Paul’s understanding of the purpose of the gospel message is probably best summed up in his own words, ‘… the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast … unless you believed in vain’ (1 Cor.15:1-2). For Paul, the gospel saved people when they put their trust in it. He goes on to describe that gospel message as ‘Christ died for our sins …, was buried … and was raised on the third day … and that he appeared …’ (1 Cor.15:3-4). The gospel had the power within its message to save everyone who believes (Rom.1:16-17). The gospel first changed Paul and the early apostles who were with Jesus, and it made them want to share it. Lloyd-Jones highlights that the Christian message is founded on facts, of ‘things … seen and heard’ (1 Jn1:1) about Jesus and the interpretation of these facts and their relevance to everyone.[1]
According to Greidanus, the gospel message is not just a constant retelling of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection but its significance in God’s redemptive plan that results in salvation for those who believe in their heart and confess with their mouth (Rom.10:9).[2] McKnight asserts that the earliest gospel comprised the four events in the life of Christ viz, Christ died, was buried, was raised and appeared.[3] Brueggemann however, explains evangelism as a drama in three levels, i.e. (1) God’s victory on earth through the work of Christ on the cross, (2) God’s victory announced and proclaimed to those outside the faith community and (3) God’s victory demonstrated in the transformed lives of those who were initially outside the community of faith but because of their response to the message are now firmly part of that faith community.[4]
Bosch highlighted that there is a plethora of definitions when it comes to evangelism.[5] We can’t possibly discuss them all, so we’ll just take an example of the Anglican denomination which has defined evangelism as: ‘To evangelize is so to present Christ Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit, that men shall come to put their trust in God through Him, to accept Him as their Saviour, and serve Him as their Lord in the fellowship of His Church’.[6] The original phrase set out in 1918 was ‘serve Him as their “King”’ but this has since been changed to ‘Lord’, either description demonstrating a willingness to surrender to and to serve Christ. This is a vital component in the definition of evangelism. I would have preferred the original description of ‘King’ as it would better reflect conversion as the change of kings in the convert’s life from the human Caesar to Jesus, the King of Kings. McKnight emphasizes that the gospel message is framed by the story of Israel, beginning at creation and completing at the consummation when Christ delivers the kingdom to God the Father after defeating all his enemies and God becomes everything to everyone.[7] Wright asserts that preaching the gospel means ‘announcing Jesus as Lord of the world’ and that ‘the gospel is the announcement that Jesus is Lord – Lord of the world. Lord of the cosmos. Lord of the earth, of the ozone layer, of whales and waterfalls, of trees and tortoises.’[8]
The Lucan account records the early disciples preaching ‘the good news about the kingdom of God’ (Acts8:12) and ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome welcoming visitors and ‘proclaiming the kingdom of God’ (Acts28:31). After he arrived in Rome, Paul expounded and testified at length to ‘the kingdom of God’ (Acts28:23). This was not a departure from his usual preaching of the good news of salvation (Acts28:28) but seeks to emphasize that the good news of salvation was indeed ‘the gospel of the kingdom of God’. Ladd asserted that the gospel of the kingdom is the gospel which was proclaimed by the apostles in the early church. [9] Ladd further added that the mission of God’s kingdom is to abolish all enemies, including death, sin and Satan (1 Cor.15:24-26).[10] Paul explained that the Thessalonian Christians’ steadfastness and faith was evidence of God’s righteous judgment so that they may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which they were suffering (2 Thess.1:5). The result of evangelism must not only be the gratitude of the believer for receiving the free gift of eternal life but also the willingness to suffer if need be, by being loyal to Jesus’ kingdom while still subjected to the kingdom of this world. The results of evangelism are incomplete if a person only receives Christ as Saviour alone. In Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion (‘EE’) gospel conversation outline, the clarification of the person’s commitment includes the hearer being asked if he would like to receive Jesus into his life as ‘Saviour’ and ‘Lord’.[11]
When preaching the gospel in Malaysia, or for that matter in Asia, the message must be clear to emphasize not only repentance and receiving of the gift of eternal life but also the surrender of oneself solely to the lordship or kingship of Jesus. Malaysia has its history of the sultans and the king (‘agong’), and to emphasize that receiving the gospel message includes the transfer of one’s allegiance to Jesus from the ‘sultans and “agongs” of this world’ would be clearly understood. For those responding to the gospel message from a Hindu background, it must be highlighted that they must accept Christ alone for their salvation as otherwise, they might mistakenly think that they can merely add Jesus to their pantheon of gods. Much religious teaching is founded on doing good works to earn and achieve salvation, so the gospel message in this event, must highlight the futility of good works and how humanity is unable to achieve it with its sinful nature.
To be able to get the Christian message of Jesus’ kingship across, believers need to live surrendered lives that demonstrates the kingship of Jesus. Then and only then, will others put their faith in Him. They will be able to witness Jesus’ kingship when they can observe at close quarters the believers’ lives. There can be no impact if there is no contact. To make contact we must make connections. Successful connecting builds trust and requires patience and love. When that happens, they will trust the messenger and consequently, his or her message.
Voon Yuen Woh (Rev)
Continental VP for Asia
EE International
[1] David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, ‘The Transforming Message,’ in Courageous Christianity, vol. 2, 1st U.S. ed., Studies in the Book of Acts (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2001), p.93.
[2] Sidney Greidanus, ‘Preaching from Paul Today,’ in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters ed. by Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), pp. 737-43 [p. 743].
[3] Scot McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), p. 49.
[4] Walter Brueggemann, Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism: Living in a Three-Storied Universe (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993), pp. 16-17.
[5] David J. Bosch, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2011), p. 418.
[6] Alvin L. Reid, Introduction to Evangelism (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1998), p. 12.
[7] McKnight, The King Jesus Gospel, p. 61.
[8] N.T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity? (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), p. 154.
[9] George Eldon Ladd, ‘The Gospel of the Kingdom’, in Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader ed. by Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, (Pasadena: William Carey Library, 2009), pp. 83-90 [p. 88].
[10] Ladd, ‘The Gospel of the Kingdom’, in Perspectives, p. 89.
[11] D. James Kennedy, Evangelism Explosion: Equipping Churches for Friendship, Evangelism, Discipleship, and Health Growth, 4th edn (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1996), p. 99.
