What Does It Mean to “Preach Christ?” (Greidanus)

In the first chapter of his very helpful book on homiletics, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament, Sidney Greidanus spent some time explaining various aspects of preaching Christ. First, he did a summary of NT apostolic preaching about Christ. Next, Greidanus wrote about the biblical breadth of preaching Christ: his cross, resurrection, and kingdom. At this point, Greidanus summarized a fuller meaning of “preaching Christ.” Here it is:

On the basis of this New Testament testimony, we can sketch the contours of what “preaching Christ” means. To clear the deck, it may be well to state first what it is not. Preaching Christ is not, of course, merely mentioning the name of Jesus or Christ in the sermon. It is not identifying Christ with Yahweh in the Old Testament, or the Angel of Yahweh, or the Commander of the Lord’s army, or the Wisdom of God. It is not simply pointing to Christ from a distance or “drawing lines to Christ” by way of typology.

Positively, preaching Christ is as broad as preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. One has only to look at a concordance to see how often the New Testament speaks of “the gospel of the kingdom,” “the gospel of Christ,” “the gospel of Jesus Christ,” “the gospel of the grace of God,” and “the gospel of peace.” In these terms two characteristics stand out. Preaching Christ is good news for people, and preaching Christ is as broad as preaching the gospel of the kingdom—as long as this kingdom is related to its King, Jesus.

More specifically, to preach Christ is to proclaim some facet of the person, work, or teaching of Jesus of Nazareth so that people may believe him, trust him, love him, and obey him. We shall take a closer look at each of these aspects.

If you get the book (or have it), you can read Greidanus’ summary on the biblical preaching of Christ’s person, work, and teaching. It is pretty helpful, as is the above quote. Speaking of, the quote is found in Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999), 8.

Shane Lems
Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Hammond, WI, 54015