IJFM (ISSN # 0743-2529) was estab- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF lished in 1984 by the International Student Leaders Coalition for Frontier FRONTIER MISSIONS Missions. Published quarterly for $15.00 in Jan.- Jan.-March 1996 March., April-June, July-Sept. and Oct.- Volume 13 Number 1 Dec., by the International Journal of Frontier Missions, 7665 Wenda Way, Contents El Paso TX 79915.

Editor: 1 Editorial: Shoring up the Foundations Hans M. Weerstra Hans M. Weerstra Associate Editors: Richard A. Cotton 3 The Great Commission in the Old Testament D. Bruce Graham Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. Managing Editor: Judy L. Weerstra 9 The Khmer: A People Disillusioned Assistant to the Editor: Adopt-A-People Clearinghouse Kelly Cordova IJFM Secretary: 11 All the Clans, All the Peoples Barbara R. Pitts Richard Showalter Publisher: Bradley Gill 15 The Supremacy of God Among “All the Nations” John Piper The IJFM promotes the investigation of frontier mission issues, including plans and coordination for world evangeliza- 27 Challenging the Church to World Mission tion, measuring and monitoring its David J. Hesselgrave progress, defining, publishing and profiling unreached peoples, and the promotion of biblical mission theology. 33 Biblical Foundations for Missions: Seven Clear Lessons The Journal advocates completion of Thomas Schirrmacher world evangelization by AD 2000. The IJFM also seeks to promote inter- 41 Seeing the Big Picture generational dialogue between senior Ralph D. Winter and junior mission leaders, cultivate an international fraternity of thought in the development of frontier missiology. 45 Melchizedek and Abraham Walk Together in World Mission W. Douglas Smith, Jr. Address all editorial correspondence and manuscripts, to 7665 Wenda Way, El Paso Texas, 79915 USA. Phone: 49 The Biblical Basis and Priority for Frontier Missions (915) 779-5655 Fax: (915) 778-6440. William R. O’Brien E-mail address: 103121,2610. Subscription Information: One year (four issues) $15.00, two years (eight issues) $28.00, three years (twelve issues) $40.00. Single copies $5.00. Payment must be enclosed with orders. IJFM Editorial Committee Note: Subscriptions are automatically renewed and billed for year by year unless we receive other instructions. Gary R. Corwin, SIM/EMIS, USA When changing your address, please supply both old and new addresses. Paul Filidis, YWAM Research Center, USA Cover Photo: Photo of a Khmer child, Todd M. Johnson, World Evangelization Research Center, USA used with permission from Adopt-A- People Clearinghouse. Patrick J. Johnstone, WEC International, UK Bill O’Brien, Global Center, Samford University, USA Copyright: © 1996 by the International Student Leaders Coalition for Frontier Edison Queiroz, COMIBAM, Brazil Missions.

PRINTED IN THE USA Editorial: Shoring up the Foundations

ur desire and effort to evangelize basics and let God speak to us anew about tinues: “Now we have received not the O the world must be firmly His purpose and plan of world spirit of the world, but the Spirit from grounded in God and His Word. The mis- redemption. God, that we might understand the gifts sion mandate that we hold dear must Since the mission mandate and bestowed on us by God.” And then he rest squarely on biblical foundations. We its foundations rests on God and His will, gives the bottom line: “the unspiritual cannot proceed and expect success in and is central to all of Scripture (as man does not receive the gifts of the this task with wrong or shaky motives or you will see in this issue), God by His Spirit of God.” Why not? Because “they questionable ideals. World missions Spirit needs to reveal to us this vital are folly to him, and he is not able to must have sure foundations, and unless matter. For many of us it will come as a understand them because they are spiritu- these are firmly in place, we run the first time revelation, like a brand new ally discerned.” Only spiritual men risk of being like the “ foolish man who discovery, while for others it will be a and women can discern spiritual reality built his house upon the sand...and rediscovery, giving us an even deeper because as Paul said, “we have the great was the fall of it.” (Matt. 7:26, 27) understanding. But to whomever and mind of Christ.” (See I Cor. 2) This whole issue is focused however it comes, God Himself must Hence a fundamental directive is entirely on the biblical mandate and basis disclose it. It is like “the mystery of the that we will need spiritual ears to hear of world missions. Although in the gospel” that is made known by reve- what God wants to impart to us, past, excellent articles have been written lation and can only be known as such. So, including His Word to us in this issue. We on this vital subject, (in fact some are whether we see it for the first time or will need to read the articles with reprinted and revised here in this issue) no rediscover it anew, the mission mandate spiritual discernment. You will find much one entire edition has been dedicated and foundations, central to all of more than interesting information, before to this all important subject. And it Scripture, must be disclosed to us by God much more than “human wisdom of lofty was time to do so, not merely because Himself. words and persuasive arguments,” as we haven’t done it before, but for abetter The fundamental question is: To Paul would say. It really has to do with reason. whom will God disclose this central receiving a spiritual gift that God Some years ago, the whole Missis- purpose, plan, promise and biblical man- wants to give us—that we all desperately sippi basin experienced a major flood. date? Ask yourself: Will God disclose need! Without the ability to hear we Many of the levees (dikes) of this mighty it to me, can He reveal it to me? Do I(we) will miss it. At best, it will be just inter- river, designed to hold back its flood have ears to hear what the Spirit is esting information, just unique con- waters, were either totally destroyed or saying to the churches? May no doubt cepts, maybe. were in serious jeopardy due to the remain. What you will “hear”in the Jesus reminds us of the flip side devastating flood. These have now been articles of this special issue is something of this matter: “every one who hears these restored and repaired. the Spirit indeed is saying to the words of mine and does not do them In the same way, we also need to churches today. Question is: Do we have will be like a foolish man.” We must be shore up the mission foundations of ears to hear what He is saying? willing and eager to do what we hear! God’s purpose and plan, build them anew Having ears to hear essentially has to It is my conviction that God will not dis- where they have been washed away do with the ability to discern God’s close anything of any real value to or weakened in order to survive and to truth according to His view of things. In hold at bay the destructive influences other words, it means being able to anyone (whether by means of this issue or of our secular world and culture that like a discern spiritual reality with God’s help anywhere else) who is unwilling to do flood threatens to destroy us with and from His perspective, according what He says to do. Our hearts must be equally devastating consequences. to His Word and purpose, revealed by His inline with His purpose, ready and Without any doubt, Christ is Spirit for us today in and for our “kai- willing to “observe,”(see Matt. 28:19) building His Church in every place among ros moment” of history. what He mandates. On this basis God all peoples “that He might fill all The apostle Paul put it this way: will reveal His Word to us and the biblical things” and He is using His people to do “I did not come proclaiming to you the mandate of missions will be revealed. it. (Matt. 16:18; Ef. 4:10-12) But testimony of God in lofty words or May we see it clearly! Christ’s Church must be built on solid lofty wisdom... but in demonstration of foundations. At mid-point of the the Spirit and power, so that your Dr. Hans M. Weerstra, 90s—five years away from AD 2000— faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, IJFM Editor it’s an excellent time to shore up the but in the power of God.” Paul con- March 1996, El Paso, TX USA

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 The Great Commission in the Old Testament

