Greidanus' Preaching Christ from the Old Testament and Merrill's Everlasting Dominion: A Theology of the Old Testament may be compared and contrasted on the grounds that both approach the Old Testament Scriptures, though each does it a different and unique way. Greidanus' method of examining the Old Testament is to approach it from the perspective of the New Testament -- namely, to show how Christ is evident all throughout the Old Testament Scriptures and why and how the latter link directly to the coming of the former. Specifically, Greidanus' objective in his book is to show that Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. Merrill, on the other hand, takes a much more immersive approach to Old Testament and examines it thoroughly and in great detail, looking at everything from the creation of man to the fall to the prophets, the kings, the covenants and the commandments. It is, in other words, an essential overview of the Old Testament, what it means and how it can be interpreted. So while the two books are similar in some ways, they are also dissimilar in others. Thus, this paper will compare and contrast the two works.
Greidanus begins his work by showing what it means to "preach Christ" and how this has been a confusing topic for some people. The trouble comes from the concrete and abstract ways in which Christ can be thought about -- for example, as the Logos, "who is present from the beginning" or as Christ crucified or as a Teacher or as a Savior or as a Sufferer, etc.[footnoteRef:1] Greidanus sets out to clarify this point by showing how the Apostles preached Christ by preaching the life of Christ, which included His birth, works, and death and resurrection. Thus, all things would be incorporated, including the Logos. It may seem like a lot to preach, but of course there is no need to attempt to do it all at once. How the Old Testament comes into play in the preaching of Christ, therefore, is that it sets the stage and shows why Christ came, what for, how the prophecies foretold His coming and what the history of the Jews, for example, the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb adds to the narrative. This is the manner in which Greidanus begins his work and examination of the Old Testament -- from the perspective of preaching Christ. [1: Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ from the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1999), 3.]
Merrill, on the other hand, begins his work from a theological perspective, and sets about examining the Old Testament as it were the Autobiography of God, which it is, since it is an inspired text that is taken literally as the Word of God. Thus, Merrill asserts that by knowing the Old Testament we can know more fully the mind of God and Who and What He is. He also examines some confusion regarding the meaning of specific terms and their usage, such as "biblical" and "biblical theology" -- and he clarifies the subject by asserting that "Old Testament theology is the study of biblical theology that employs the methods of that discipline to the Old Testament alone while being aware of the limitations inherent in not addressing the New Testament witness in any comprehensive way."[footnoteRef:2] Merrill states that the Old Testament contains a message "that is legitimate and authoritative in every sense of the term" but that it lacks the completeness of God's Word, when approached from a Christian perspective. Nonetheless, an examination solely of the Old Testament as a message that is being delivered by God to men before the fulfillment of Christ can be helpful in understanding that completeness and fullness of the Christian message later when it is studied. Thus, Merrill's work begins by focusing solely on the Old Testament and its message without reference to the New Testament -- not because it is more helpful to ignore the New Testament when examining the Old Testament, but because by examining the Old Testament on its own merits, a good sense of the direction in which it is leading can be had, which can allow for the Christian revelation to be all the more powerful later on.[footnoteRef:3] [2: Eugene Merrill, Everlasting Dominion: A Theology of the Old Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2004), 4.] [3: Eugene Merrill, Everlasting Dominion: A Theology of the Old Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2004), 5.]
This, therefore, is the main difference between the two works: Greidanus takes a Christ-centric view of the Old Testament...
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