It’s been on the blog shelf for a while, but I thought I’d
add another installment to the ongoing “Evangelism Series" (for past posts in this series click the label below). So far, we have seen that the Biblical terms
for evangelism (euangelizo and kerusso euangelion) relate specifically
to the public proclamation of the gospel (see parts two, three, and four).
Furthermore, Jesus was engaged in the task of preaching the gospel
(evangelizing), and he gave this responsibility to the apostles as
extraordinary officers, then to ordinary officers, such as elders, pastors, and
teachers.
Personal Work
Again, in the vast majority of cases, the work of evangelism
(i.e., preaching the gospel) is done publically and corporately. There are also, however, Biblical examples of
evangelizing that is done privately and personally. The old path men used to refer to this as the
minister’s “personal work.” For a more
recent description of this task, see Fred Malone’s chapter, “Do Personal Work”
in Tom Ascol, Ed. Dear Timothy: Letters on Pastoral Ministry (Founders,
2004): pp. 169-181.
Though personal work might refer to private teaching, instruction,
admonition, counseling, prayer, or discipleship with a particular individual or
small group of individuals (like a family), when the ministers engages in personal
work with nonbelievers his primary objective is to evangelize them.
The model for personal work is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. Examples abound in the
canonical Gospels. To name but a few,
Jesus engages in personal work in his conversations with Nicodemus (John 3),
the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), and the rich young ruler (Matthew
19:16-29; Mark 10:17-30; Luke 18: 18-23).
The latter of these examples is a reminder that not everyone who hears
the gospel, even from Jesus himself, will be converted.
Examples from Acts
This model is then followed by the apostles. In Acts, in particular, not only do the
apostles publically preach the gospel, but they also engage in personal
conversations, dialogues, and reasoning sessions in which the gospel is
proclaimed.
Here are three examples
of personal work in Acts:
1. Philip the Evangelist and the Ethiopian
Eunuch (Acts 8):
The Spirit directs Philip to approach the Ethiopian as he
rides along in his chariot, reading from the book of Isaiah. Philip asks, “Understandest thou what thou
readest?” (v. 30). The man responds, “How
can I except some man should guide (hodegeo: to lead, guide) me?” He then invites Philip to come up and sit
with him and to be his guide in interpreting the Scriptures. When the Eunuch asks, in particular, about
the identity of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, Luke records, “Then Philip
opened his mouth and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus”
(v. 35). This is the only explicit NT example
of preaching (euangelizo) in a private
setting. Given the important
governmental role of the Ethiopian Eunuch (see v. 27 which says he “had the
charge of all her treasure”), however, it is likely that he was accompanied by
an entourage of some sort who also would have heard Philip’s preaching. In other words, this may not necessarily have
been an isolated one-on-one conversation.
This encounter also provides a prototypical example of
examination and confession of those who might present themselves for baptism in
v. 37 (appearing in the traditional text but omitted in the modern critical
text). When the Eunuch requests baptism,
Philip responds, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” To which, the Eunuch responds, “I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
Here is a model confession.
2. Paul the Apostle and Silas, his apostolic
associate (also indentified as a prophet in Acts 15:32), and the Philippian
Jailer (Acts 16):
Paul and Silas have been praying and singing praises to God
in the hearing of their fellow prisoners and, no doubt, the jailer, as well (v.
25). When an earthquake miraculously
opens the prison door and loosens the bonds of the inmates, the jailer is ready
to take his own life until Paul intervenes, saying, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here” (v. 28).
With trembling, the jailer brings a light and falls down
before Paul and Silas (v. 29), asking them, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
(v. 30). They respond, “Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (v. 31).