World-wide missions in the Old Testament? Yes, and no faint glimmers nor only promises of better things to come in the New. Here is an article that will change your view of Scripture and will give you new zeal for God’s purpose and plan of the ages. by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.

ost readers of Scripture will But the gift of a name was not to be and focus of world mission in the older M readily acknowledge that squandered on himself, but it was dis- canon. there is an unmistakable and clear evi- tinctly designed for the purpose of bless- The modern discussion on the rejec- dence for asserting that the New Tes- ing others. Genesis 12:2-3 pointedly tion of missions in the O.T. is prob- tament (N.T.) has a strong mission declared that Abraham’s name, his bless- ably to be traced to Max Löhr.1 Robert emphasis. This is especially the case ing, and his being made into a great Martin-Achard summarized Löhr’s in the classic Great Commission passage nation was for the purpose of being a position, and sets forth three theses: 1) the of our Lord in Matt. 28:19-20 fol- blessing to all the peoples of the concept of mission was peripheral, lowed through in the book of Acts. But earth. Herein lies the heart of the mission not central, to the message and the work few will accord the Old Testament mandate from its very inception! of Israel; 2) the concept of mission, to (O.T.) anything even approaching such a That mission to and for the peoples of the degree that it is present at all in the mission emphasis or mission man- the earth was the focus can be attested O.T., can be attributed to the proph- date. from the representative Gentiles that are ets; however, even then it did not come to However, the call for a mission named in the O.T. text. One need maturity until the prophets were mandate and emphasis in the O. T. cannot only recall the names of Melchizedek, declining in importance; and 3) the mis- be overlooked, if readers are to do Jethro, the mixed multitude of Egyp- sion to the Gentiles bore no tangible justice to the basic claims and message of tians that went up out of Egypt with the results since it collided with the particu- the Old Testament (O.T.). Right from Israelites, Balaam, Rahab, Ruth, the larism of the Law and the Jewish con- the beginning of the canon there is more widow at Zarephath, and many others like tempt for the heathen. In Löhr's view, the than just a passing concern that all the them who responded through the real father of Jewish missionary activ- nations of the earth should come to preaching of prophets like Jonah or the ity was someone dubbed “Deutero- believe in the coming Man of Prom- major writing prophets, who Isaiah,” allegedly someone who wrote ise, the One who would appear through addressed twenty-five chapters of their Isaiah’s chapters 40-66 in the post-exilic the Seed of the woman Eve, through prophecies to the Gentile nations of period, (sometime after 536 B.C.). the family of Shem, and then through the their day (Isa. 13-23; Jer. 46-51; Ezek. 25- Such a view undoubtedly qualifies as a line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and 32). There are more verses dedicated minimalistic view, even if we do not David. comment on the unnecessary dividing up to the foreign nations in those twenty-five The message of the O.T. was/is of the book of Isaiah and late dating chapters of the three major prophets both universal in its scope and interna- alone than are found in all of the Pauline of the same. tional in its range. This is clear right There were other voices that dis- prison epistles in the N.T. There can from the start in Genesis 1-11 with its uni- agreed with Löhr. In the middle of the be little doubt that God was more than versal audience. It also is very clear century, no voice was more active in mildly interested in winning the from the fact that when God first called defending the concept of Israel’s mission nations outside of Israel. Abraham to be his chosen instrument, to the nations than that of H. H Row- the Living God gave the first great com- Rejection of Missions in the O.T. ley.2 Rowley named Moses as the first mission to him. For while others tried Up until the present century, O.T. missionary in that he evangelized the to make a “name” for themselves, as in scholarship could be broadly charac- Israelites in Egypt to faith in Yahweh, the case of the sons of God marrying terized as accepting the proposition that (whom Rowley wrongly and unneces- the daughters of men (Gen. 6:4), and the Israel was called to respond to an sarily went on to identify as a Kenite building of the tower of Babel (Gen. active mission mandate to the peoples of deity). Evangelized Israel was, in 11:4)—both cases involving the quest for the world. Sadly since that time, the turn, called to mission by virtue of the a “name” or a reputation, God offered idea of mission in that testament has been fact that they had been the objects of to give to Abraham a “name” as a gift widely challenged with only a small God’s election. They had been elected to from his grace. number of writers defending the existence be the people of God. This was not

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 4 The Great Commission in the Old Testament merely an election for privilege, but it was famous declaration that God’s plan was to God, could not rest passively on their lau- an election for purpose: it was a parti- provide for the blessing of all the peo- rels and leave the work of missions to cularistic call of one nation in order to ples in all the nations of the earth through God or to a later generation. The patri- reach the rest of the nations! the father of the chosen people and archs, and subsequently, the chosen Rowley was not alone in his estima- the nations that would be born from him. people or nation who came from them, tion of Israel’s call to world-wide must actively call a waiting and The Abrahamic Covenant mission. Edmund Jacob likewise agreed watching world to repentance and to a The Greek translation of Gen. 12:3 that the concept of mission was a belief in this Man of Promise who (the Septuagint) rendered the verb in basic concept that could be found would come from their offspring. Gen. 12:3 in its passive form–“be throughout the O.T. Jacob was espe- blessed.” No less decisive are the Israel a Priestly Kingdom cially enthusiastic about the importance of words of the apostle Paul in Rom 4:13 The world mission purpose and focus the book of Jonah for the missionary and Gal 3:8; in fact, even the intertes- is made even clearer in Ex. 19:6— 3 message. No less supportive were the tamental and apocryphal book of Eccle- Israel as a whole nation was to be “a voices of A. Gelin (Jonah is “the mis- siaticus (44:21) interpreted this prom- priestly kingdom,” “a royal priest- sionary manual par excellence”) and Rob- ise as a passive and not as a reflexive— hood.” It was from this passage that I Pet ert Dobbie (Jonah is “the best mis- “bless themselves.” However in spite 2:5 and Rev 1:6, along with the sionary tract ever written”).4 of this, the reflexive interpretation is the Reformers, announced the N. T. doctrine Other scholars allowed Isaiah 40- one favored in some recent versions of the priesthood of all believers. 66 to be included in what Johannes Lind- and commentaries of the Bible. Prior to Israel’s refusal and failure to blom called “the missionary revela- But looking at the text in context, act accordingly, it had been God’s tions, dealing with the missionary charges clearly God intended to use Abraham in plan that every Israelite serve as a priest. (that were) incumbent upon Israel in such a way that he would be a means Only after the nation’s refusal to so 5 relation to the Gentiles.” In a similar of blessing to all the nations of the world. act did God appoint the tribe of Levi to fashion, Christopher R. North used Clearly, he was to be the instrument assist them. But there can be no doubt that same section of the canon to show in the redemption of the world. This about the fact that in God’s plan, every Israel's mission to humanity.6 would be God’s solution to the curse Israelite was to be a ministering But even this small amount of agree- that had been imparted as a result of the priest. And if it be asked, “For whom ment was to experience significant fall, (Gen. 3) and the curse imposed at were all the Israelites to act as opposition. Norman H. Snaith argues that the dispersion of the human race at the priests?” the answer is inescapable—they Isaiah 40-66 did not support any con- tower of Babel (Gen. 11:7ff). were to be priests for all the nations 7 cept of Israel’s mission to the nations. He In what way, we might ask, is this of the earth! was followed by P. A. H. de Boer text a missionary text? If Abraham is Did the call of the Levites change who also could find no exegetical grounds to be no more than an intermediary of the the missionary imperative for the whole for such a position.8 divine blessing, was he not thereby nation? No! The only thing it changed The result of this drawing back of absolved from taking any initiative in was the directness of their access to God. any missionary message in the O.T. actively converting the nations to the Now the priests of Aaron’s family text was to claim that Israel never had Man of Promise who was to come? would represent the people before God, been given the role of being evangel- However, there is no mistake that but the nation was not rid of its obli- ists nor missionaries. Instead, their role Abraham was to be more than just a foil gation to be a witness to the nations. After was a passive one: they were just to for the gospel. Everything he was and all, that was the reason for their elec- be the people of God in the world. Mar- did, as the current office-holder of the tion. Election was never merely an elec- tin-Achard concluded: “The Chosen tion to privilege: foremost of all it promise, would have both an People do not have to make propaganda was an election to service—and that ser- “already” and a “not-yet” aspect to the in order to win mankind for its God. vice was a world mission service—to message he spoke and the actions he It is enough that, by its very existence, it share the blessing (what Paul equated set forth. The work of providing the Mes- should testify to the greatness of Yah- sianic Seed and the regenerating with the “good news” or “gospel” in 9 weh.” action of redemption were distinctively Gal 3:8) with all the families of the earth A Case for Missions in the O.T. God’s own unique actions. But the (an expression in Gen. 12:3 that had There are two outstanding missions descendants of Abraham, knowing how just been used in the Gen. 10 listing of the texts in the Pentateuch, viz. Gen. 12:3 wide the scope of their influence (then-known) seventy nations of the world. and Ex. 19:6. Both revolve around the would be in deciminating the blessing of

