Generations ago biographical sermons based on biblical characters were a basic staple of the church's preaching diet. Frederick B. Meyer is remembered best for his preaching on such Old Testament characters as Abraham, David, Joshua, and Jeremiah. Classic homiliticians such as Andrew Blackwood extolled the virtues of the biographical sermon.1

However, more recently, hermeneutical criticisms of the Old Testament biographical sermon have arisen. Perhaps most vocal in this criticism has been Calvin Seminary professor of preaching Sidney Greidanus. (see preceding article) Professor Greidanus endorses a wholesale abandonment of biographical sermons, arguing that using Bible characters as examples or models for imitation in preaching is hermeneutically flawed.2

Among his reasons are the claim that such preaching ignores the gap between biblical times and contemporary life, transforms the biblical author's description into prescription, and shifts the Bible from being God centered to human centered.3 Inevitably, claims Greidanus, such an approach slips into allegorizing, spiritualizing, or mere moralizing.4 Thus the biographical or character sermon is "a dead-end road for true biblical preaching" that is "unable to produce genuine Christ-centered sermons."5

Ought modern day preachers abandon biographical preaching? In light of the legitimate criticisms offered by Greidanus and others, can a sermon on an Old Testament character (or New Testament character for that matter) be a legitimate proclamation of a biblical text? Is it possible to salvage the biographical sermon in such a way that answers the criticisms leveled against it?

In answer to this question one must begin first with the biblical text itself. Geidanus is quite right to criticize adoption of biographical preaching simply because it captures attention, is relevant, or pleases the congregation. None of these are a legitimate reasons to adopt any approach to preaching. Instead, we need to inquire as to whether the Bible itself legitimizes the use of biblical characters in preaching. Moreover, the careful interpreter needs to investigate the possibility of liter-ary clues in the actual characterization of biblical figures that might suggest such that these figures are presented as models to avoid or emulate.

I. New Testament Treatment of Old Testament Characters

Exactly how the New Testament uses the Old Testament is an important issue. However, for our purposes, we are concerned with the New Testament usage of biblical characters from the Old Testament. In this respect, Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 are foundational. In this section, Paul engages in a bit of spiritualizing himself as he describes Israel in the Old Testament. This generation who were "under the cloud" were "baptized in Christ" (v. 1). They "ate spiritual food" and "drank spiritual drink" coming from "that rock [which] was Christ" (v. 2).

Doubtless, to admit that the apostle spiritualizes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit does not give the modern preacher license to engage in spiritualizing of other Old Testament events. Clearly, a different dynamic is at work when we study the sacred text that limits our authority to the meaning within the text itself.