Copyright © 2006-2008 Robert D. Hosken, M.Min., D.Min.
Sanctification means that we no longer live for ourselves, we do not operate according to the flesh but rather according to the Spirit, Who empowers us to do the ministry of diakonia, which in turn gives us great opportunities to share the Good News, as Paul writes in 2 Cor. 5:15-18 -
"He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again. Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry (diakonia) of reconciliation."
Because God has reconciled us to Himself, we have been given the diakonia-ministry of reconciliation, of telling others that by Christ's death on the cross God has reconciled the whole world to Himself. Reconciliation is making peace between two warring parties, and Acts 10:36 says, "The word which he sent to the children of Israel, preaching good news (euaggelizo) of peace by Jesus Christ - he is Lord of all." The Greek word euaggelizo means to evangelize, to tell this Good News: the new creation is dawning, we are new creatures, all things have become new!
One starry night on the hills outside of Bethlehem, the angel of the Lord, perhaps Gabriel (Lk. 1:19), appeared to a band of poor shepherds, and they were terrified. Then the angel said, "Don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news (euaggelizo) of great joy which will be to all the people" (Lk. 2:10). Notice the target audience: poor, despised shepherds.
When Jesus announced the start of His earthly ministry He quoted from Isaiah 61, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news (euaggelizo) to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord" (Lk. 4:18-19). Again, notice the target audience: the poor, brokenhearted, captives and blind.
Later, when John the Baptizer was in prison, he sent some of his followers to ask if Jesus was really the one John had been announcing. Perhaps John was discouraged and was wondering if his preaching had all been in vain. Jesus instructed John's followers to go back and tell him what they saw Jesus do and heard Him preach: "the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached (euaggelizo) to them." (Mat. 11:5).
This should leave no doubt that the Gospel, the Good News, is especially aimed at the poor, the brokenhearted, the prisoners, the lame, the lepers, the deaf and even the dead. By now, this fact ought to be abundantly clear to us, unless we are still stuck in our old paradigms. One old paradigm is that we let a priest perform some mysterious rituals over us, and another old paradigm is that we say some mysterious words over ourselves; but the result is the same: we are convinced that we're on the way to heaven, so we can get on with our own lives. We have bargained with the gods and have manipulated them to do our will.
Put in such blunt terms, the problem with these old paradigms is obvious: they rely on mystical jargon to appease the gods in order to get them on our side, to do what we want them to do for us, to attain self-fulfillment. But as Philip Steyne writes in his book, Gods of Power, that is the definition of paganism, not Christianity!1 The euaggelion, the Good News, is exactly the opposite: it makes us new, so that we want to do for God what He wants. We no longer live for ourselves, for what we want in life; instead, we are made into new creatures, to desire what God wants! This is what it means to become a faithful servant of the Gospel.
Question:
1. Especially for whom is the euaggelion, the Good News, intended?
(Only one of the following answers is correct.)
The Good News is intended especially for the poor, the brokenhearted, the prisoners, the lame, the lepers, the deaf and even the dead.
The Good News is intended especially for the educated, cultured, rich and healthy people.
The Good News is intended especially for those of us who have made a deal with the gods: to make the gods do what is helpful for our self-realization.
When Jesus first commissioned His disciples, He "gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them forth to preach the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. ...They departed, and went throughout the villages, preaching the Good News (euaggelizo), and healing everywhere" (Lk. 9:1-2 and 6). Here we see once again that preaching the Kingdom of God is equated with the Good News, which is to be accompanied by casting out demons, curing diseases and healing the sick. The Good News of God's reign means that people are made whole both physically and spiritually. In fact, the Greek noun soteria means both "healing" and "salvation," and the Greek verb sodzo means both "heal" and "save". It is no wonder that these two ideas so often occur side by side in the Gospels!
Meeting people's physical felt needs is a great door-opener for meeting their spiritual needs. A perfect example of these two meanings is in Acts 4:9 and 12 - "If we are examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed (sodzo), …There is salvation (soteria) in none other, for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, by which we must be saved (sodzo)!" It is clear that Luke, a doctor by profession (Col. 4:14), is deliberately linking these two meanings. In effect Peter tells the ruling council, "Of course this crippled man needed to be healed physically, but you leaders must realize that you too need to be healed spiritually!"
