Customer Reviews

Preaching Christ from Genesis

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First let me just say that I'm a pastor working through Genesis right now for my congregation. I've fallen in love with this commentary. It is loaded with great ideas for preaching Christ in a relevant and textually faithful way.

The author is professor emeritus of homiletics at Calvin Theo Sem in Grand Rapids, MI. This particular book is the first one by him that I've reviewed. He has other books on Homiletics/OT.

He discusses basic homiletical issues in a readable and succinct method that is a great refresher for most pastors. He lays out seven methods for preaching Christ from Genesis. These methods do have some overlap in some cases (for example-typology can have NT references also), but still they are distinct ways to preach Christ. He fleshes out these ways quite well.

They are 'redemptive-historical', promise-fulfillment, typology, analogy, longitudinal themes, NT references (my favorite), contrast. He gives about a half page on each one of these ways to preach Christ. He then goes on to lay out a case for why pastors should preach from Genesis, noting that it is often avoided. Then he gives about 30 some pages on hermeneutical issues.

After this introductory material (45 pages or so) he goes on to cover 24 passages in Genesis. They are sequential as they appear in the book.

For each story his format is:
1) Summary introduction
2) Text/Context
3) Literary Features
4) The Plot Line
5) Theocentric Interpretation
6) Textual Theme and Goal (often with ancient historical links to the very most relevant Ancient Near Eastern literature we have)
7) Ways to Preach Christ (with a mini set for each of the seven ways)
8) Sermon Theme & Goal
9) The Sermon Form
10) The Sermon Exegesis (5-10 pages on the pericope)

Please don't let point 7 on that list get past you without grasping it.
Let me illustrate it a bit to drive home the unique and powerful thing he has woven into this 580 page book.

Greidanus works through each of the seven ways to preach Christ from that text, exploring advantages and potential pitfalls for them as they come up. I had expected he would give the best one for each passage, but he gives you up to seven options on ways to preach Christ from each passage. Sometimes a way doesn't work for a passage. For example in Gen 25:19-34 we have a passage on Jacob and Esau. He works through almost a page on Redemptive-Historical Progression, three lines on Promise-fulfillment, states there is no Typology in this passage, gives a paragraph on Analogy, about a half page on Longitudinal Themes, two paragraphs on NT References, and five lines on Contrast. So it seems that the seven ways are customized in their material based on the nuances of using each method (and it's complexities or potential pitfalls) for each particular story (remember he does 24 stories). That is a lot of thinking from a lot of different perspectives! It gives you the pastor/preacher/bible teacher new perspectives on every passage and helps you think through new ways to preach Christ (without getting into the land of scripture twisting and heresy). This is just a GREAT book!

After 24 sections like this, the book ends, but includes some Appendices in the back. The first one has 10 steps from text to sermon. The second one has an exegetical sermon model (this just tells you what to do in each part of the sermon. The last appendices offer actual sermons by the author using his method.

Another thing that this commentary offers, that many I reviewed do not have, is a grasp of many of the chiastic structures in Genesis. For example, he sees a Chiasm in Genesis 2:4 ff, and other chiastic structures. He also identifies ancient historiography in his introduction noting especially the patterns in numbers for various elements of Genesis.

Overall, this is exceptionally readable, a fantastic aid for sermon preparation. The subtitle is accurate "Preaching Christ From Genesis" 'Foundations For Expository Sermons'. He does the best job of laying foundations for exposition that I've seen in any commentary for any book study in my library (I have hundreds of commentaries). It is important to note that this book lays foundations. It doesn't do all the work for you. For example, when looking at the NT references to the Cain/Abel account, Greidanus does not draw the deeper Christological implications out. He simply says that one must make sure the preaching connects to Christ when using the passages. He cites the references, but often does not connect the dots. I would like to see more on this point in the commentary, perhaps a paragraph or two of specific pointers. For example, how does the 'way of Cain' which is referred to in the NT references commenting on the Cain/Abel account, how does the 'way of Cain' interfere with or stand in opposition to the 'way of Christ'. He doesn't get into these sort of details at all. If there is one criticism of this book, I would say it is that he doesn't deal with the implications and contexts of the NT references at all. The problem with that is that the very way to preach Christ sometimes lies in the context. In the Jude 1:11 reference we see that the antidote to the 'way of Cain' is a few verses later when we are told to keep ourselves in the love of God as we wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life. And so there is a direct link between Christ...preaching about Christ with an eye towards His return and the 'way of Cain'. A failure to explore the relatively sparse NT references to each account does lead to a failure to grasp what I would say are the deeper or perhaps more stunning Christological implications of each account in Genesis. Because the theological beauty of these points are so great, it's disappointing to see no effort to go there. But I cannot fault Greidanus for this. His book is about foundations, not advanced implications. Yet I wanted to see something towards these deeper implications.