3. Paul the Apostle before Agrippa
and Bernice (Acts 25—26):
Though technically this passage might better be called an
example of witness bearing when under trial, it also offers a compelling description
of evangelistic personal work. Paul is
brought by the Roman governor Festus to be examined by King Herod Agrippa and
Bernice (cf. 25:13-14, 22-23). Paul
addresses the court audience, recounting the circumstances of his conversion to
Christ, his calling to become an apostle, and his arrest in Jerusalem (see 26:1-21). Near the close of his speech, Paul offers a
Christian interpretation of the Scriptures “that Christ should suffer and that
he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should show light
unto the people, and to the Gentiles” (26:23).
Festus dismisses him by saying, “Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning
doth make thee mad” (v. 24). Paul, however,
ignores Festus and makes a direct appeal to the conscience of Festus. He declares that he is not mad but that he
speaks “words of truth and soberness” (v. 25).
Most striking is his direct appeal to Agrippa, as Paul calls him (out)
by name: “King Agrippa, believest thou
the prophets? I know that thou believest”
(v. 27). To which Agrippa responds: “Almost thou persuades me to be a Christian”
(v. 28).
Evangelism scripts
When reflecting on these examples, one begins to get the
sense that Luke has recorded these, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
to provide something like model scripts to be followed, as well as adjusted and
adapted to shifting circumstances, in evangelistic conversations.
As the minister engages in a private Bible study with a
willing inquirer he can follow the model of Philip by asking, “Do you
understand what you are reading?” He can
then preach the Jesus of the Bible to the inquirer, proclaiming him as the
fulfillment of OT scriptural prophecy.
As the minister examines a new convert who desires baptism,
he can say with Philip, “If you believe with all your heart you may.” And he can listen for a confession that lines
up with that of the Ethiopian: “I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
As the minister counsels the despondent seeker who asks
despairingly, “What must I do to be saved?” he might respond as did Paul and
Silas to the jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”
As the minister meets with one willing to hear a witness for
Christ, though with skepticism and perhaps even hostility, he may probe that
person’s conscience, by saying, as Paul did to Agrippa, “I know that you
believe the Bible is an inspired book?
Will you not believe what the Bible says to you about Jesus?”
The book of Acts, indeed, provides the most profitable
training manual for the personal work of the minister in evangelism.
Personal Work or
Personal Evangelism?
There is yet another question to be asked here: Who is depicted in the NT (Acts, in
particular) as engaged in these private evangelistic encounters? As with public proclamation, the model practitioners
of personal work are church offers (i.e., Philip the Evangelist, Paul the
Apostle, Silas the apostolic associate and Prophet). This seems to be a factor that is overlooked
in much of the modern revivalistic-influenced construal of “personal evangelism”
which universalizes and democratizes the duties and responsibilities of the
Christian life.
Even some who would agree that public preaching of the gospel
should only be undertaken by designated church officers (God called and church
approved) insist that a somewhat looser standard is in place with regard to informal
or private communication (i.e., “preaching”) of the gospel. An obvious logical challenge to this
approach, however, would be simply to ask whether the size of the audience
(whether a congregation of a 1000 people, a gathering of 100 people, a home
Bible study of 25 people, a private family counseling session with 5 people, or
an evangelistic conversation with 1 person) makes any difference in the
standards for who is Biblically sanctioned to preach the gospel (evangelize). One might also ask where such a distinction
is taught or modeled in Scripture? When
James wrote, “My brethren, be not many masters (didaskaloi: teachers),
knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation” (James 4:1), was he
referring only to a prohibition against all Christians being “formal” public
teachers or is his warning also germane to those who would undertake “informal”
private teaching who are not church officers?
My inclination would be to conclude that the examples cited
above from Acts are most applicable to the personal work of church officers as
opposed to generic models of what is today called “personal evangelism.” This takes us back to one of our original lines
of questioning (now expanded): If evangelism is primarily presented in the
Bible as done through preaching and the personal work of ministers, what then
is the general duty of all believers in evangelism? In fact, I do believe that evangelism is the
duty of the whole church (and not just the ministers alone). Hopefully, we will eventually come to expand
and explain this point in this series.
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