Question:
2. What are the two definitions of the Greek words soteria and sodzo?
The Great Commission is to "Go into all the world, and preach (kerusso) the Good News (euaggelion) to the whole creation" (Mk. 16:15). Often the verb form is translated simply "preach," but also "preach the Good News." We see both uses in Acts 8:4 and 25 - "Therefore those who were scattered abroad went around preaching (euaggelizo) the word (logos). … They therefore, when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the Good News (euaggelizo) to many villages of the Samaritans." When Paul and Barnabas came to Lystra, "There they preached the Good News (euaggelizo). What is this Good News all about? Acts 13:30-33a tells us it is about Jesus being killed and raised from the dead - "But God raised him from the dead, and he was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people. We bring you good news (euaggelizo) of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled the same to us, their children, in that he raised up Jesus." At Lystra a certain man sat, impotent in his feet, a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked. He was listening to Paul speaking, who, fastening eyes on him, and seeing that he had faith to be made whole, said with a loud voice, 'Stand upright on your feet!' He leaped up and walked" (Acts 14:7-10). Here again we see preaching the Good News linked together with the ministry of physical healing.
Question:
3. Which Greek verb is used in the Great Commission in Mark 16:15-20?
(Only one of the following answers is correct.)
diakoneo
kerusso
euaggelizo
It is critically important to always keep in our preaching and practice the two meanings of "salvation" and "healing." Our human tendency is to slip into one form of dualism or another, focusing only on saving souls and ignoring the physical felt needs of people; or focusing only on healing the sick, helping the needy, and thus ignoring the ultimate, eternal question: what happens after we die? Either way, it is dualism. If we ignore the eternal question, there is no logically sufficient reason for doing good works. Having spent many years in computer programming, I have discovered that many people have great difficulty using the synthetic logic of "both-and." Most people tend to think in "either-or" terms: it's either preaching salvation, or doing Social Ministry of the Church. But Christ always combined both, and we too must always combine both, ministering to people's spiritual and physical needs.
In Acts 14:7-10 we saw the connection between evangelizing and healing. But there is another important aspect to this story: in vv. 11-15 the local people seized on the notion that Paul and Barnabas were the pagan gods Mercury and Jupiter, and wanted to offer sacrifices to them. But the apostles rejected this, insisting they were human beings just like the locals, and were bringing the Good News (euaggelizo) that the one true God had now revealed Himself to all nations. Human nature, tainted by sin, so often desires to focus on spectacular manifestations of supernatural power, identifying it with pagan gods and trying to appease or manipulate the gods. The apostles, however, directed these people's attention back to the Good News. And today it is easy for us to become enchanted with supernatural acts of healing or wrapped up in practical works of mercy. But we must never forget the apostles' emphasis on proclaiming the Gospel!
Question:
4. What dualism must we watch out for?
After completing their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas reported to their sending church in Antioch about their efforts, then attended the First Ecumenical Council in Jerusalem, and returned to Antioch telling of the Council's approval of the mission to reach out to gentiles. In Acts 15:35 we read, "But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching (euaggelizo) the word of the Lord, with many others also." Why should Paul and Barnabas have evangelized the believers in Antioch who had already been evangelized? Wasn't that "preaching to the choir"? Remember, however, that Jesus Himself taught His disciples many of the same things over and over for three years, because at first they didn't quite grasp it, even if they thought they did.
The final passage in Acts that I believe we should consider is 16:9-10, "A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him, and saying, 'Come over into Macedonia and help us.' When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News (euaggelizo) to them." As soon as Paul received this vision, he felt compelled to cross over into Europe and evangelize there. Thank God Paul went to Europe, or we might still be bloodthirsty barbarians!
The Gospel was Paul's motivating force. We began by considering 2 Cor. 5, where Paul says he had the ministry (diakonia) of reconciliation. In the surrounding verses, 2 Cor. 5:14 and 20, Paul exclaims, "The love of Christ compels us.... Be reconciled to God!" The Good News is not merely healing broken, hurting bodies; rather, it is supremely healing the breach between God and man. This is our driving force, our raison d'etre. The Gospel of eternal salvation gives ultimate meaning to physical healing. Without the preaching of the Gospel, we are only putting band-aids over the fatal internal injury of sin. Not only is physical healing by itself ultimately meaningless for the patient, it is also senseless for the one doing this ministry if there is no resurrection of the dead. Paul makes this quite clear in 1 Cor. 15: 1, 3-4, 14 and 32 -
"Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached (euaggelizo) to you, which also you received, in which you also stand.... For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.... If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.... If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
Without Christ's literal, physical resurrection from the dead, and without our future physical resurrection from death into eternal life, we might as well eat, drink and be merry, because in the long run we're all dead! Why did Paul fight wild beasts in the coliseum at Ephesus? Not merely for humanistic, altruistic purposes! Why did almost all of the apostles and myriads of thousands of early Christians gladly meet a bloody death for their faith in Christ, if they weren't absolutely convinced of the reality of eternal life and of the imperative to preach this Good News? The Gospel of Christ's physical resurrection is a literal, objective and historically true fact!
