The Importance of Biblical Theology in Preaching
How important is it that the preaching of the church be informed and shaped by biblical theology, that is, by the story of God's redemptive activity within human history? Graeme Goldsworthy writes:
If a pastor does not understand or teach biblical theology, the members of the congregation are likely to suffer thus:1. Congregations will not understand the unity of the Bible or the progressive nature of revelation. They will fall prey to those proclaiming the disunity of the biblical message; and a fragmented Bible cannot be recognized as the inspired word of God.
2. Congregations will not understand the centrality of Christ for interpreting Scripture and the meaning of life in our world. Recourse to people and events—particularly those of the Old Testament—will be valued mainly for their exemplary lessons, and not for their typological contribution to understanding the person and work of Christ. They will not see that Christ in his gospel is the interpreting principle for Scripture and, indeed, for all reality.
3. Grace will be eroded by legalism. Preaching that principally points to the examples of Bible characters leads almost inevitably to legalism since the connection with the gospel of grace will be clouded or even completely lost.
4. The application of Bible texts will often be short-circuited. The Bible is reduced to a lucky-dip of texts all of which are perceived as standing in the same essential relationship to the Christian believer, and the progressive nature of biblical revelation in salvation-history is ignored.
5. The presuppositions of the New Testament in portraying Christ as the fulfiller of the Old Testament will be overlooked so that the fullness of Christ’s person and work is undermined. Teaching from the Old Testament is particularly at risk.
6. The doctrinal formulations of the church will be seen as less important in that their relationship to the progressive revelation of the Bible will not be evident. Biblical theology and doctrine work together for a robust understanding of God and his purposes for his people and the world.
Graeme Goldsworthy is the visiting lecturer in hermeneutics at Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia.
(HT: Justin Buzzard)
Note to Readers: Those of you who regularly visit Eucatastrophe are well aware of the fact that my blogging has been almost non-existent the past three months. I’ve only posted 15 times since July 28th! My intention is to begin posting regularly once this particular semester is over.
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Dan, thanks for this post! Items 2, 3, and 4 particularly nailed me. We have gospel centered preaching at Emmanuel, but these points make me more aware of why preaching the gospel is so important from the pulpit. They also reveal AGAIN the tendency of my own heart to look everywhere but at the gospel and my Christ. God is so merciful. He meets us and guards His truth even within the every day avenues of our lives, including the internet. Thanks!
Number 3 really hits home with me. The Lord has been teaching this and reminding me of it in my life. I get so caught up in thinking that I can do something to merit God; it is the exact opposite. I must focus on the God who allows me through GRACE to do anything for His glory. And by realizing the magnificent work of redemption on the cross, it pushes you to do more and makes your every move full of desire to do right only for Him. You become shameful of any legalistic thinking and see the selfishness of it. Thanks to Graeme G. for sharing this :)
#3 IS VERY TRUE FROM MY LIFE EXPERIENCE & BACKGROUND. GLAD TO SEE IT ON HIS LIST OF CONCERNS. HE SAID, "Grace will be eroded by legalism. Preaching that principally points to the examples of Bible characters leads almost inevitably to legalism since the connection with the gospel of grace will be clouded or even completely lost." IN ADDITION THIS APPROACH IS ESSENTIALLY BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION. OFTEN SEEN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS IN CONTRAST TO SHEPHERDIG THE HEART OF THE CHILDREN.
Thanks for the post. I agree, but have recently been struggling with just wanting the gospel and not concerning myself with theology or doctrine. I believe that the latter should be a natural outcome of the former, but I cannot divorce them from the gospel. I hear a lot of "God-talk" down here, and just want to know how to live as a Christian. However, if I ignore good theology and good doctrine, then I am not looking at the gospel properly.
Very interesting points he makes. They are very relative to the era of Christianity in which we live. The lack of Christ-centeredness in 'evangelicalism' is depressing.
If we miss the meta-narrative behind Scripture we will place ourselves in the characters' place and see the Bible very pragmatically and unbiblically. If we see Christ and His covenants as the supreme binding story behind the immediate story, we will see how it points to Christ and His finished work on the cross.
Another shocking thing that many do not understand is that if we do not understand the covenants and how they are fulfilled in Christ, we do not understand the gospel clearly...
Christians today cannot understand all the implications that are in the New Testament because of that lack of clarity, nor can they see how it applies to Christ and not us. The Bible becomes full of people that are examples to follow and not looking to what they pointed to. They point to Christ and Him crucified.
This is very sad for the neo-orthodox theology that was fought against a century ago, is taking over by this lack of Cristo-centricity in the Bible. The Bible has become anecdotal on how to live your best life now. Christians can no longer differentiate between the true gospel and a health and wealth gospel that looks to the physical examples or physical blessings of the Bible, being caught up in the 'literal' hermeneutic and not seeing the story of Christ in both Testaments...
I greatly appreciate Graeme Goldsworthy's comments. If I've learned anything at Bible college, it is that the unity of the Bible cannot be overemphasized. Doctrine, theology, pragmatism, daily functioning; all completely dependent on the Bible being one unified whole. As has already been stated, the Bible's cohesiveness is in itself evidence of inspiration. Failing to preach the gospel as central to the Word of God is failing to present the big picture. Failing to present the big picture is depriving your congregation (or listeners) of recorded truth, and presenting a biased, slanted, selected truth. As if presenting tapioca pudding to your congregation, yet failing to see the raisins yourself -so you don't present the raisins. Surely, the raisins still exist… But your congregation eats unaware, completely passing over one of the joys of the meal before them.
Silly? Of course. Why deprive them? Thank you Graeme, you've drawn attention to how detrimental presenting a partial message can be.