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. 5

The Dynasty Of David Israel’s role as a missionary role and he point cannot be debated in Psalms 67. In Without any question, the great used this expression “a covenant for fact, this Psalms ends with the note missionary text located in the historical the people” in direct parallelism with “a that God had blessed Israel specifically so books is the one found in II Samuel light for the Gentiles.” that “all the ends of the earth might 7:19. The context for this startling revela- This son of David would have a fear Him” (Psalms 67:7). tion was King David’s declaration dynasty, a throne and a kingdom that No less impressive are the mil- that he intended to build a house for God would last forever (II Sam. 7:16). It is this lennial or enthronement Psalms (Ps. 93- to replace the 400 year old curtains kingdom that would embrace all peo- 100). After alternating in successive and accoutrements of the Tabernacle that ples, including all the Gentiles, if they Psalms with first an invitation to “Sing to Moses had built in the wilderness. would only call upon the name of that the LORD a new song” with a declar- God had a different plan! The prophet Man of Promise who was to come. ation that “The LORD reigns” (e.g. Nathan announced that God would Even in his final words in II Sam. Psalms 96, 98 compared with Psalms make a house (i.e., a dynasty) out of 23:5, king David showed an uncanny 97, 99), the whole series of Psalms cli- David, rather than have David build a sense of clarity about what God was maxes in Psalms 100 with an invita- house for the Lord. Furthermore, God revealing to him. There he concluded, tion for all the nations of the earth to repeated to David most of the prom- “Has not (God) made with me an ever- come to the Lord with singing and ises he had given beforehand to Abraham lasting covenant, arranged and joyful service. Not only should the and the other patriarchs–they would secured in every part? Will he not nations recognize their Creator, but now be fulfilled in David and his family! cause to sprout (or “branch out”) my sal- they should acknowledge Him as their David was so surprised by all of vation.?”The verb David chose God and Lord and King over all. became one of the key terms for the Mes- these “new” declarations that he went into The Servant Songs siah, “the Branch” (see Isa. 4:2; Jer. the house of God in II Sam. 7:18ff As Johannes Blauw summarized 23:5-6; Zech. 3:8; and 6:12). Accordingly, and prayed: “Who am I, 0 Sovereign the situation, almost all those who have almost as if he wanted to make a pun LORD, and what is my family, that been concerned with the question of on this word, he declared that the salvation you have brought me this far? And as if the missionary message of the O.T. are that would come to him and to all this were not enough in your sight, 0 agreed that the universal significance Israel through this Seed, now located in Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken and calling of Israel is nowhere expressed his family, would “branch out” (or about the future of the house of your more clearly than in Isaiah 40-55.10 spread). Since there was/is no other God in servant.” Within this corpus, there are two Servant all the universe, He too had to be the It is at this point where one of the Songs that have been pointed to by God of the Gentiles. This would be God’s most sensational texts of Scripture most observers as being the most mission “charter for all of humanity”! appears, but unfortunately it also hap- oriented that give to Israel a calling pens to be one of the places where most The Message of the Psalms and a world-wide mission mandate and translations go just plain haywire. Lit- Repeatedly, the various psalmists ministry: Isa. 42:1-7 and 49:1-7. erally translated, David exclaims: “And will summon the nations to enter into the In these two marvelous texts, Israel is this (which God had just declared praise of the Lord God of Israel. called to reveal God’s “justice” to the about David’s house and future) is (or will These invitations both presume and build nations (Isa. 42:1) and to serve as “a light be) the charter for humanity, O on the fact that the invitation to to the Gentiles” (42:6 and 49:6) so LORD God!” David instinctively knew believe the gospel had been issued and that this salvation offered to Israel might what many modern readers of the text responded to by the heathen peoples reach to the ends of the earth (Isa. have a great deal of difficulty seeing: the of the world. 49:6). son born to David would be one that The key Psalm is Ps. 67. God had The only way to escape the obvi- God personally would be a Father to (II blessed Israel and caused his face to shine ous mission import of these clear declara- Sam. 7:14) and that this son would be upon them in a favorable way (an allu- tions is to argue that “the Servant of the means of blessing all the nations and sion to the Aaronic benediction of Num. the LORD” is an eschatological figure families of the earth. 6:24-26) so that God’s way might be only, and not a figure that is to be In many ways, this amazing expres- known in all the earth and his salvation equated with the nation of Israel. This sion of II Sam. 7:19, “law (or charter) among all the nations (Psalms 67:2). interpretation, however, will not for humanity” is very similar to the one This is very clear. Although one might receive the endorsement of Isaiah’s text. that the prophet Isaiah will use two quibble over Psalms 117 and debate The identity of the Servant of the centuries later in Isa. 42 6, viz., “a cove- whether in that Psalm we have a real Lord is consistently a composite concept nant for the people.” Isaiah saw example of missionary preaching, this of both the nation (e.g., Isa. 41:8; VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 6 The Great Commission in the Old Testament

