The Essence of Christ Centered Preaching

From the earliest days of Christianity to contemporary times, many evangelical preachers have advocated for the necessity of Christ-centered preaching. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:23, "But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles," and then, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). Charles Haddon Spurgeon emphasized Christ-centered preaching: "Preach Christ, always and everywhere. He is the whole gospel. His person, offices, and work must be our great, all-comprehending theme." Evangelical preachers have a conviction that the Bible is the Word of God and a commission to proclaim Jesus Christ as the main theme in the Bible. Today, however, many preachers fail in their preaching ministries. Edmund Clowney emphasized the necessity of Christ-centered preaching in biblical theology: "Most important of all, biblical theology serves to center preaching on its essential message: Jesus Christ." Edmund Clowney asserted that the reason for failure in many pulpit ministries has been a lack of this biblical-theological approach. Bryan Chapell defined that biblical theology is one of the branches of biblical study "devoted to examining Scripture in the light of the overarching themes that unite all its particulars." Why have many preachers seemingly lost the power of the gospel? Many preachers offer human-centered preaching, non-text-driven preaching, and non-Christ-centered preaching. These three approaches neglect the redemptive-historical context and the biblical author's intention and, as such, produce allegorized interpretation and anthropocentric preaching. This book contains the treatment to misunderstandings, meanings, and the necessity of Christ-centered preaching. The meaning of Christ-centered preaching is not Jesuscentric or Christomonistic preaching. Christ-centered preaching is to preach the cross, Jesus' resurrection, and the Kingdom of God. The author offers biblical, philosophical, hermeneutical, and theological foundations of Christ-centered preaching.