Bible Students

The first three chapters of Encountering Theology of Mission discuss the relation between God and the world in the Old and New Testament, as well as the sending nature of God. Chapter one introduces the defense for missions by demonstrating God’s missionary nature towards other nations through the Old Testament. This theme permeates the entire Old Testament, beginning with the third chapter of Genesis. After the fall, God gives the protoevangelion, where God promises a savior to the fallen Adam and Eve. After about a dozen chapters of human depravity, God gives the great Abrahamic covenant. This covenant is entirely other-nation centered, as God blessed Abraham for the purpose of blessing all of the nations of the world. Israel, when she became a nation, was a witness to the power of God to all nations. When they were prosperous, God was known all around them. When they were destroyed by God, all of the nations knew His wrath. The prophets, especially, are sent to foreign nations that they would repent and turn to God. Israel was not to be a consumer of God’s blessing, but a distributor. In the Old Testament, Israel was to be a witness and other nations were to be brought into Israel. In the New Testament, the church is to be a witness and go into other nations. 

Chapter two discusses the missiological theme of the New Testament. The Spirit sends the church out into the world, spreading the Kingdom of God through the proclamation of the gospel. Notice for later that it is the whole Trinity who sends believers into the world. At Pentecost, the Spirit reverses the effects of the Tower of Babel. Rather than Gentiles becoming Jews in the New Testament, Christians can be made out of any nation. They are baptized into a spiritual kingdom, not a physical kingdom. The New Testament makes it very clear that at the end of the age God will have brought all nations back to Himself, completely reversing the events at the Tower of Babel, and fulfilling the purpose of the Abrahamic Covenant. Interestingly, Acts is open-ended, almost goading the reader into continuing the acts of the Apostles through mission work, both local and foreign. 

The third chapter is essentially a systematic theology of God’s missionary character. While some believe missions today is immoral due to the pluralistic culture we live in, the character of God validates the missionary work of Christians around the world. God’s rule over the world is the basis for world missions. God’s triune nature is the model by which Christians are to be sent. God the Father sends the Spirit and the Son into the world. Pluralism, by contrast, is the antithesis of missions, claiming that missions is immoral due to the relativistic ideas of truth. All of the Trinity participates in the Missio Dei. The Father also sends His people and angels, as well as parts of creation like animals, to accomplish all He desires. Because God is the sender, mission work must be done with His help through His Spirit. 

These chapters are written to make one thing abundantly clear: God is a God of mission. The God we follow as Christians is a missionary God, who sends His Son and Spirit to His people, that they would know Him. We, following after that sending example, go out into the world to participate in the mission work of our God. This doesn’t add too much to my already existing theology of mission, though before reading something like this I was unsure how deeply missions was ingrained into the biblical narrative. Now having read material on the theology of missions, I can firmly say missions is one of the main themes of the Bible, if not the central theme as it relates to soteriology.  The biblical consistency of missions makes me believe that current missions will be very much like Old and New Testament missions. In the Old and New Testament many unexpected people became followers of God, but overwhelming amounts of people did not. There will be fierce opposition in this demonically-overpowered world, but in the end God will bring all nations to Himself. I can hold onto the assurance that God will make all things serve His purposes, but I must also be aware that many many people in the Old and New Testaments knew about God, heard of His great power and the success of Israel, and still chose to hate Him. This speaks especially to me about the hardened hearts of today’s skeptics, who would rather believe any lie than submit themselves to the God who has revealed Himself.