And by accompanying the proclamation of this Gospel with physical healing in this life we give a sign and foretaste of the complete restoration of our bodies into the glorified state of Christ's post-resurrection body. Without the resurrection, we are wasting our time healing the sick - we might as well practice "survival of the fittest" and abandon them to die. Indeed, that is what happens when our post-Christian society blots the Gospel out of its consciousness: doctors who have sworn to "do no harm," to heal and save lives, resort to abortion and euthanasia.
Question:
5. What should be the raison d'etre ("meaning of existence") for the believing Christian?
(Only one of the following answers is correct.)
To eat and drink, strive to be rich, healthy and happy, for tomorrow we die.
The literal, physical resurrection of Christ from the dead, and our future physical resurrection from the dead to eternal life.
Another passage illustrating this compelling imperative of preaching the Good News is Rom. 1:15-16 - "So, as much as is in me, I am eager to preach the Good News (euaggelizo) to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the Good News (euaggelion) of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek." Paul says he is "eager" (prothumos), which means "forward in spirit, that is, predisposed; neuter (as noun) alacrity: - ready, willing."2 Paul is straining forward, champing at the bit and speeding ahead with alacrity, ready, willing and able to preach the Good News! Why? Because it is "the power (dunamis) of God" - God's "dynamite" that can blow away our encrusted sins and save everyone who believes.
But Paul in Rom. 10:15 returns to the actions that must accompany preaching the Gospel: "And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News (euaggelizo) of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!'" Why this talk about "beautiful feet"? Adam Clarke writes in his commentary -
"Dr. Taylor remarks on this quotation, which is taken from Is. 52:7, that 'feet are variously used in Scripture, and sometimes have respect to things internal and spiritual. For as the life of man and the practice of piety are compared to walking, Ps. 1:1, so his feet may signify the principles on which he acts, and the dispositions of his mind. Eccl. 5:1: 'Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God.' Agreeably to this, the feet of the messengers in Isaiah and of the apostles in this verse, may signify the validity of their mission - the authority upon which they acted, and any character or qualifications with which they were invested.'"3
Thus the "beautiful feet" refer to the walk, the behavior or the character of the one who preaches. His actions must match his words. It doesn't say "how beautiful are the words," but "the feet." Works of mercy and acts of kindness are what make the Good News beautiful.
We must neither rule out supernatural acts of healing, nor rely totally on them. Just as Jesus asked His disciples how many loaves and fish they had, He first expects us to do what we can do, then He will do what we can't do. Paul writes in Rom. 15:18-20 -
"For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of God's Spirit; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the Good News (euaggelion) of Christ; yes, making it my aim to preach the Good News (euaggelizo), not where Christ was already named, that I might not build on another's foundation."
Notice how Paul balances "works" and "deed" with "the power of signs and wonders." When we work and do what we can do, then and only then do we have the right to believe that God will do what only God can do. Often the greatest miracle is when Christians will get off their sanctified posteriors and start doing good works, acts of mercy! The dividing line between natural and supernatural then becomes invisible, as God heals through our hands when we massage and exercise lame or paralyzed limbs, and combine our actions with the prayer of faith.
Question:
6. Why does the Apostle Paul use the expression "beautiful feet" in the context of preaching?
Paul further explains the practical, down-to-earth aspect of the Good News in 1 Cor. 1:17-18 - "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Good News (euaggelizo)--not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn't be made void. For the word (logos) of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved (sodzo) it is the power of God." He emphasizes here the need for more than mere wise words that are devoid of action. By no means does Paul demean the value of education: he was not at all anti-intellectual, rather he was highly educated in the Law and skilled in logic and rhetoric.
But the cross of Christ is more than mere wise words, although Christ in His earthly ministry certainly taught with great wisdom: the cross shows us His willingness to suffer with us, and to pay the ultimate price by taking our suffering and sins upon Himself. Again I want to point out the down-to-earth language used here: mere "preaching of the cross," wise words about the cross are foolishness if a person is dying: he needs to see action! After we have demonstrated the Good News in action, then the dying person has seen its power and is ready to listen to our preaching. Are we willing to get our hands dirty and even risk our own personal well-being by involving ourselves in others' suffering? Christ did! To us who are healed-and-saved (sodzo), the Good News is the power of God. People need to see this power in action, not merely hear wise theological words.
One of the most effective modes of evangelism is through bi-vocational work. A certain Kyrgyz pastor in Moscow was struggling to reach out to his fellow Kyrgyz people from Central Asia who came to Moscow to find work. The pastor's tight financial situation forced him to get a job as a laborer, and now he has an audience of 150 Kyrgyz co-workers who see him as one of them rather than someone in the never-never land of religion, or worse - a person "bought" by outside agencies. Paul writes in 1 Cor. 9:16-18 -
"For if I preach the Good News (euaggelizo), I have nothing to boast about; for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me, if I don't preach the Good News (euaggelizo). For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward? That, when I preach the Good News (euaggelizo), I may present the Good News (euaggelion) of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News (euaggelion)."
