This book falls into the must have category for every pastor. It joins a long line of books and teachers that have helped transform my thinking to a biblical theology. Many of the authors who have influenced me were cited in this book. In a sense the author, Graeme Goldsworthy, seemed more like an old friend.
In seminary I was rightly taught the importance of developing the theology of the passage with the author’s original intent in mind. However, the author’s original intent takes place in the greater canonical context. Over the last several years I have begun to see this and wrestle with the implications to teaching and preaching. Goldsworthy helps immensely by taking this from a concept to a usable form. Sidney Greidanus in The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text convinced me. Graeme Goldsworthy through this helpful book shows how it works.
Goldsworthy has taken all of this even a step further. Genesis 1 through Revelation 22 must not just be seen in the greater context of the whole of Scripture as literature. It must ultimately be seen through the object of this revelation, Jesus Christ, his perfect life, his propitiatory work, and resurrection. It truly is Christian Scripture.
Seeing Scripture this way has helped me to at least be aware of and hopefully avoid the “temptation … to proceed directly from, say the godly Israelite to the contemporary believer” resulting in “distortions.” I agree with Goldsworthy when he states that “there is no direct application apart from the mediation of Christ.” To answer his question: “Can I maintain my integrity as a Christian preacher if I preach a part of the Bible as if Jesus had not come?” Simply, “no.”
A few times each year we offer a Sunday evening entitled, “Ask the Pastor.” We did this shortly after I completed reading Goldsworthy. People from the congregation submit written questions ahead of time. I was thrilled to read this question: “We are told to study the whole Word of God, but some parts of the OT are very difficult to read – all that killing! Also the doom and gloom of the prophets is depressing. It is so much more encouraging to read the NT. How should a Christian read and study God’s Word?” How happy I was to help them see that the New Testament has no meaning apart from the Old Testament. Further, with joy I was able to help them walk through the genealogies, murderous stories, and the prophets “depressing” proclamations now seeing them in light of the cross.
One area of slight disagreement is found in relating preaching to the prophet (pps. 38ff.). Certainly the modern preacher should speak with confidence as he proclaims the Word of God. Yet we are speaking interpretively about “thus says the Lord” and not directly “thus says the Lord.” This seems to me to be a fundamental difference. Preaching today should look more like the wisemen of the Old Testament such as Joseph. My concern is admittedly rooted in the loosely defined role of “modern day prophet” that has been given to many preachers/pastors today.
This is of minor significance in relationship to the overall agreement I have with the book. Goldsworthy makes the very strong point that the prophet connects us to the Creator whose word is of prime importance and is pointing us toward salvation and consummation. This is more than instructive even if our role and function is different than the prophet. It guides us in our approach to the prophet and his prophecy as an ultimately Christian “thus says the Lord.”
One illustration of how this book has helped is greater grace in my preaching. I had sensed prior to reading Goldsworthy that my preaching had become burdensome. While I was pointing out the truth it was deficient in grace. There certainly is a place for hard confrontational words. Yet to leave it at hard confrontational words is to miss the hope of the Gospel. Since reading Goldsworthy I have sensed greater joy in preaching. Unsurprisingly I also detect a much more receptive congregation to the whole message. In this sense I believe that my public ministry has become more biblical.