44:1) and the One who is to come who also to be God’s “servant.” principles to make his point. No, he would minister to Israel (e.g., Isa. 53). Of course it is true that the declared in the most vehement of Blauw himself, while admitting to the “seed,” “my son,” “my firstborn,” the terms possible that he understood this to strong universal intent and flavor of “Lord’s servant” had primary refer- be what the text itself taught. And these passages with their call to world ence to the Messiah who was to come. But having just made that point, he mission, distinguished between the under the terms of corporate solidar- announces, without feeling any vacil- “centripetal” and the “centrifugal” mis- ity, which was/is so important to O.T. lation of any kind, that if we have sion consciousness in the O.T.11 In thinking, the One Christ represented believed in Christ, then we too are other words, according to Blauw the mes- the many, including the believers in Israel. Abraham’s “seed” (Gal 3:29). Sadly to sage had more of an inward and It is not as if the writer indulged in say, it is just this precise point that example-setting quality (centripetal force) double-talk or double meanings, or even has been so badly missed in twentieth rather than an outward and witness- that he meant one literal surface mean- century exegesis, especially regarding bearing mandate to reach all the peoples ing and another hidden meaning that was a sound theology of missions in the O.T. of the earth (seen as a centrifugal left for N. T. writers to discover when Therefore, the “servant” is to be N.T. dynamic). the truth of world missions was enlarged. identified with the righteous remnant in But this issue could not be high- Rather, it was the fact that the writer Israel. The servant has a task to per- lighted more dramatically than in the saw as one collective whole both the one form which takes it far beyond its own debate over the phrase in Isa. 42:6, “a representing the group and the many nationalistic and provincial boundar- covenant for the people.” Normally the as a single whole. It is much like in West- ies. That servant must be a “light to the word “people” (Hebrew berît `am ) ern society where we exercise corpo- Gentiles” (Isa. 49:6). That is precisely stands in the singular for Israel. Yet Isa. rate solidarity thinking. how missions came to be and must be 42:5 and 40:7 uses the singular “peo- An example will suffice: If after seen as a central part of the vision of ple” to refer to the nations. Indeed, the repeated failure to win any proper redress Isaiah.12 parallel clause in Isa. 42:6 is a synon- of a newly purchased car, say from the The Book of Jonah ymous parallelism in which “a covenant General Motors Company, I finally take The other landmark case of missions for the people” is paralleled with “and them to court to sue for relief, the in the O.T., specifically in the proph- a light for the Gentiles.” Surely “Gentiles” court docket reads in its own legal fiction, ets, is found in the book of Jonah. With- (Hebrew gôyim) makes it clear that “Walter Kaiser, Jr. vs. GMC.” For the out any doubt, Jonah is called to take the “people” intended here are not the purposes of law, GMC is regarded as a a message from Yahweh to Israel’s most Israelites, but the Gentile nations! It is single person or entity, (thereby, I sup- bitter and cruelest of enemies—the true, of course, that this same “covenant pose, making this a fair contest). Actually, Assyrians in the capital of Nineveh. The for the people” (Hebrew berît `am) is however, embraced in the single idea sin of this Gentile nation had brought used in Isa. 49:8 for the restoration of of GMC is the whole management team, it to the brink of destruction. They must Israel to her land. But that is alto- all of the stockholders, the governing know this is the case, even if the gether in accord with the wide ranging boards, and the employees. Yet they are impending doom is less than a five weeks nature of the promise plan of God that treated as if they are one single per- away. But how ever we look at it, if it would embrace within one and the same son. ever there was a case of an intransigent “covenant” an appeal for Israel to So it is with the concept of and unwilling missionary this is just proclaim God’s salvation to all the nations “Seed,” “My Son,” My Firstborn,” “My such a case. while still embracing his promise to Servant.” and others. It certainly does Surprisingly enough to everyone, bring the nation of Israel back to their point to Christ in each case, but at the except to the prophet Jonah, the response land. same time that same single idea points to the message was overwhelming. However protests do sound: “Yes, to all who believe in Christ as well, The Gentiles in this capital city repented but that word was directed to the ‘Ser- whether they look forward to His in a most dramatic way, giving enor- vant of the Lord,’not to the nation, or coming as in the O.T. era, or look back- mous glory to God, but deep grief to a even to the believers of that nation.” ward to His first coming, as in the prophet who wished that so bitter an However, it is precisely at this point N.T. age. Little wonder, then, that Paul enemy would have had its just recom- where the reasoning has gone askew. can claim in Galatians 3:16 that it did pense for all the suffering they had Israel had been called to be “my son,” not say in the O.T. “seeds,” (i.e., plural imposed on Israel (along with a host of “God’s firstborn,” (Ex. 4:22); indeed, “descendants”), but “seed,” which is other peoples in the Near East). they were to be a “kingdom of priests,” “a one, i.e., Christ. The apostle Paul was not It is clear that the sympathies of the holy nation” (Ex. 19:6). Israel was using trickery or Jewish midrashic author of the book of Jonah are with INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. 7 those who favor extending the missionary horse and carriage! Rightly understood, to Solve an Old Problem. Lund: message to others: and it is centrifu- the O.T. is a missions book par excel- E.W.K. Gleerup, 1957, p. 57. gal, not centripetal. The only anti- lence because world missions to all the 6. Christopher R. North. The Suffering missionary around is the prophet him- peoples of the earth is its central pur- Servant in Deutero-Isaiah. An His- self who had served reluctantly as God’s pose. It also is the key that unlocks true torical and Critical Study. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, missionary after he has had a “whale” understanding of its message as well 1956, p. 143. of an experience and had been “down-in- as for the whole Bible. 7. Norman Snaith. “The Servant of the-mouth” for a period of time! End Notes the Lord in Deutero-Isaiah,” in Studies Conclusion 1. I am indebted for this reference (and in Old Testament Prophecy. Pre- God had never elected Israel only much of the history of this discus- sented to Professor Theodore H . Rob- to be engrossed in “navel-gazing”—only sion) to my former student, Donald E. inson. ed H . H. Rowley. Edin- to receive the blessing for herself. She Weaver, Jr., who did a Master of burgh: T & T Clark, 1950, pp. 187- had been called and elected for service Arts thesis under my direction entitled, 200. unto the nations of the earth. Cer- Israel’s Mission to the World (Trin- 8. P.A.H. de Boer. “Second Isaiah's Mes- ity Evangelical Divinity School, 1977). sage,” Oudtestamentlische Studien tainly with Abraham, and then most deci- Max Löhr, Der Missionsqedanke im 11 (1956):80-101 . Another advocate sively with Moses, the stage had been Alten Testament. Ein beitrag zur altesta- of these same views was Antoon set for a whole nation to be involved in a mentlichen reliqiongeschichte. Frei- Schoors. I Am God Your Saviour . A ministry of being priests and wit- burg im Breisgau: Möhr, 1896). His Form-Critical Study of the Main nesses to all the peoples of the earth. views were most conveniently sum- Genres in Isaiah XL-LX. Supplements The covenant that David received marized by Robert Martin-Achard, A to Vetus Testamentum. 24 (1973): was not to be selfishly squandered on Light to the Nations: A Study of the 302-303. themselves, but it was to be “a charter Old Testament Conception of Israel’s 9. Martin-Achard. A Light to the for all humanity.” That same point was Mission to the World, transl. John Nations, p. 31. affirmed by Isaiah as he again P. Smith. London: Oliver and Boyd, 10. Johannes Blauw, The Missionary repeated this truth: it was to be “a cove- 1962, pp. 5-6. Nature of the Church: A Survey of the nant for the people and a light for the 2. Among the numerous writings of H. H. Biblical Theology of Mission Lon- Gentiles.” How much more clearly could Rowley on this subject are these: don: Lutterworth, 1962, p. 31. The Missionary Message of the Old Tes- the matter be put than that? In fact, if 11. Ibid. p. 34. tament London: Carey Kingsgate 12. For an in-depth study on the two Ser- any doubt still existed, then what in Press, 1944; ibid., Israel's Mission to vant Poems in Isa. 42:1-6 and Isa. heaven’s name is Jonah doing off in the World. London: Student Chris- 49:1-6 see my article “The Missionary the territory of their most wretched of all tian Movement Press, 1939; ibid., The Mandate of the O.T.” that answers enemies calling for repentance? Cer- Biblical Doctrine of Election. Lon- the question of how Israel was to serve tainly, he is not doing this in the name of don: Lutterworth Press, 1950; and Ibid., the Lord as a light to the nations. one of the pagan deities of Assyria, The Faith of Israel. Aspects of Old God’s heart for missions never dwin- but in the name of Yahweh, the only true Testament Thought. Philadelphia: West- dled or relaxed throughout the God of the universe who wants to minster Press, 1956. whole O.T. But nowhere did it receive save! 3. Edmund Jacob. Theology of the Old as strong a theological explication World-wide missions are not a Testament transl. Arthur W. Heath- as it did in these two Servant Poems. missing element, or a belated after- cote and Philip J. Allcock. New York: It would forever be known that thought, nor even an added gloss Harper and Row, 1958, p. 270, n.8. Israel was to be a “light to the nation,” appended to the O.T. Instead, world-wide 3. Jacob, Theology..., p. 221. a “covenant to the people (all the missions forms the heartbeat of the 4. A. Gelin. “L’Idée Missionaire Dans peoples),” and God’s “salvation to the Ia Bible,” Supplement to Union mis- message and purpose of the O.T. That is ends of the earth.” For a copy of sionaire du clergé de France, No. why Genesis begins in the first eleven this article contact the IJFM editor. 14, April 1956 as cited by Martin- chapters with a focus on all the families Achard . A Light to the Nations. p. and nations of the earth much before Dr. Walter Kaiser is the Colman M. 50. Also Robert Dobbie. “The Biblical Mocker distinguished Professor of one family is called to serve all the other Foundation of the Mission of the Old Testament at Gordon-Theological families of the earth. Teaching or Church,” International Review of Mis- reading the O.T. without missions is like sions 51 (1962): 197. Seminary in South Hamilton, eating bread without butter: the two 5. Johannes Lindblom, The Servant Songs Mass., where he and his wife Marge go together like love and marriage, like in Deutero-Isaiah. A New Attempt currently reside.

