Preaching Christ from Psalms: Foundations for Expository Sermons in the Christian Year, by Sidney Greidanus. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2016. xx + 595 pp. $40.00.
Preaching Christ from Psalms is the fifth and final volume in this series on preaching expository Christian sermons from the OT. Sidney Greidanus is professor emeritus of preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary. This is not a commentary on the whole book of Psalms, but rather a surprisingly substantive “how-to” manual for preaching selected Psalms. It thoroughly integrates theory and practice.
The introductory section helpfully summarizes key literary and theological elements that provide the exegetical and theological basis for preaching from the Psalms. Greidanus did not choose the easiest psalms, but instead selected 20 of the harder (i.e., generally non-royal, non-messianic) psalms as representative “case studies” (Pss 1; 2; 8; 22; 23; 29; 32; 47; 51; 72; 72:8–11; 80; 95; 96; 100; 104; 118; 118:10–24; 121; 122; 130; 146). These are arranged in liturgical (rather than canonical) order according to the schedule of the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL). Because two of these Psalms are included twice for different liturgical seasons, Greidanus writes a second chapter for the second use of them. Since there are 500+ pages for the body of this book, that results in over 22 pages (on average) for each sermon!
Greidanus has developed a very helpful tool for pastors who seek to preach “the whole counsel of God.” The author carefully walks the reader through each of the multiple steps of sermon preparation for each Psalm. Always, he mentions the reason why one might or might not make a given choice, and then immediately moves on to how such a choice applies to the present text. Combined with good footnotes showing research based in solid commentaries, this enables the preacher to make informed choices at each step of the process.
Each chapter has a similar format. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of why the text was selected for the RCL and whether or not that needs to be adapted in order to preach the message of the psalm. Then come the text and context; literary interpretation, devices and structure; theocentric interpretation; textual theme and goal; ways to preach Christ; sermon theme, goal, and need; and a well-developed exposition. Special note should be made of the excellent ideas for service planning, including the worship service (“liturgy”), Scripture reading, and PowerPoint; and a closing prayer and song. By working through each of the sections, the text and theological message are not only studied from a number of angles, the reader also sees how to integrate the sermon into the whole service. The work is of a consistently high quality, so that this writer’s impression is that even if one does not like something for a particular psalm, there remain other options and material that can still be usefully employed by a preacher.
Readers may initially react to the title of this volume with skepticism. Is it proper to preach biblical prayers? Even more importantly, can expository sermons on the Psalms include Christ, since that seems to be something of an oxymoron? Greidanus faces these questions head-on at the beginning of the book. The total answer is the rest of the book, but the keys are first of all the theocentric theme of each psalm, followed by seven (sometimes overlapping) methods that Greidanus believes allow one to legitimately move from the OT to Christ in the NT. These include redemptive-historical progression, promise-fulfillment, typology, analogy, longitudinal themes, NT references, and contrast. (These are treated at length in Greidanus’s Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Method, Eerdmans, 1999.) Thus, for Greidanus, it is not a matter of putting Christ into a psalm, but of preaching the text and its theological message, and then moving to appropriate connecting points in the NT where Christ is found. Usually, only a couple of these methods apply to any given Psalm. Greidanus explains these options, and then further develops the best one in the sermon exposition. Overall, this reviewer concluded that Greidanus generally exercised good judgment working through issues while staying true to the meaning of the text.
As far as hermeneutics and theology go, dispensationalists will notice that occasionally the Church is identified with Israel, that Christ is mentioned as ruling his kingdom now, and that an amillennial interpretation of eschatology is adopted. Though these differences are present, they do not predominate, and preachers should be able to adapt the interpretation as they see fit. Greidanus has moved the discussion so far away from such things as allegorizing that one will be making theological distinctions rather than basic expository ones.
To what should this book be compared? If compared to books geared to “the busy pastor,” this is much more than a “quick and dirty” manual. It is indeed a time-saver, but it is far superior, since it has greater depth and material here than would be needed for that kind of approach. It does not include a lot of attention-getting stories, but it does have some. One might compare this book’s method to Kaiser’s Toward an Exegetical Theology. Both are helpful. Greidanus, however, had more time to develop the breadth of approaches necessary to preach a wide variety of OT genres. It is little wonder, then, that an endorsement by Kaiser graces the cover of Greidanus’s earlier, foundational work on preaching Christ (mentioned above).
This volume can be used as a stand-alone resource or (in conjunction with a good commentary or two) to preach additional psalms. It includes several helpful appendices: a list of the steps for sermon preparation, various possible arrangements for sermon series, and several model sermons.
Overall, this reviewer was pleased with the volume. It sticks to its topic, develops it well, and gives clear options. Bottom line: this book will be helpful for pastors who want to begin or to develop further their ability to preach robust and engaging expository Christian sermons from the Psalms.
