Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World: Expounding Christ in through the Structure of Redemptive History Part Three

By Ed Clowney

The individual obedience of Isaac and Jacob is portrayed through the seed of the promise leading us to Christ. There are concepts in structure that naturally flow to Christ. This is typology.

The meaning is presented through its significance in symbolism.

Christ speaks in parables to teach us spiritual truth through natural reality.
Symbolism brings in the feel of the meaning. Symbolic language can be more effective than illustrations.

A metaphor is found in a sentence and not in a word. A metaphor brings together two different worlds; two different images.

Example: Amos 3:8-
A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?

The spoken word of the Lord is paralleled with the fierce roaring of a lion. We apply attributes of the familiar concept to the more abstract concept. The roaring of the lion is similar to the speaking of Yahweh.

Metaphors act as a form of contextualisation. Metaphors should be used to tell Bible stories as real stories- applying modern methods of description to give a detailed and relevant meaning to the audience.

Hebrews 8:5 = Vertical Typology- we are presented with a copy of heavenly things by an earthly pattern
Romans 5:14= Horizontal Typology – Adam is a type of Him who was to come

A good metaphor takes the preachers application to the listeners adoration.

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