Review: Biblical Theology and Preaching
Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
Must Christ be preached from every text? Is it realistic, or even right, to expect that every sermon should proclaim the gospel? Can you be true to the original intent of the human author behind the text while also tying it to the grand intent of the divine author over the text? Graeme Goldsworthy would answer each of these questions with a resounding “yes!”
Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture is Goldsworthy’s manifesto for the role of biblical theology in the process and practice of Christian preaching. Biblical theology, he believes, is “the neglected handmaiden of the preacher. “ (p. 30) What is at stake, in his mind, is not merely a matter of preference, style, or theological opinion, but the very integrity of our message.
By “biblical theology,” Goldsworthy means “nothing more nor less than allowing the Bible to speak as a whole: as one word of the one God about the one way of salvation.” (p. 7) Its great strength is that it “uncovers the massive inner coherence of the divine plot in salvation history.” (p. 17) Biblical theology enables us “to relate the various parts of the Bible in a way that prevents preaching on a text from becoming a formality or a springboard for a mass of moralizing exhortations,” and “provides us with perspective on the grand scale of the plan and purposes of God that is otherwise easily lost in concerns for immediate gratification and ‘blessings for the day.’” (p. 30) Most importantly for preaching, biblical theology is “the discipline of seeking to understand the structure of biblical revelation, which enables us to make the correct connections between any text and the contemporary hearer.” (p.128)
Goldsworthy takes evangelical preachers to task for neglecting biblical theology in our preaching. Though we claim to be biblical in our preaching, he says, “Using Bible texts, focusing on biblical characters, or using well-worn clichés that are asserted as biblical are not in themselves a guarantee that our preaching is essentially biblical.” (p. 12) In fact, he believes that the unity of the Bible has suffered by default in the evangelical camp because of the way we often use and abuse the Scriptures:
Texts are taken out of context; and applications are made without due concern for what the biblical author, which is ultimately the Holy Spirit, is seeking to convey by the text. Problem-centred and topical preaching become the norm, and character studies treat the heroes and heroines of the Bible as isolated examples of how to live. (p. 15-16)
The solution, Goldsworthy believes, is to restore biblical theology to the preaching task. He sees three stages in the preaching process: “exegesis” (understanding how the text functions within its own context of salvation history), “hermeneutics” (uncovering links between the ancient text and the contemporary hearer), and “homiletic.” Of these three, biblical theology has its greatest impact in the hermeneutics stage, since it “shows us the theological link between what the text meant in its own context and what it means in relation to the gospel.”
The gospel, indeed, is the hermeneutical key to all of the Scriptures, and the lens through which we read. It is also the measure of the true relevance of our preaching, since it “shows us the real nature of our human problem as well as God’s answer to it.” (p. 61) The most important question we should ask of any sermon, then, is not “Was it relevant?” or “Was it helpful?” or “Were we blessed?” The question that matters most is, “Did it testify to Christ and his gospel as the power of God for salvation?” (p. 62)
In practice, accomplishing this gospel centrality is a matter of integrating the historical framework of all of the Scriptures into our exposition of every passage. Goldsworthy gives abundant pointers as to how to do this, exploring several polarities, such as type-antitype, promise-fulfillment, and salvation history-eschatological goal, as the essence of the relationship of the OT & NT. The second half of the book develops this process by devoting a chapter to each of nine distinct genres and/or sections of the Bible. This section alone is worth the price of the book, as a reference for any preacher wanting to take the big story of the Scriptures seriously in a weekly preaching ministry.
One of my favourite quotes from this book comes in Chapter 3:
It is of the nature of biblical revelation that it tells a story rather than sets out timeless principles in abstract. It does contain many timeless principles, but not in abstract. They are given in an historical context of progressive revelation. If we allow the Bible to tell its own story, we find a coherent and meaningful whole. (p. 22)
If you have read many of my previous posts (particularly my series on “Big Story Preaching”) you know that one of my values in preaching is to offer the grand narrative of the Scriptures as the foundation for a Christian worldview and for Christian living. This book both strengthens the case for this value and offers helpful handles for pulling it off.
