Preaching Christ from Psalms: Foundations for Expositor… (2024)

Sidney Greidanus is the Emeritus professor of preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids. He has long been concerned with preaching Christ from the Old Testament. His concern dates back over 30 years. After preaching a sermon from Ecclesiastes a member of the congregation came up to him and asked a provocative question: ‘I like your sermon … But could a rabbi have preached that in a synagogue?’ Was Greidanus’ sermon a Christian sermon? This question stirred him into action and the theme of preaching Christ from the Old Testament was developed in his 1989 book The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text as well as in his Preaching Christ from the Old Testament (1999). Since then he has produced books on preaching Christ from Daniel, Genesis and Ecclesiastes. And now we have the latest - and what sadly seems to be the last - on Preaching Christ through Psalms.

This book is a brilliant fusion of hermeneutics and homiletics. The opening chapter takes an overview of the issues of preaching from the Psalms - including examining some objections others have from preaching the Psalms. As always with Greidanus there is much wisdom and excellent advice. The rest of the chapters examine different Psalms in detail (ones covered include Pss 122, 72, 146, 80, 96, 29, 2, 51, 32, 121,95, 23, 130, 118, 22, 118, 47, 104, 8, 100). Greidanus has followed the Revised Common Lectionary in selecting these Psalms from year A and has linked them to the Christian feasts.

He looks at ways of seeing Jesus in the text; these include redemptive-historical progress, promise-fulfilment, typology, analogy, longitudinal themes, New Testament references and contrast. These approaches have been explained and justified more fully in his Preaching Christ from the Old Testament. Obviously, not all these are applicable all the times to great variety of Psalms

The remaining chapters, each of which looks at a different Psalm, all follow a similar structure:

Text and context
Literary interpretation - including parallelisms, imagery, repetitions and structure
Theocentric interpretation
Textual theme and goal
Ways to preach Christ
Sermon theme, goal and need
Liturgy, scripture reading, sermon outline and PowerPoint
Sermon exposition

As can be seen from the structure of each chapter, his approach is one that grapples with the text, its structure and purpose before seeing how a Christological approach arises from it. There is also lots of practical advice, including suggestions for PowerPoint slides. In the sermon exposition, we are shown the fruit of this digging down would look like in a well-crafted sermon (at the end there are even examples of a prayer and song to use). Also included in the Appendices are examples of sermons on Psalms 72 and 80 by a former student of Greidanus, Ryan Faber.

The Bible is often compared to a stick of seaside rock with Jesus’ name written all the way through it. Here, Greidanus breaks open the Psalms and shows us Jesus written all the way through it. This book will be an invaluable resource for any preacher who plans to preach from any of the Psalms and do so in a way that brings glory to Jesus. Greidanus’ Preaching Christ through … books are all a wonderful gift to preachers and to the institutional church.

Applying the methodology taught in “The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text”, Greidanus explores preaching Christ from the Psalms in the context of the liturgical calendar.

I used this book multiple times as inspiration for particular sermons, as well as a training ground for exegesis for other psalms not covered in the book. It was a helpful aid. His emphasis on a clear textual theme, aim, and need for each text and sermon helped bring clarity. Likewise, his analysis of the psalms for the canonical context, literary structure, parallelisms, keywords, and theocentric message almost always yielded glorious insights.

The title might limit the readers of this book to preachers. But that would be a loss. This is a great study for anyone who wants to get an in-depth look at the Book of Psalms as a whole and at particular psalms within the book. This book can be used as reference, devotional reading, theological study, or as a preaching or teaching help.
The first chapters are a seminary education in the Psalms and their uses and purpose. Even the footnotes are incredible.
This may very well be the best book I will read in 2017. It is not short or simple, but it is very instructive and edifying.