Preaching From the Old Testament

Preaching from the Old Testament is both a canonical necessity and a sheer delight. By "canonical necessity, " I mean at least two things: First, the Old Testament was the canon of Scripture for the New Testament church. From it the church preached; by it the church was led to understand what God had done in and through Jesus Christ. Anyone who wishes to be a "New Testament Christian, " reflecting the life and thought of the New Testament Church, must teach from and be guided by the Scriptures of that church. Second, to preach only from the New Testament would be to distort the message of the undivided canon. Some cru-cial theological themes, such as election and redemption, cannot be understood in their entirety apart from their de-velopment in the Old Testament. Other themes, such as cre-ation and covenant, are presupposed in the New Testamen