I’m studying through Colossians, and I got stuck on this passage:
1:21-23 – You, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
This gospel Paul speaks of, has been proclaimed “in all creation.”
It brings to mind passages that seem to contradict this idea:
Matthew 24:14 – “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
I’ve heard this verse used many times to support foreign missions — basically that if we don’t preach the gospel to every single people group in the world, “the end” will not come.
But, for me, this just creates a lot of questions…
The “gospel of the kingdom”…WHO is proclaiming it? HOW is it to be proclaimed?
John 1:9 – The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
I love this verse. I’ve used it many times. It’s a foundational idea to how we are trying to engage the arts. Christ, the True Light, enlightens not only believers, but everyone. WHO is exempt?
I wonder how this relates to this verse:
Rom. 1:19 – What can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Or even this one:
Rom. 1:21 – For although they knew God…
I have tried to understand what “knowledge” truly is for quite some time now. This passage seems to be saying that the “unrighteous,” in some sense, know God.
Acts 17:23 – “…What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you…”
Paul takes something that these thinkers are seemingly ignorant about, and declares that this unknown god is truly God.
Another interesting thing about this passage in Acts is that Paul doesn’t specifically mention the name “Jesus.” Why? In verse 17:18 it says, “he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection,” but in the actual text of his speaking, he does not say Jesus.
What does this say about the idea that Christ is the only way to God? Or even, what does it say about our preaching? Are we required to say the name Jesus this or that many times?
Of course, I am not trying to denigrate the name of Christ, or the centrality of Christ, but…maybe God is “free” to use more than us simply inserting certain words into our conversations, in order to feel we have “accomplished” something.
Maybe if we think of only confessing believers being able to “preach the gospel”, we are limiting the scope of the Kingdom. Maybe Newbigin is right, God is always ahead of us, working when we are not — the prevenience of the gospel.
I also wonder how the relational aspect of missions can be lost when our thinking is directly primarily at “reaching” the most amount of people, with the ultimate end of the “Second Coming”?
I picked up Rick McKinley’s new book a few days ago. Rick is Don Miller’s pastor at Imago Dei in Portland. I’ve tried to keep up with this church for a few years now. Rick was on the original board for Acts 29. I have yet to find an answer as to why, but Imago Dei is no longer associated with that network. Anyone?