How many preach the Good News without charge, and how many are in the ministry to have an easy job and a reasonably good salary? For most of our ministry life my wife and I have been self-supporting through secular work, and we operated a mission support agency in our spare time. After we returned to full-time missionary service, our savings and pensions enabled us to receive the minimum personal support that our mission allowed and still consider us as employees, so that the large majority of funds donated to our account could be used for ministry. Our Russian coworkers could see that we are living on an economic level similar to their own, and they considered us one of them. On a local basis we healed the sick and taught others how to do the same. Through our website we've had over 1,400 visits per day by people from all over the world who read God's Word, download Bibles in seven languages, theological reference books, Christian music, sermons, or study our Social Ministry of the Church courses. In all of this we present the Good News free of charge.
The Apostle Paul in Gal. 1:6-9 issues a rather stern warning about those who would pervert the Good News of God's grace into an easy-believism of reliance on religious rituals for salvation or the "health-and-wealth gospel" -
"I marvel that you so soon are being moved away from Him who called you into the grace of Christ, to another gospel (euaggelion), which is not another, but some are troubling you, and desiring to pervert the gospel (euaggelion) of Christ. But even if we or an angel from Heaven preach a gospel (euaggelizo) to you beside what we preached (euaggelizo) to you, let him be accursed. As we said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches a gospel (euaggelizo) to you beside what you have received, let him be accursed"4 (MKJV).
Paul makes it absolutely clear that only one Gospel is the truth, and that other religious-sounding talk which masquerades as good news is in reality very bad news both for the speaker and for the hearers, leading to their being accursed. Many people have been taught in churches that baptism - the New Testament equivalent of circumcision in the Old Testament - or taking the Eucharist, or raising their right hand and going forward will guarantee them free passage into heaven, or that God guarantees that true believers will all be healthy, wealthy and wise. Free grace does not mean we don't ever have to do anything useful, we can just sit in the pew (or in front of the TV) and God will simply pour money from heaven into our laps so we can live in luxury and never suffer or grow old and die. What utter nonsense! Real, saving faith works through love (Gal. 5:6), ministering to the real needs of hurting people, and faith without good works is dead faith (James 2:17). We must not preach an either-or half-gospel of either saving souls or social action, but both-and: the whole gospel for the whole person. At times we will lead out with evangelism, and other times we will lead out with good works: it depends on the local circumstances.
Not only did the church in Galatia do so, but Paul also warned Timothy that future churches would tend to dream up fables, misinterpretations of the Good News: "For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables. But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist (euaggelistes), and fulfill your ministry (diakonia)." (2 Tim. 4:3-5) The Gospel (euaggelion) is that God accepts us just as we are, forgiving our sins. But God's grace brings about change in our lives so that we don't remain just as we were. This means that sin is a hard fact: God doesn't ignore sin, pretending that it doesn't exist, that everything is fine with us when it's not. People most often do not want to hear the bad news, the other side of the Good News coin.
In these verses Paul instructs Timothy to "carry out fully your diakonia." When someone is sick, they need a correct diagnosis before proper treatment can begin. This means calling cancer "cancer," and calling sin "sin." It is no more helpful to tell a homosexual person that his behavior is okay just as it is, than to tell a nearsighted person that he doesn't need to wear corrective lenses when driving. Both behaviors can cause great harm or death to those persons and others. Similarly, when someone in the church needs material help, we should not just give money, but use "tough love" and inquire about that person's vocational and social skills, then help him or her improve those skills to become self-supporting. Thus being a minister (diakonos) of the Good News includes restoring people to God's image and likeness, helping them eliminate the distortions caused by sickness and sin.
Question:
7. If the Gospel (euaggelion) consists of the fact that God accepts us just as we are, forgiving our sins, may we remain just as we are?
(Only one of the following answers is correct.)
Absolutely not! "Shall we remain in sin so that grace may abound? God forbid!" (Rom. 6:1)
Of course, we can be an "average Christian," go to church and warm the pew. The pastor receives a salary from us, he ought to earn that money.
What? How could we earn our salvation? We are saved by grace through faith, not of our good works!
Endnotes:
1. Steyne, Philip M., Gods of Power: A Study of the Belief and Practice of Animists, (Houston, Touch Publications, 1989), 161.
2. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries, op. cit.
3. Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible, (www.e-sword.net, 2004).