I think this volume should be seen as a companion to works like Victor Hamilton's NICOT or Bruce Waltke's Commentary on Genesis. See my listmania for Genesis Resources if you want my top five resources on Genesis. This volume is not meant to be a full technical commentary. So with that in mind, I think the author has hit a 'home run'. It goes with me where-ever I am during my Genesis sermon prep. I don't think you'll be sorry if you order this one.

This is hands down one of the best books and series of books I've read to understand a biblical theology of the Old Testament and specifically of Genesis in the case of this book. It is rich with exegetical necessities like social and immediate context, not to mention how it draws the line of Christ straight back to the cross to Glorify Him. Every Seminary Student who plans on preaching should pick up this book.

This is a great book on preaching from the Old Testament. Greidanus explains his approach and fleshes it out in Genesis, while also noting why the church needs more and better sermons from Genesis. It also includes (in appendix) sermons of his which exemplify the approach.

This text is extremely important in helping pastors see Greidanus' methodology on preaching Christ-Centered sermons. Greidanus holds to a Reformed view, but I think my Confessional Lutheran friends will also appreciate the work he's done in demonstrating Christ in the book of Genesis. As a homiletics student at Covenant Theological Seminary, I utilized this resource while preaching on Genesis 39 and it helped me preach a very Christ-centered sermon. If you follow Bryan Chapell's preaching method (Christ-Centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon), Greidanus does talk enough about the passage to help you determine the FCF (Fallen Condition Focus) of the passage to make sure that your sermon is about ONE thing. It's not geared specifically to Chapell's methodology, however, so it's usable by people who studied homiletics from a wide variety of teachers/texts. A must-have for every pastor's shelf!

In Preaching Christ from Genesis: Foundations for Expository Sermons, Sidney Greidanus is applying his insights from his previous book, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method, to the book of Genesis. In fact, this is very close to a type of expository commentary on preaching from Genesis.

Greidanus begins in chapter 1 by dealing with "Issues in Preaching Christ from Genesis." Some will recognize patterns from Greidanus' previous books here. For example, he talks about the seven ways of preaching Christ. We have the way of redemptive-historical progression, the way of promise-fulfillment as Christ's fulfills the promises of the Old Testament, the way of typology, which concerns past actions or people who foreshadow Christ, the way of analogy in terms of the parallel between God and Israel and Christ and the church, the way of longitudinal themes that reinterprets Old Testament themes in light of Christ and the gospel, and the way of contrast that stresses the differences between the Old and New Testaments because of the work of Christ.

Greidanus also deals with reasons for preaching through Genesis as well as issues in the interpretation of Genesis. Under issues in interpretation, Greidanus examines aspects of structure, theme, and genre. For example, he deals with significant biblical theological themes in Genesis such as kingdom of God, blessing and cursing, covenant, covenant promises, the promise of the seed, and the beginnings of redemptive history.

Beginning in chapter 3 [page 43] Greidanus starts to unpack the text. From that point on in the book he divides Genesis into possible preaching units. Early examples of this would be the sections of 1:1-2:3 on creation, 2:4-3:24 on the fall, 4:1-26 on Cain & Abel, and 6:9-9:17 on Noah. Each narrative preaching unit receives the same treatment:

* Text & Context
* Literary Features
* Plot Line
* Theocentric Interpretation
* Textual Theme & Goal
* Ways to Preach Christ
* Sermon Theme & Goal
* Sermon Exposition

Finally, Greidanus concludes the book with four Appendixes:

1. Ten Steps from Text to Sermon
2. An Expository Sermon Model
3. Sermon on Creation: 1:1-2:3
4. Sermon on the Cain-Abel Narrative: 4:1-26
5. Sermon on Abram's Call: 11:27-12:9

Although several parts of this book are found in Greidanus previous book on Preaching Christ, it is still worth the price. In fact, after looking through the book I am almost tempted to preach through Genesis. Even though I would disagree with some of Greidanus' applications and theological formulations, this book provides a great practical pattern for preaching Christ through Genesis. I personally think that he has answered the practical question from his previous book on preaching Christ by providing this book that applies his method to the book of Genesis.