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 The Khmer: A People Disillusioned

Genocide and centuries of domination by outsiders leave the Khmer devastated.

by Adopt-A-People Clearinghouse

hey are called “the killing fields” tions, including the Vietnamese and T because up to 4 million people, Khmer Rouge, have struggled for mostly Khmer, were killed in the mid- control of the country under the watchful 1970s. Had the United States experi- eye of the United Nations. Today, enced the same scale of genocide, up to thousands continue to live in refugee 70 million Americans would have camps on the Thai border. been killed. A Rich Culture Prior to that, nearly all Khmer The Khmer originated when peo- lived in small villages where they led a ple migrated from India to Cambodia in quiet and peaceful life until the Viet- the 1st century. The Kingdom of nam War spilled over into Cambodia. Angkor reached its zenith during the 12th reveals a fatalistic view of life. They The Khmer Rouge century, symbolized by the world resign themselves to whatever hap- In 1975, the Khmer Rouge came to famous Hindu temple, Angkor Wat. pens and at the same time struggle to gain power under the leadership of Pol Foreign Dominance merit. Pot. A number of factors led to this take The Angkor Empire fell in 1432. For During the terrorizing by the Khmer over: 1) instability generated by the the next 400 years, the Khmer suf- Rouge between 80,000 to 100,000 Vietnam War, 2) an American sanctioned fered under Thai and Vietnamese aggres- Buddhist monks were systematically exe- coup that resulted in a corrupt anti- sion. During that time Khmer terri- cuted in Cambodia. communist government, 3) indiscriminate tory was systematically sliced away. Both The Khmer also believe in spirit heavy bombing by the United States, the Thai and Vietnamese attempted to beings called neak taa. These spirits 4) an invasion by opposing Vietnamese, absorb the Khmer and destroy their cultu- are believed to cause sickness, drought and 5) American troops. Cambodia ral identity. and other problems. Shrines are built was like a ripened plum for the Khmer In the 1800’s, Cambodia became a to the spirits throughout the country. Sac- Rouge and its reign of terror. French colony, and was occupied dur- rifices and offerings are made as During the dictatorship of Pol Pot, ing World War II by the Japanese. Inde- appeasement. Cambodia was totally devastated. pendence was finally achieved in About 1000 years ago Khmer City dwellers were forced to do slave 1954. kings dedicated the people to the Hindu labor on rice farms, and in an effort to deity Naga, a five-headed serpent god rid the nation of Western influence, a Buddhist Revival campaign emerged in which most of The Khmer the intellectuals were killed. Those who adopted Thera- had an education, who spoke a for- vada Buddhism from eign language, or who even wore glasses the conquering were executed. Open fields became Thai in the 15th cen- the sites of mass graves for millions. Piles tury. Their Bud- of skulls still remain near many popu- dhist religion has been lation centers. heavily influenced In 1979, Vietnam invaded Cam- by animism and Hin- bodia, forcing the Khmer Rouge into duism. The Bud- exile. Since that time, various fac- dhist worldview

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 10 The Khmer: A People Disillusioned associated with Shiva, a god of destruc- tion. A spirit of destruction still lurks over this people.

Christianity The first form of Christianity came to the Khmer by a Portuguese Cath- olic missionary in 1555. The first evangelical missionaries arrived in 1923. From 1970-1975 there was a new openness among the Khmer. Massive evangelistic crusades were held in 1972 and 1973. Church growth during this time was about 300% annually. However, most of the 9,000 Christians fled the country or were killed by the The time for the Khmer to respond to Khmer Bible. Khmer Rouge. However, still today it is the Gospel is now, since many are * Pray for the overthrow and dissolu- reported that the Khmer openly searching for basic answers of life. Their tion of the evil Khmer Rouge and “the inquire about the Lord Jesus among the disillusionment can be turned to hope killing fields. Westerners in Cambodia and Thai- only through the reality of being adopted *Pray that more Christians will take land. into God’s family and enter His King- opportunities to minister to the dom! Khmer. Khmer Facts Pray for the Khmer! *Pray for Christian relief organiza- *Pray for the physical and emotional tions, that they can assist the Khmer in Religion: Theravada Buddhism healing of the Khmer, and for relief rebuilding their country. Population: 12 million from their great material poverty. *Pray that the millions of landmines will —In Cambodia: 8,445,000 * Pray about the spiritual poverty of be removed and pray for the hun- —In Thailand: 1,534,000 the Khmer, and that a dynamic vibrant dreds of people that have been maimed, —In Vietnam: 829,000 church will take root and grow. Pray for comfort for the Khmer peo- —In Laos: 728,000 * Pray for the completion and effective ple who have lost loved ones. —(Other Khmer are located in Austra- distribution of the newly translated lia, Canada, France, and USA.) Language: Khmer Diet: Primarily rice, and small “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you portions of fish and fruit. ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.” Health Care: Few doctors, high (Matthew 18:19) child mortality rate, poor water and sanitation. Products: Rice, fishing, timber, and For information and copies of prayers cards on the Khmer and other rubber. Unreached Peoples contact: Literacy: 60-70% The Adopt-A-People Clearinghouse Urbanization: 12% (In Cambo- P.O. Box 17490 dia) Colorado Springs, CO 80935 U.S.A. Tel. 719-574-7001; Fax: 719-574-7005

