Biblical theology and proclamation of the Gospel

Can expository preaching be consistently evangelistic?

Preachers sometimes avoid expository Bible studies because they suspect that this approach is appropriate for teaching theology to mature Christians but does not help unbelievers understand the gospel.

This concern grows as pastors consider Old Testament preaching. How can a study of the life of Abraham or a series of sermons on Haggai make the gospel understandable from Sunday to Sunday? Should we simply add an evangelistic appendix at the end of the sermon?

«"For our non-Christian friends today, I would like to conclude this message about the circumcision of Abraham by telling you how you can receive the gift of eternal life.".

There is another, more organic way to faithfully proclaim the Gospel from Sunday to Sunday, even from the Old Testament. It is through the use of biblical theology.

Big Story: What is Biblical Theology?

We can define it as the study of the overall storyline of the Bible. The 66 books of Scripture together tell a single story about God’s mission to save people and establish a kingdom for His glory through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

• The Old Testament sets the stage and leads us to Jesus.
• The Gospels reveal Him and His work.
• The rest of the New Testament explains the consequences of Jesus' death and resurrection, up until the time when God fully completes His mission.

The better we understand this overall plot, the more clearly we see how the text of our sermon is connected to the Gospel.

Preaching a passage of Scripture with an understanding of biblical theology is like having a «field feel» in basketball. Good basketball players don’t just focus on dribbling the ball to the basket. They are aware of the location of their teammates, their opponents on the court, and the overall dynamics of the game. Likewise, good expository preaching is not limited to commenting on individual verses. It also has a «field feel,» an understanding of what happened before and after the text and how it all relates to God’s larger plan.

Biblical theology in action

Let’s look at some biblical theological strategies we can use to connect a particular passage to the main story of the Bible—the Gospel story. These strategies can be thought of as possible paths leading from the text to the Gospel, similar to the route options on a smartphone navigation app.

1. Promise and fulfillment

This is the simplest and most direct way to the Gospel. In the promise-fulfillment strategy, the text you are examining contains a prophecy or promise that is clearly fulfilled in some aspect of the Gospel. Promise-fulfillment is a kind of «low-hanging fruit» of biblical theology: it is easy to see and understand.

For example:

• Preaching from the book of Micah about the ruler coming from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), you can easily turn to Matthew 2:6 to see how this prophecy is fulfilled in the birth of Jesus.
• When preaching about the life of Abraham, one should connect God's promises to bless Abraham's descendants or "seed" (Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 17:8; 24:7) with their fulfillment in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:16).

The better we learn to read the Bible through the prism of apostolic interpretation, the easier it will be for us to find our way to the Gospel.

2. Typology

Typology is similar to promise and fulfillment, but instead of verbal prophecy fulfilled in Jesus, we see events, institutions, or people that foreshadow Jesus and the Gospel. You can think of typology as nonverbal prophecy.

Take, for example, the temple in Jerusalem. It played a central role as the place of God’s presence, but ultimately it pointed to Jesus. Jesus said, «Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up» (John 2:19), speaking of «the temple of my body» (John 2:21). As the temple, Jesus was and is the physical presence of God. The apostles repeatedly identified the church with the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Pet. 2:5).

• When preaching Psalm 122 («I rejoiced when they said to me, »Let us go to the house of the Lord!’”), you can use the temple typology to help people see the greater joy in believing in Jesus.

The New Testament is full of typologies of Jesus: the last Adam, the true Passover lamb, the new Moses, the great high priest, the true Israel, and much more.

3. Topics

I use the word «themes» to describe recurring themes or images in the biblical storyline that do not point directly to Jesus, as typology does, but are closely related to the Gospel.

A classic biblical theme is creation.

1. The Bible begins with creation («In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth»).
2. Throughout the Old Testament, we see repeated «restarts» of creation (Noah, the Exodus, the return from captivity). However, in each of these cases, the restart failed.
3. The last Adam, Jesus Christ, perfectly fulfilled the will of the Father. His resurrection and salvation of His people launched a true new creation.
4. This process will culminate in a new heaven and a new earth.

The ability to trace the creation story provides a basis for an organic transition from many texts to the key point of the new creation—the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are many other thematic threads: covenants, the exodus, the day of the Lord, and the kingdom of God.

4. Ethical learning

What if you preach from Proverbs, the Ten Commandments, or Leviticus? Again, biblical theology paves the way from law to gospel in three ways:

1. The laws lead to Jesus by exposing sin. They act as a mirror that reveals our moral deformity and sinful fall. «For by the works of the law no flesh will be justified, for through the law is the knowledge of sin» (Rom. 3:20).
2. The commandments point to Jesus as the One who kept them perfectly. He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it in every way (Matt. 5:17).
3. Through the power of Jesus« resurrection and His Spirit, we can now keep God’s laws: »that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4).

By preaching from Proverbs 11:17 («A merciful man does good to his own soul, but a cruel man troubles his own flesh»), you will show our weakness, point to the embodiment of goodness in Jesus (especially in His sacrifice), and finally connect this grace with us as the source of our transformation through the Holy Spirit.

5. Puzzle-solution

When we understand biblical theology, we also see how the Gospel often solves the puzzles of the Old Testament.

• How will God fulfill his promises to David if the people are in captivity and there is no king?
• If sacrifice solves the issue of sin, then why did God judge Israel?
• Why do the righteous suffer while the wicked prosper?

When you are faced with a biblical puzzle, consider how the Gospel of Jesus Christ can solve the mystery. Like a great novel, the Old Testament builds plot tension that is resolved by the hero—Jesus.

«"You are here"»

When we use biblical theology to practice this gospel presentation, something exciting happens for unbelievers. Not only do they confront their sins, come to know Jesus, and hear the weekly call to repentance and faith. They also begin to see themselves as part of the historical flow of God’s work. The gospel is not just a metaphor or an idea that they can freely use or discard if it «suits them.» Instead, the story of Jesus is a historical force rooted in the past, continuing into the present, and dominating eternity. The God who was at work in the biblical world is at work in their world too, for it is the same world, the same story, the same narrative.