By Patrick Schreiner
I have been told, and I agree with the sentiment, that if Christ is not in your sermon, it is not by any definition a “Christian” sermon.
I submit to you that the essential element of Christian exegesis is unfolding the Scripture, as Jesus did, by relating all of it to Him (Luke 24:44; John 5:39). Everything in Scripture that comes before Christ is a singular progression toward Him, and everything that comes after Him points back to Him. As Charles Spurgeon said, “From every text in Scripture, there is a road to the metropolis of the Scriptures, that is Christ.”
This has been the view of Christians for seventeen hundred years. Early interpreters called this an allegorical reading, while modern interpreters sometimes call it a typological reading. Maybe we could most simply call it a Christological reading.
A Christological reading is a way of interpreting or understanding Scripture that affirms there is an “ever-expanding network of patterns and associations” that unite in Christ, as helpfully put in the book Sanctified Vision. This reading is possible because God has providentially ordered history to comprise patterns and signs that point to His ultimate revelation in the Son. This truth is especially important when we are reading or preaching the Old Testament, wherein Christ has not yet come to earth. How can a preacher pursue a Christological reading of Scripture in his sermon? Below are five things to look for when preparing to preach.
PROMISES
First, and most obviously, we ought to look for promises in the Old Testament that point forward to Christ. Paul in 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him!” Then there are texts like Matthew 1:22–23, where Jesus’ birth is said to fulfill the promise of Isaiah 7:3 that “a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.” Paul affirms that Jesus is the stumbling stone from Isaiah 28:16 and Psalm 118:22 (Rom. 9:23). Hebrews says the words spoken in Psalm 110:1 are fulfilled in Jesus (Heb. 1:13). As the biblical authors did, we must see Christ where the Old Testament promises point to Him.
Many interpreters see Christ in the promises, but there is so much more.
PLIGHT
Second, we ought to look to how the text points to a plight—or a sin problem—for which Christ is the solution. Regarding the law, Paul says that Christ became the curse for us by being nailed on the tree (Gal. 3:13). Regarding the priesthood, Hebrews says Christ is our priest who fulfilled what was lacking in the priesthood (Heb. 7–8). Regarding the King, Matthew tells us of Christ the King who truly delivers us from our enemies (Matt. 1:21). Regarding the Levitical system, Hebrews tells us Jesus’ blood is better than that of animals (Heb. 10:4, 11–14). Regarding the human race, Jesus is the new Adam who resisted temptation. Regarding Israel, Jesus is truly the light to the nations. Anytime we see failure in the Old Testament, we can look forward to the time of Jesus and see how He satisfies what was lacking.
PATTERNS
Third, we ought to look for larger patterns in narratives that Christ repeats. In 1 Peter, the prophets predicted the “sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories” (1 Pet. 1:11). This is one of the main patterns we should be looking for—sorrow to splendor. Jesus points to the same pattern in Luke 24:46–49: “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Again, the pattern is suffering and glory, but Luke adds another step—proclamation.
Therefore, anytime we see a pattern like this we should think of Christ. For example, Joseph goes from being in prison to being seated at the right hand of Pharaoh (Gen. 41:39–41). Jesus goes from dying on a Roman cross to being exalted to the right hand of the Father. While Joseph is exalted in a true sense in Pharaoh’s court, Jesus is exalted in an ironic way upon the Roman cross as they mock Him with a crown of thorns, royal robe, and scepter (Matt. 27:27–31).
PARTICULARS
Fourth, if some of these other aspects are found in the text, then we can also begin to look at the particulars in a text that point to Jesus. In this step, we begin to focus on details in the narratives. In 1 Corinthians 10:4, Paul says the Rock in the wilderness was Christ. In Galatians, he says Christ is the “seed” that was promised (Gal. 3:16), and in 1 Corinthians he says Christ is the Passover lamb (1 Cor. 5:7). Peter says Christ is the “stone” that the builders rejected (1 Pet. 2:4). The author of Hebrews says Christ is priest, the sacrificial lamb, and the temple (Heb. 9:11–12). Revelation says Christ is the Lamb and the Lion (Rev. 5:5,12).
If we return to the story of Joseph, we can see that both Jesus and Joseph are stripped of their clothes, both put in the earth to rot, both raised from the pit, both sold for pieces of silver, both faithful in the midst of temptation, both falsely accused, and both numbered with the transgressors. They both stand before foreign rulers, both save their rebellious brothers, both give bread to the hungry, and both die in a land not their own.
PRESENCE
Finally, and maybe the most neglected aspect of Christological reading, is to look for Christ as actually present in the text. Theologians have called these appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament “Christophanies.”
For example, while we shouldn’t deny that Paul’s reading in 1 Corinthians of Jesus as the rock is pointing ahead to Christ, I think it is also more than that. Paul affirms that Christ was the Rock (1 Cor. 10:4). The use of the imperfect Greek verb eimi shows that Paul probably has the pre-existence of Christ in mind and not simply a typological connection. Early interpreters press for the “real presence” of Christ in this text and many others. They saw Christ in the man who wrestled with Jacob, in the man who met Abraham at the oak of Mamre, and in the man who met Joshua beside Jericho. The church fathers asserted Christ is not only prefigured in the Scriptures but is prior to His figures.
Paul affirms that the Triune God was with Israel all along, even though this was not completely disclosed until Christ came. This is why he can say that Christ was the bread they ate, the water they drank, and the Rock they drank from (1 Cor. 10:1–4). For Paul, Christ is already present before He arrives. Much modern biblical scholarship has failed to appreciate the significance of the Christian tradition’s belief that, to use Bogdan Bucur’s words in Scripture Re-Envisioned, Christ was “really ontologically” present in events narrated in the Old Testament. As preachers, we must recover this reading so that we may show our churches their Savior in the texts we preach.
CONCLUSION
To read and preach the Scriptures Christologically, we need to follow the interpretive practices of the biblical authors. Many of the above points coincide, but I have divided them out so that one can more easily know what to look for. Additionally, it is important that we not contradict the literal sense of Scripture when performing Christological interpretation. The Christological sense of Scripture is protected by a contextual reading. If our Christological reading goes against the literal, contextual, or canonical sense, then we should be warned that we might be misinterpreting.
Having said that, while many ask the question of when we have gone too far with Christological interpretation, fewer ask what we miss if we neglect to read the Bible this way. I think the dangers of under-reading and missing Christ are far worse than over-reading. Obviously, we don’t want to do either, but to miss the Christological thread is to miss the divine point of the Bible. To miss the divine point of the Bible is to miss its message of God’s redemption in Christ for sinners. That is something none of us, neither reader nor preacher, wants to do.
Patrick Schreiner | Associate Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology, Gene and Jo Downing Endowed Chair of Biblical Studies, Director of The Residency Ph.D. Program
