| Exegesis of evangelism in the New Testament involves (1) a study of the Biblical cultural context, (2) an investigation of the evangelists themselves, and (3) the meaning of the message for those involved. We today must be careful not to read into the Biblical text our own cultural forms. Unless care is exercised, the meaning of earliest Christian proclamation will be distorted by our present cultural filter. Nowhere in the New Testament can we find an exact parallel to the modern church pulpit. The Apostle Paul did not spend most of his time in his study emerging on Sunday to deliver an elegant sermon in a stained glass sanctuary setting. Church building preaching is certainly a valid form of proclamation. The problem arises, however, when all, or practically all, of our proclamation takes place within church edifices. New Testament evangelists for the most part were itinerants. These wandering Christian evangelists were welcomed by faithful churches who offered them hospitality and sent them on their way with gifts (3 John 5-8). The Apostle Paul himself was an example of this type of evangelist. To the extent possible, let us lay aside our cultural glasses and try to determine the nature of Biblical evangelism by looking to the Biblical text itself and recreating the Biblical context. 1. New Testament Evangelism was Christ-centered. Jesus was the core of the Christian proclamation and the motivating fire in the lives of those countless, faceless thousands who preached the Gospel as they traveled the Roman roads and sea lanes. This fact should be obvious even to the casual Bible student. “Christ is Lord” was the affirmation that echoed throughout the Roman world (Phil. 2:11). Jesus ushered in the kingdom of God, the reign of God upon the earth. John the Baptist preached that the reign of God was at hand (Matt 3:2). He indicated that Jesus was to be the one to usher in this reign of God (Luke 3:15f). Jesus proclaimed the same message as John: the kingdom of God is at hand – the reign of God has come near (Mark 1:15). The apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost announced the arrival of the reign of Christ. To the guilty throng Peter cried out: This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this which you see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “the Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I make thy enemies a stool for thy feet.” Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified (Acts 2:32-36). The Apostle Paul preached Jesus as Lord to the Philippians: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed upon him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11). Paul preached Christ crucified and he gloried in the cross of Christ (I Cor. 1:23; Gal. 6:14). The early evangelists had accepted Jesus as Lord of their lives, lived in the joy and power of the reign of God, and preached Christ as the ultimate answer to all of man’s questions and to his greatest need. When Christ was preached, people cried out, “Men and brethren, what must we do?” The reply was “Repent and be baptized.” (Acts 2:38) 2. New Testament Evangelism was Communicative. It was simple, straight-forward and candid and called for an immediate response to the claims of Christ. The preaching of the New Testament did not tend to be manipulative or “rhetorical.” Greek rhetoric had reached its zenith and was on the decline in the days of the Apostle Paul. The Sophists, as these teachers of persuasion were called, taught the sons of the influential and wealthy families “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Plato had criticized these wandering teachers hundreds of years earlier and had accused them of using techniques of persuasion to exploit others and even to confound truth. The descendants of the ancient Sophists are with us today and these politicians and businessmen continue to find “new uses for old friends.” Some of these manipulators and exploiters fly the Christian banner. They find the church a fertile ground for such cultivation. No doubt Paul was schooled in Greek rhetoric. The greatest Roman orator of them all was governor of Paul’s native state of Cilicia just half a century before Paul’s day. The great missionary apostle’s continual insistence that he was not depending on the “wisdom of words” (I Cor. 1:17) but upon a straight-forward declaration of the power of God was an indication of the fact that he was aware of the attitudes of the people of the time toward the sophistry of the day. Note this statement to the Christians at Corinth: And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and power (I Cor. 1:24). New Testament evangelism was not manipulative and neither was it basically “rhetorical.” The early Christians disdained Greek philosophy and rhetoric in the first centuries of the church as they associated them with paganism. Paul disclaimed sophistry. As the church grew, however, and large edifices were erected as houses of worship, preachers were called on more and more to discourse with the same people. This called for special skill in public address. By the fourth century, two outstanding teachers of Greek rhetoric who had been converted to Christ, had become famous preachers and had even written famous textbooks on preaching. These men were Augustine and Chrysostom. Preaching tended to become more “rhetorical” and less communicative. It became less Christ-centered. Preachers often taught the saved over and over again and neglected preaching to the unsaved. “Rhetorical” speech is more suggestive than candid and direct. It tends to be more artificial. The layman finds it impossible to compete with the experts in rhetoric. On the other hand, anyone becomes eloquent when he simply seeks to communicate a dynamic idea in his heart to another and share a new-found faith with a neighbor. Thus at the stoning of Stephen, the Christians in Jerusalem at the time were scattered abroad and they went everywhere preaching the Word (Acts 8:4). Everyone can witness to his faith. 3. New Testament Evangelism Resulted in Christian Community. “See how they love one another,” was the amazed pagan response to the Christian impact during the first century of the church. Jesus affirmed that the greatest commandment was to love God and the second was to love man (Matt. 22:34-40). Assuming the Lordship of Jesus involved the establishment of a special koinonia (communion, or fellowship) composed of all others under His authority. The “household church” was the basic Christian unit in the Christianization of the Roman Empire. The importance of this institution for the primitive church in evangelistic outreach becomes apparent in the reading of the New Testament. Paul seems to have worked in connection with household churches during all of his ministry (note Acts 18:1-8; Acts 17:1-9; Acts 16:15; I Cor. 16:19; Phile. 2; Col. 4:15; Rom. 16:23; and 3 John 5-8). There is a spiritual dynamic in such intimate Christian fellowship. “The fellowship of the Holy Spirit” was the motivating force in the life of the first century Christian that made him bubble over with joy and seek to share his “good news” with others. As the writer of Hebrews says:
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