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS All the Clans, All the Peoples

Disciple the nations? Yes, but God is more specific! The Abrahamic blessing that forms the foundation for the mission mandate central to the entire Bible makes it very clear that the blessings of salvation need to go to all the clans , to all the peoples of the earth.

by Richard Showalter o whom was the Abrahamic prom- of the cross falls across the lives of those underlie even the broader references to a Tise directed? (Gen. 12:1-3) First who obey, falls in decisive separation whole tribe or people. (For example, and obviously, to his lineal descendants. from familial and national loyalties which mispaha clearly refers to the whole tribe But its ultimate fulfillment is directed often trammel and bind the witness. of Dan in Judges l3:2. However, on to “all the families of the earth.” (v.3) Abram was called out from hearth and closer comparison, we discover that in the “All” is inclusive, but who are the home; the disciples later were told to detailed tribal enumeration of Num- “families”? The term mispahot in Genesis “hate” father and mother for the sake of bers 26, Dan was composed of a single l2:3 has been variously rendered by Christ. But nonetheless, both were mispaha, in contrast to the other Hebrew translators. The Septuagint trans- promised a larger family as they obeyed: tribes. Consequently, for Dan the tribe lates it phulai (tribes, nations, peo- for Abram—descendants as the dust and the mispaha are probably synony- ples.1 Traditionally, standard English of the earth (Gen. l3:l6); for the disci- mous.) In these instances we would trans- 2 Bibles have read “families.” Other ples—parents and houses and lands late “clan.” recent translators have rendered it “tribes” (Mark l0:29,30). In both cases, too, the (3) It is used loosely on a few occa- (Jerusalem Bible) and “peoples” commission’s object was the whole sions to refer to a whole tribe or a (Today’s English Version, and the New earth. whole people. Clear examples of this International Version). Some exe- Yet it is characteristic of the Lord usage are Amos 3:l, 2 and Jer. 8:3. getes have suggested reading it “commu- that He does not give the promise as a (4) Other uses are metaphorical or by nities.”3 How are we to understand mere generality. The precise word of analogy with these basic meanings, the precise meaning of this significant blessing is for “all the mispahot and are not important for understanding term in the “bottom line” of the Abra- (Hebrew)” of the earth. Who are the promise of Genesis l2:3.7 hamic promise? they? Can we define a social unit which The missionary heart of God is sharpens for us the object of the Reiterations of the Promise nowhere more clearly revealed than in promise? Does that definition reveal more Hebrew lexicographers support the this great commission passage of the clearly the path and the destiny of the general features of this analysis. Old Testament and its essential reiteration blessing of world mission? Gesenius gives the primary English mean- in Matthew 28:l9, 20. The two com- ing as “clan.”8 Koehler and Kittel missions are essentially one and the same. Contextual Definition give both “family” and “clan.9 All recog- The promise (epangelion) to Abram A careful contextual examination of nize the fact of a reference to a tribal is the gospel (euangelion) to the world. the term in the Old Testament (300 or people subdivision.l0 The Sender is the same, the command usages) shows the following: Another route for determining is the same, the mission is the same. The (l) Mispaha (sing.) is most com- the meaning of mispahot in Genesis l2:3, promise is Christ; the gospel is Christ. monly used to describe a subdivision of a is to compare reiterations of the The Lord says go for the sake of the 6 tribe or larger people-group. This is promise.11 In this case, we discover that world. Even the promise of his abid- clearly indicated in the tribal enumera- three passages (of five total) read ing presence is the same. Compare Gen. tions of Numbers 26 and the land goyim (nations, peoples) instead of mispa- 28:14,15 with Matt. 28:20. The simi- divisions of Joshua l3 and l5. hot. The Hebrew goyim is roughly larities are striking between God’s prom- (2) The most precise definition equivalent to the Greek ethne of Matthew ise to Jacob and the Lord’s promise to comes from Joshua 7:l4 and I Samuel 28:l9.l2 This interchange between mis- the disciples of his abiding presence till l0:20, 2l. Here it is a social group pahot and goyim in five passages contain- the end. It’s as if the Lord in the Mat- smaller than a tribe but larger than a ing the same promise provides good thew passage is quoting directly from household. When Achan sinned, the support for the TEV/NIV rendering “all Gen. 28:15.4 In both cases the com- Israelites were reviewed first by tribe, the peoples” in Genesis l2:3,l3 and the mission is echoed again and again in then by mispaha, then by household. Scripture.5 In both cases the shadow TEV translation of ethne as “peoples” in This precise usage may be assumed to Matthew 28:19. It also underscores INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 12 All the Clans, All the Peoples the parallelism of Genesis 12:3 and Mat- blessing, since the “clan” carries strong mispaha/phule (with stronger ethnic over- thew 28:19 as two statements of the overtones of consanguinity.l7 tones) and goyim/ethne (with perhaps same great commission, one in the Old stronger “national” overtones). Mispaha is New Testament Scholarship Testament and the other in the New. clearly a specific “people-word,” It points away from the almost exclusive In New Testament scholarship, denoting as it does a clan, used inter- use of “nation” in English translations one debate concerns the religious meaning changeably with goy. The point is not of Matthew 28:19 which risks misleading of ethne, and a second discussion con- so much that Genesis l2:3 and Matthew the modern reader who is accustomed cerns its sociological meaning. 28:l9 require a certain methodology to identifying it with contemporary con- The first debate poses the ques- by the use of this language, but rather that cepts of the nation-state or country. tion, does ethne refer to all nations includ- they assume a social reality which ing the Jews, or does it refer to the structures the mode of communication Numerical Description of the Clan Gentiles only?18 The evidence is not one- and blessing for all people to all peo- What, we may ask, would a sided. Ethne is frequently used to ples. Hebrew mispaha actually look like? Fol- denote the surrounding Gentile nations Summary lowing the enumeration of Numbers (excluding the Jews) in both Old and 26, we find that there were approximately New Testament. But it is not always so Since the ancient notion of national l4 sixty mispahot in Israel at that time. used; sometimes it clearly includes identity is related to consanguinity This produces an average size per clan of both Jews and Gentiles.l9 On either inter- and common culture, we find the mispa- l0,000 men aged twenty years and pretation, however, the effect of the hot (clans) and the goyim (peoples, older. By extrapolation, the actual size of commission is to underscore the univer- nations) of the Genesis commission to be a clan including women and children sality of the gospel in both Old and particular, yet inclusive, references to would then average at least to 40,000 peo- New Testaments.20 Neither interpretation humanity in all its subdivisions. We find l5 ple at the time of the conquest. Out- is affected by our consideration of this underscored in the meanings and side the extended family, it would func- Genesis l2:3. usages of the words. In general, the goyim tion as the arena for identity, social are larger subdivisions and the mispa- The second debate, a sociological and political connection, religious life, hot are smaller. A free, but not mislead- inquiry, is more closely related to our marriage, etc. ing, sociological translation might be examination of mispaha/goy in the “cultures” (goyim, mispahot) and “subcul- Contemporary Discussions Old Testament promise (covenant). It tures” (mispahot). Contemporary discussions of “all poses the question, does ethne in Mat- Thus the overarching impact of the the nations, peoples” center largely thew 28:l9 imply an evangelistic approach promise to bless “all the clans/ around the meanings of goyim to peoples as peoples, or does it refer nations” of the earth can be stated: (Hebrew) and ethne (Greek). In Old Tes- simply to all people in general? The ques- Through you (God’s people) the peo- tament scholarship, Speiser has ana- tion focuses especially on the issue of ples of the earth will be blessed, even to lyzed the meanings of goy (sing., whether or not to target cultural units in the individual subcultures. The prom- “nation”) and ‘am (sing., “people”), evangelism. Walter Liefeld and David ise of blessing is for each of those subdi- and concluded that goy is nearer the mod- Hesselgrave have cautioned against read- visions of humanity in which people ern concept of nation (because a terri- ing an entire missiological methodol- 2l. find their identity. torial base is needed), and that ‘am is ogy into ethne. Hesselgrave summarizes nearer the concept of people-group.l6 the discussion by pointing out that his End Notes He is undoubtedly correct. However, all reading of the classic Great Commission 1. Cf. Bauer, Arndt, & Gingrich, A Greek- of this must be understood in the con- allows for a particular methodology English Lexicon of the New Testa- text of ancient civilization in which mod- (e.g., approaching peoples as peoples, ment and Other Early Christian Litera- ern nationalism was entirely rather than as individuals), but does ture, Chicago: Press, 1957, p.876. 22 unknown, and in which a nation with a not require it. To substantiate this cau- Cf., also Karl L. Schmidt on ethnos in territorial base was actually a func- tion, Liefeld and Hesselgrave argue Kittel, Theological Dictionary of tioning people-group (i.e., linked by blood that Greek words other than ethne would the New Testament, Vol. II (ed./trans. and culture as well as politics). Thus have been used in the Great Commis- Geoffrey Bromiley), Grand Rapids, Speiser concludes by affirming that Israel sion if the intent had been to focus on Mich.: Eerdmans, l964, p. 369. On the 23 was both ‘am and goy. The inter- “ethnic groups. ” definition of ethnos: “This word, change of mispahot and goyim in the Gen- For this discussion, the Old Testa- which is common in Greek from the esis reiterations of the promise further ment commission is illuminating. We very first, probably comes from substantiates the “people-focus” of the have observed there the parallel use of ethnos, and means ‘mass’ or ‘host’ or INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS Richard Showalter 13

