Expository Preaching Exalts Christ, Part II

In the previous article, I expressed our conviction at MissioSERVE Alliance that true expository preaching must exalt Christ regardless of where in the biblical canon one may be preaching. This springs from the commitment of the expositor to convey both the content and intent of the text. This means that the broader intent of the Holy Spirit in the writing of the Scriptures must also be considered and conveyed. In this article, I want to strengthen the conviction that the Spirit’s broader intent was always focused upon the person and work of Christ Jesus. 

Several key verses in the New Testament build this case, but the most well-known is probably Galatians 3:24. While contrasting the law and the gospel of grace through Christ, Paul showed that a certain level of continuity still existed between the two because of the intended purpose of the Law. God had given the Law to Israel to act as a special kind of servant responsible for safely conducting the Jews to Christ. By choosing to compare the law to this specific type of servant (παιδαγωγός), Paul indicated that the purpose was not only to guard the nation until a certain time but also to usher them to a specific destination. That is to say, the destination (Christ) was just as important as the safe conduct.

This is an enormously important point! In the same way that God always knew His justice in forgiving the sins of O.T. saints rested, not upon their works, nor their animal sacrifices, but upon the powerful and perfect sacrifice that Christ Himself would become (Romans 3:24-26), the Spirit of God intended that through the Law, men would come to understand their total guilt before God and their desperate need for His grace in Christ (Romans 3:19-24; Galatians 3:22-23). The sense of futility that one felt when trying to achieve the holiness demanded by the Law was not some flaw in the Law itself. Rather, it was a feature of the Law that pointed out a flaw in mankind (our sinful nature). It left even pious people hoping for some other way to be acceptable before God, and that is just what God provides through Jesus Christ. The Law has always been connected to Christ.

The Law was not the only place in the O.T. Scripture where the Spirit pursued this Christ-centered purpose. For one thing, the remaining parts of the O.T. often focus on the observance of the Law in some way or another. This is true even if we limit the sense of the term "law" in Galatians 3 to the statutes and ordinances handed down at Sinai as opposed to the broader covenant given through Moses. Whether relating the failures of the nation to keep the law (the historical books), celebrating the wisdom and holiness of the God who gave the Law (the Psalms and Proverbs), or calling the nation to repentance to escape the judgments contained in the Law (the prophets), the Christ-centered purpose of the Law permeates every part of the Hebrew Scriptures. So, when Jesus famously taught His disciples things about Himself from every major section of the Old Testament Scriptures (Luke 24:27, 44), He did not need to confine Himself to specific prophecies about the Messiah. The Law itself, echoed and referenced throughout the Scriptures, also pointed to Him.

The scope of this Christ-centered purpose is dramatically expanded in Romans 15:4, where Paul states, "whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction... that we might have hope." The “whatever was written in former days” is a reference to the Hebrew Scriptures that were available to them at that time. Everything that had been inspired by the Spirit and preserved in writing for the people of God was included in that phrase. It was all written to give us “hope.”

What is this “hope”? Can we rightly say this is talking about Christ, or does the Apostle mean to speak of a more generalized hope in God, His goodness and power, etc.? The answer to this question must be based on the context in which the word is found. As already noted above, Paul makes clear throughout his letter to the Romans that the believer's "hope" is firmly attached to Christ and His saving work. Thus, when he speaks of “hope” here in 15:4, the natural meaning is the same hope in Christ that he has been presenting all along as the key feature of the gospel. We can also confirm this by noting the immediate context. The quotation that triggers this broad-scoped statement about the Scriptures was a quote that Paul understood as relating to Christ (15:3). Furthermore, the encouragement mentioned in 15:4 is described in 15:5 as encouragement to live "in accord with Christ Jesus." So, we conclude that Paul is focused on the person and work of Christ throughout this section, and it would make no sense for him to suddenly depart from that focus and speak of some generic encouragement and hope in God. His message is clear: Everything that God had written was written, at least in part, to stimulate Christ-centered hope in believers — everything! 
As for the New Testament, it should be clear that all of it points to Christ in some way. His identity, ministry, and teaching were at the center of the Gospel narratives. His triumph over sin and death, His giving of the Spirit, and His exaltation as Lord in Heaven became the emphases of His disciples’ sermons and activities recorded in Acts. Their letters, whether to individuals or entire churches, urged believers to a proper understanding and response to Christ and His completed work. The prophecies of Revelation present His final victory over all opposition and the culmination of the restoration and renewal promised in Him. These are not mere “repeated themes” of the New Testament writings. They are its central themes and purposes. One cannot properly proclaim the message of any N.T. text without exalting Christ.

So, whether considering a text from the Old Testament or the New, our understanding is incomplete unless we realize the way it points us to Jesus of Nazareth. This is not always easily done, and the next article in this series will give a few tools that can help. But this underlying conviction drives us forward in the work. No matter how obscure, no matter how difficult to trace, we are convinced that our understanding of the message and purpose of any text is incomplete until we understand how it leads to the exaltation of Christ.