Beginning with Moses

"And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." - Luke 24:27 (NIV)

The Bible has a storyline and this big picture must by necessity affect the way we approach individual biblical texts - because the texts of the Bible themselves are born out of what has gone before and what is still anticipated in the future. The texts themselves demand that we interpret the part in the light of the whole and vice-versa.

In practice, then, this means that to preach on OT texts about sacrifice or the covenant, say, without explicitly preaching the direction that the Bible develops those trajectories is to preach incomplete sermons. To preach on NT texts that rely for their meaning on OT backgrounds without explicitly making the connections that the text wants us to make is to distort the text.

Luke 24:27 is just one of many NT axioms that underpin evangelical biblical theology and it provides part of the rationale for recognising that the whole Bible resonates with Christological significance and that all our preaching must aim to preach Christ in a way that reflects, and that is shaped by, the overarching biblical plotline.

- beginningwithmoses.org, What is Biblical Theology?

Link: His Story (13 Aug 10)