Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 22:3 (Fall 2018)
Article: Real Thick Meaning and Preaching Christ from the Old Testament
Author: Abner Chou

SBJT 22:3 (Fall 2018) p. 143

Real Thick Meaning and Preaching Christ from the Old Testament

Abner Chou

Abner Chou is the John F. MacArthur Endowed Fellow at The Master’s Seminary. He earned his ThD from The Master’s Seminary, California. Dr. Chou as written a number of articles and he is the author of I Saw the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Vision (Wipf & Stock, 2013) and The Hermeneutics of the Biblical Writers: Learning to Interpret Scripture from the Prophets and Apostles (Kregel, 2018). He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and Society of Biblical Literature. He is married to Johanna, and has four children.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” (Prov 27:17). Proverbs reminds us of the necessity of critical yet constructive dialogue. It grinds out our error, sharpens our reasoning, and roots (and unifies) us more deeply in the truth (cf. Eph 4:15). We need more of these discussions.

Thus, we should be immensely thankful for the contributions of Drs. Block, Johnson, and Poythress. Their articles have provided the opportunity for iron to sharpen iron regarding the crucial matter of preaching Christ from the Old Testament (OT).

My goal is not to critique these senior scholars as much as to aid in thinking through what we might learn from them. To facilitate this, I would like to put these articles in conversation. That way we can synthesize these scholars’ major contributions and observe how they refine each other as they make point and counterpoint. We can see how iron sharpens iron. Within this, I specifically want to note the hermeneutical contribution they make together. As we will discuss, their assertions and concerns formulate an essential hermeneutical point that instructs us on why and how we can

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preach Christ from the OT.

Hence, I want to build upon these articles so that we can gain further hermeneutical clarity on this important issue. I hope that this insight will help us in preaching Christ in a way that honors his Word.

The Shared Concern of Hermeneutics

As just stated, the focus of this review article will be on hermeneutics and for good reason: all three scholars wrestle with the same hermeneutical tension. On one hand, all three desire the preaching act to champion Jesus and believe the OT speaks of him. On the other hand, all three also express concerns that this be done in a way that upholds the integrity of the OT and the intent of the author. Poythress, who might be considered the most “Christocentric” of the three, is quite vocal on this matter. He warns...