God, accomplished God's work, and sought God's glory. Jesus Himself taught His disciples to pray for God's kingdom and name to be hallowed, and John's Gospel highlights Jesus' mission to reveal the Father.

God's Ultimate Revelation. Christian faith is primarily faith in the one God—Creator, Savior, Judge—and Christ is the means by which we truly know Him. God's redemptive activity and self-revelation reach their climax in Jesus' death and resurrection, where God's self-disclosure bursts forth with unparalleled clarity. Therefore, while Christ is central, the ultimate aim of preaching is to glorify God the Father through the Son.

The Spirit's Role. While the Holy Spirit's vital role in inspiration, regeneration, and sanctification is acknowledged, it does not necessitate giving equal time to each person of the Trinity in every sermon. The sermon's focus is determined by the text, understood within the "rule of faith." The Spirit's primary desire is to glorify Christ and the Father, not Himself, ensuring that trinitarian preaching remains organically tied to the biblical narrative rather than a rigid formula.

8. Interpreting the Old Testament from the Reality of Christ

"Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures."

The Emmaus Road Revelation. The New Testament writers, particularly after Jesus' resurrection, interpreted the Old Testament from the "reality of Christ." The disciples on the road to Emmaus, initially hopeless, had their "eyes opened" by the risen Lord, who explained how "Moses and all the prophets" spoke of Him. This experience transformed their understanding, revealing countless references to Jesus in the Old Testament that were previously veiled.

A Unique Hermeneutic. While New Testament writers were aware of contemporary Jewish interpretive methods (Peshat, Midrash, Pesher, Typology, Allegory), their approach was uniquely Christocentric. They did not merely select proof-texts randomly but interpreted Old Testament passages and events in light of Christ's life, death, and resurrection. This "revelatory stance" meant that the Old Testament was understood as testifying to Jesus' messiahship, often in ways that went beyond its original historical context.

Jesus' Own Teaching. This Christ-centered interpretation originated with Jesus Himself. Throughout His ministry, He claimed to fulfill Old Testament prophecies, applied figures like the Son of Man and the Suffering Servant to Himself, and taught His disciples to read the Scriptures with Him as the central theme. Thus, the New Testament's use of the Old Testament, though not a rigid hermeneutical textbook, provides foundational presuppositions for understanding God's progressive redemptive plan culminating in Christ.

9. Seven Legitimate Roads from the Old Testament to Christ

"The Old Testament always points forward, beyond itself and its own experience."

Beyond Superficial Links. The New Testament's Christocentric interpretation reveals several legitimate "roads" from the Old Testament to Christ, grounded in God's progressive work in redemptive history and revelation. These methods move beyond arbitrary allegorizing or superficial parallels, ensuring that the connection to Christ is authentic and deeply rooted in the biblical narrative.

The Seven Ways:

1. Redemptive-Historical Progression: Locating the Old Testament text within God's overarching story from Creation to New Creation, seeing its movement towards Christ as the climax.
2. Promise-Fulfillment: Identifying Old Testament promises (words or events) that find their ultimate, often progressive, fulfillment in Christ.
3. Typology: Recognizing historical persons, institutions, or events in the Old Testament as divinely established "types" that prefigure corresponding "antitypes" in Christ, characterized by analogy and escalation.
4. Analogy: Drawing parallels between God's relationship with Israel and Christ's relationship with the Church, or between Old Testament teachings/demands and Christ's teachings/demands.
5. Longitudinal Themes: Tracing major biblical themes (e.g., redemption, covenant, God's presence, justice) from their Old Testament origins through their development into the New Testament, culminating in Christ.
6. New Testament References: Utilizing direct quotations or allusions by New Testament authors to Old Testament passages, which can confirm, correct, or provide new insights into Christocentric connections.
7. Contrast: Highlighting discontinuities between Old Testament messages (e.g., ceremonial laws, holy war, imprecatory psalms) and New Testament teachings, where Christ's coming brings a radical shift or fulfillment that abrogates previous practices.

Strategic Application. Preachers should explore these seven ways to uncover the rich witness to Christ in any Old Testament text. The goal is not to use all methods in every sermon, but to select the most compelling and authentic connections that support the sermon's theme and goal, ensuring a persuasive and edifying proclamation of Christ.

10. A Step-by-Step Guide to Christocentric Sermon Preparation

"I have a conviction that no sermon is ready for preaching ... until we can express its theme in a short, pregnant sentence as clear as crystal."

A Disciplined Approach. Moving from an Old Testament text to a Christocentric sermon requires a disciplined, sequential method to ensure faithfulness to Scripture and relevance to the congregation. This process prevents subjective interpretations and ensures the sermon is grounded in God's Word.

The Ten Steps:

1. Select a Textual Unit: Choose a complete literary unit with a vital theme, guided by congregational needs.
2. Read and Reread: Engage with the text in its literary context, noting initial questions without external aids.
3. Outline Structure: Analyze the Hebrew/Greek text for plot, argument flow, and rhetorical structures.
4. Interpret Historically: Determine the author's intended meaning for original hearers (literary, historical, theocentric dimensions).
5. Formulate Theme and Goal: Condense the text's message into a single, clear theme statement and a succinct goal for its original audience.
6. Understand in Contexts: Broaden interpretation to the whole canon and redemptive history, exploring the seven Christocentric roads (redemptive-historical progression, promise-fulfillment, typology, analogy, longitudinal themes, New Testament references, contrast).
7. Formulate Sermon Theme and Goal: Adapt the textual theme and goal for the contemporary congregation, ensuring Christocentric focus.
8. Select Sermon Form: Choose a form (didactic, narrative, deductive, inductive) that respects the text's genre and achieves the sermon's goal.
9. Prepare Outline: Structure the sermon body, introduction (addressing need), and conclusion (clinching the goal), ensuring unity, balance, and movement.
10. Write in Oral Style: Craft the sermon using short sentences, vivid language, and engaging illustrations suitable for spoken delivery.

The Ultimate Aim. This methodical preparation ensures that the sermon not only exposes the biblical text faithfully but also powerfully proclaims Jesus Christ, enabling hearers to entrust themselves to Him for salvation and commit their lives to His service.

Last updated: February 10, 2026