‘multitude’ bound by the same man- 14. Precise enumeration is difficult, due to sions, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker ners, customs or other distinctive overlap and subdivision. In some Book House, l980, pp. 47, 48. features. In most cases ethnos is used cases, a mispaha is further subdivided Also David J. Hesselgrave, “Confusion of men in the sense of a people.” into additional mispahot above the Concerning the Great Commis- He describes phule as “people as a household level, apparently due to sion,” Evangelical Missions Quarterly, national unity of common larger populations or to social dis- l5:4, October, l979, p. 200. descent.” Both words are used by the similation. Joseph had l2 clans, Benja- 22. David J. Hesselgrave, letter to the edi- Septuagint in the “bottom line” of min 7, Gad 7, Judah 5, etc. tor, Evangelical Missions Quar- the Abrahamic commission in various 15. A growing comprehension of the mis- terly, l6:4, October, l980, p. 245. Cf. texts. pahot of Israel may also yield also Tesunao Yamamori and 2. King James Version, Revised Standard clues to the political and religious David Hesselgrave in letter and Version, New English Bible, New structure of the nation. For exam- response, Evangelical Missions American Standard Bible, New ple, the “elders” are apparently heads Quarterly, l6:l, January, l980, p. 50. Revised Standard Version. of mispahot (Exodus l2:2l). Compare C. Peter Wagner, 3. James Muilenberg, “Abraham and the 16. E. A. Speiser, “ ‘People’ and ‘Nation’ Church Growth and the Whole Gospel, Nations,” Interpretation l9, (l965), of Israel”, Journal of Biblical Lit- San Francisco: Harper & Row, pp. 385-398. E. A. Speiser, Genesis, erature 79, (l960), pp. l57-l63. l98l, p. 54. Garden City, New York: Double- 17. Cf. Koehler, op. cit., p. 579; 23. In addition to Liefeld and Hessel- day & Co., l964, p. 86. Brown, Driver, Briggs, op. cit., pp. grave, see C. Gordon Olson, “What 4. Cp. G. Ernest Wright, “The Old l046, l047. about People-Movement Conver- Testament Basis of the Christian Mis- 18. Cf. Peter O'Brien, “The Great Com- sion?” Evangelical Missions Quarterly sion,” The Theology of the Chris- mission of Matthew 28:l8-20: A l5:3, July, l979, p. l36. Also note tian Mission (ed. Gerald Anderson), Missionary Mandate or Not?” The Karl Barth, “An Exegetical Study of New York: McGraw Hill Book Reformed Theological Review 35, Matthew 28:l6-20,” The Theology Co., l96l, p. l8. Wright and others (cf. (Sept.-Dec., l979), pp. 66-78. Also of the Christian Mission (Gerald Driver, von Rad, Zimmerli) argue John P. Meier, “Nations or Gen- Anderson, ed.), New York: against a reductionist and nontheologi- tiles in Matthew 28:l9,” Catholic Bibli- McGraw Hill Book Co., l96l, p. 64. cal interpretation of Gen. l2:l-3. It cal Quarterly 39, (Jan., l977) pp. “Not the nations as such are made is our conclusion that the two commis- 99-l02, in debate with Hare and Har- disciples. This interpretation once sions are essentially one. rington, “Make Disciples of All infested missionary thinking and 5. The first: Genesis l8:l8, 22:l8, 26:4, the Gentiles,” Catholic Biblical Quar- was connected with the painful fanta- 28:l4, l5. The second: Mark l6:l5, terly 37 (l975), pp. 359-369. sies of the German Christians. It is Luke 24:47, John 20:2l, Acts l:8. 19. Cf. Kittel, op. cit., articles by both Ber- worthless.” Barth is here concerned 6. Ex. 6, Num. 26, Joshua l3, l5. tram and Schmidt, especially pp. with the structure of Christian community, while the church growth 7. Cf. Brown, Driver, Briggs, A Hebrew 369ff. writers focus more on Christian and English Lexicon of the Old 20. In the first case, the gospel is communication. The two foci are not Testament (Gesenius), Oxford: Claren- being extended to the Gentiles from a don Press, l907, pp. l046, l047. Jewish base, where many have exclusive, but complementary, if Ludwig Koehler and Walter Baumgart- rejected it. In the second case, the gos- understood correctly. ner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti pel includes the Gentiles along Libros, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerd- with the Jews. The debate concerns the Richard Showalter is president of East- mans, l95l, p. 579. overall interpretation of Matthew, ern Mennonite Missions, located in Salunga, Penn. EMM is an agency that 8. Brown, Driver, Briggs, ibid., p. l046. but does not touch on the universality of the commission. focuses on partnership in mission to 9. Koehler, ibid., p. 579. Kittel, op. today’s frontiers. He and his wife Jewel 21. Walter L. Liefeld, “Theology of cit., pp. 369ff. served as Christian witnesses to Church Growth,” in Theology and Muslims peoples of the former Ottoman 10. Cf. Speiser, op. cit., p. 86. Mission: Papers Given at Trinity Con- Empire. 11. Gen. l2:3, l8:l8, 22:l8, 26:4, 28:l4, l5. sultation No. l, (David Hessel- 12. Cf. Kittel, op. cit., pp. 369ff. grave, ed.), Grand Rapids, Mich.: [Editor’s note: This article is a 13. The passages are all redactions of J, Baker, l978. David J. Hesselgrave, revised reprint from IJFM Vol.1:2, for those who follow the documen- Planting Churches Cross-culturally: A 1984. Showalter’s article was one tary hypothesis. Guide for Home and Foreign Mis- of the first to appear in the Journal.]

