George Whitefield’s Christocentric Preaching

The colonial revivalist, George Whitefield, preached thousands of times throughout his ministry. In contradistinction to pastors, Whitefield preached primarily to the unconverted. Therefore, his sermon themes naturally gravitated toward the Gospel message and the work of Jesus Christ. About one hundred of his sermons are extant for study and the texts of those sermons range throughout the canon of Scripture. Regardless of the text, he preached Christ and the need for conversion. An analysis of his use of Scripture and the overall focus of his sermons reveals the keystone of his hermeneutic to be Christocentric. He preached every text through the lens of Christ whether the text contained an explicit bridge to Christ or not. Whether an Old Testament narrative, a New Testament narrative, or a clause from Proverbs, Whitefield always interpreted his text through the lens of Christ and the Gospel. This paper will examine: 1) the texts Whitefield preached in his extant sermons and how he selected them through a Christ lens; 2) his Christocentric interpretation of the texts for his sermons and an assessment of his proper use of them; 3) how Whitefield preached Christ from every text and his method of creating a bridge to the Gospel; and 4) Whitefield’s statements about the need to preaching Christ from every text in his letters, journals, and tracts.