Recovering the Full Mission of God by Flemming Dean;

Author:Flemming, Dean;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2013-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

Living the Gospel

If the focus of Paul’s missionary calling was to proclaim the gospel, this task was never a matter of words alone. What he said was synchronized with who he was and how he behaved.

The authenticity of the messenger. Paul didn’t hesitate to link his personal integrity to the message he preached. In antiquity, speakers were expected to persuade others through ethos, which involved demonstrating their own character and credibility. But Paul does not talk about his own integrity simply as a means of rhetorical persuasion. His life incarnates and authenticates the gospel he preaches.

This personal component to the gospel is unmistakable in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. Part of this passage reads:

For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us. (1 Thess 2:3-8)

This appeal has a “backstory.” The impure motives of many popular wandering philosophers of the time, such as the Sophists, would have been well-known to his audience. Paul wants to set the record straight that his behavior (and that of his ministry team) is different. Explicitly or implicitly, his life offers an alternative to negative cultural models in the following ways:

speaking out of pure motives rather than deception and flattery (1 Thess 2:3, 5; cf. 1 Thess 2:10)

pleasing God, not pleasing the crowd (1 Thess 2:4, 6; cf. Gal 1:10)

working with his own hands, instead of preying on his listeners for financial gain (1 Thess 2:5, 9)

humility of spirit versus seeking public honor (1 Thess 2:6)

gentleness, as opposed to coercive “strong arm tactics” (1 Thess 2:7)

self-giving love, not self-serving demands (1 Thess 2:7, 8)

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