Present Proclamation

This present series of studies was intended for a Summer School whose theme was PROCLAIMING THE GOSPEL IN ALL THE WORLD. A study book by that name has been published, and its materials amply complement this present volume. It has the advantage of being given by a number of Study Leaders. I did not directly use their materials to write this small treatment.

When it comes to modern proclamation we face the problem that the matter of evangelism has undergone many changes since the first century. I mean that contributors to the idea of evangelism have been many and varied. We have been faced with the fact of the apostolic proclaimers, with the centuries of penetration into Europe, Asia, the Americas and the great continent of Africa. In later centuries the invasion of Islam took a considerable part of the world by storm. In the last two centuries philosophical and theological liberalism has weakened the presentations of the great Biblical fundamentals. Indeed the word 'fundamentalism' has come to be associated with an abrasive and aggressive dogmatism and obscurantism, so that few have the courage to be absolute in their preaching!

Given in all this, the basic problem today is the same as ever. The humanistic self-pity which is abroad in, and for the human race-as though parental upbringing, heredity, environment and circumstances have willy-nilly shaped our destinies, destroyed our persons, and fated us to be what we ought not to be-has called for a host of social and welfare workers, psychologists, psychotherapists, as though man were the centre of the universe and must be considered, aided, cared for and healed.

The truth is that man has brought these ravages of his spirit upon himself. His deliberate self-alienation from God has deprived him of his true being, has prejudiced God in his eyes, and has made himself the centre of his universe. To proclaim to this man in his self-pity, self-concern and self-ignorance is no easier task than that which faced the Apostles in their day.

We have a battle, therefore, in order to face the developments in evangelism which view man as a creature to be appealed to, cajoled, and even manipulated into what is commonly called 'commitment'. In fact the Gospel is a command, and men must obey it, under pain of death, though not under direct threat of it. Man is commanded to come out of the death he is in, and be liberated by the Gospel. To give him the impression that he has been badly done by, is to seat him further into his stubborn anger against God, and his demands that the very heavens move to serve him.

For this reason we need to dig more deeply into the Gospel, the kerugma which was known to the early church. Whilst certain of our methods may necessarily differ from those used by that early church the principles of reconciliation are the same. Man is a sinner. He has sinned himself into death, lostness, and final judgement. He cannot—if ever he would—deliver himself from this state. Only grace can do that. We have to consider then not only what to say, but what not to say!

I believe this small book can be of some help if we will use it. Perhaps the richest insight I have discovered in my 56th year of studying the Scriptures is that we are not called so much to be converted as to convert, not so much to be redeemed as to redeem. This is clear in the call of Saul of Tarsus. Christ appeared to him for the purpose of sending him as witness to the nations. To be that he had to be convened. Doubtless his conversion was a primary consideration to God, but Saul's ministry to the world was of equal value and importance. The great men and women of God down through history have been those who having been transformed by grace can never rest until every element in them can proclaim it.

I trust we, too, will all understand what it is to proclaim Christ's Gospel in today's world. If we do not then the world will be poorer salvifically, poorer morally, and will even more proceed towards its failure in genuine human integrity. No one can be a true humanist until he is a genuine theist, and nobody can be that authentically unless he has been wrought upon by Christ's Gospel of grace.

Finally, the privilege of proclaiming the Gospel to the world is inestimable. The incredible joy of seeing men and women come to God's redemption and His personal healing is beyond words to describe it.  To think of proclamation as a grim and arduous task shows that this kind of proclaimer yet lacks the true and full sense of 'amazing grace'. When grace bursts on him (or her) fully, then the proclamation-whilst incurring suffering and persecution-will nevertheless be a matter of great joy, and of rich purpose.