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 The Supremacy of God Among “All the Nations”

Is reaching all the unreached peoples of the world the special task of Christian Missions? Here is an eloquent plea for the Church to catch a God-centered Biblical-based vision in order to fully engage in world evangelization to every tribe, people, tongue and nation.

by John Piper

ow do we decide what the task of You arrive on the scene of the first This imaginary scene on the sea, of H missions is, or even if there sinking ship and find your self sur- course, is not a perfect picture of the should be such a thing as missions? One rounded by hundreds of screaming peo- church in the world, if for no other reason answer would be that love demands it ple, some going down before your than that the rescue potential of the and love defines it. If people all over the eyes, some fighting over scraps of debris, church is not fully engaged even where it world are under condemnation for sin others ready to jump into the water is working. But the point of the illus- and cut off from eternal life (Ephesians from the sinking ship. Several hundred tration still stands: love alone (from our 2:2-3, 12;4:17; 5:6), and if calling on yards farther away the very same limited human perspective) may not Jesus is their only hope for eternal, joyful thing is happening to the people on the see the missionary task the way God does. fellowship with God, then love other ship. God May Have Another View demands missions. Your heart breaks for the dying peo- God may have in mind that the aim But can love decide and define ple. You long to save as many as you of the rescue operation should be to missions? Not without consulting the can. So you cry out to your two crews to gather saved sinners from every people in strange ways of God. Sometimes the give every ounce of energy they have. the world (from both ocean liners), ways of God are not the way we would There are five rescuers in each boat and even if some of the successful rescuers have done things with our limited they are working with all their might. must leave a fruitful reached people views. But God is love, even when his They are saving many. There is lots of (the first ocean liner), in order to labor in ways are puzzling. It may not look room in the rescue boats. a (possibly less fruitful) unreached like love for your life if you sold all that Then someone cries out from the people (the second ocean liner). you had and bought a barren field. other ship, “Come over and help us!” But it might, in fact, be love from another In other words, the task of mis- What would love do? Would love go or 1 perspective, namely, that there is a sions may not be merely to win as many treasure buried in the field. So, of course, stay? individuals as possible from the most love will consult God’s perspective I cannot think of any reason that love responsive people groups of the world, on missions. Love will refuse to define would leave its life-saving labor and but rather to win individuals from all missions with a limited human per- go to the other ship. Love puts no higher the people groups of the world. It may not spective, love will test its logic by the value on distant souls than on nearer be enough to define missions as leav- larger picture of God’s ways. souls. In fact, love might well reason that ing the safe shore of our own culture to do in the time it would take to row rescue operations on the strange seas Sinking Ocean Liners across the several hundred yards to the of other languages and cultures. Some- The limits of love’s wisdom other ship, an overall loss of total thing may need to be added to that become plain when we imagine missions lives would result. Love might also reason definition which impels us to leave one as a rescue operation during a tragedy that the energy of the rescuers would rescue operation to take up another. at sea. Suppose there were two ocean lin- be depleted by rowing between ships, It may be that this definition of mis- ers on the open sea, and both began to which would possibly result in a sions will in fact result in the greatest sink at the same time with large numbers smaller number of individuals being possible number of worshippers for God’s of people on board who did not know saved. So love, by itself, may very Son. But that remains for God to how to swim. There are some lifeboats well refuse to leave its present rescue decide. Our responsibility is to define but not enough. And suppose you operation. It may stay at its present missions His way and then to follow were in charge of a team of rescuers in work in order to save as many individuals Him in obedience! two large lifeboats. as possible. That means a careful investiga-

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 16 The Supremacy of God among “All the Nations” tion of how the New Testament portrays individuals who perceive them- them in the name of the Father selves to have a common affinity and of the Son and of the Holy the special missionary task of the for one another because of their Spirit, 20 teaching them to church is needed. More specifically it shared language, religion. ethnic- observe all that I have com- means that we must assess biblically ity, residence, occupation, class or manded you; and lo, I am with the widespread concept of “unreached caste, situation, etc. or combina- you always. to the close of the tions of these....[It is] the largest age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) peoples” as the focus of missionary group within which the Gospel This passage is often called the activity. can spread as a church planting movement without encountering Great Commission. The first thing to People Blindness barriers of understanding or make clear about it is that it is still acceptance.4 Since 1974 the task of missions has binding on the modern church. It was not increasingly focused on evangelizing2 We should be aware that this defini- merely given to the apostles for their unreached peoples as opposed to evangel- tion was developed not merely on the ministry, but was given to the church for izing unreached territories. One rea- basis of Biblical teaching about the spe- its ministry as long as this age lasts. son for this is that at the Lausanne Con- cific nature of people groups, but The basis for saying this comes from gress on World Evangelization Ralph mainly on the basis of what would help the text itself. The under girding Winter indicted the Western missionary missionaries identify and reach the promise of verse 20 says, “And behold, I enterprise with what he called “peo- various groups. This is a legitimate am with you always to the close of method for advancing evangelistic ple blindness.” Since that time he and oth- the age.” The people referred to in the strategy. ers have relentlessly pressed the “peo- word “you” cannot be limited to the ple group” focus onto the agenda of most We also need to make clear at the apostles, since they died within one gener- mission-minded churches and agen- outset, that I am not going to use the term ation. The promise extends to “the cies. The “shattering truth” that he “people group” in a precise sociologi- close of the age,” that is, to the day of revealed at Lausanne was this: in cal way as distinct from “people.” I agree judgment at Christ’s second coming spite of the fact that every country of the with those who say that the biblical (cf. Matthew 13:39-40, 49). So Jesus is world has been penetrated with the concept of “peoples” or “nations” cannot speaking to the apostles as representa- gospel, four out of five non-Christians are be stretched to include individuals tives of the church that would endure to still cut off from the gospel because grouped on the basis of things like occu- the end of the age. He is assuring the of cultural and linguistic barriers, not geo- pation or residence or handicaps. church of his abiding presence and help as graphic ones. These are sociological groupings that are long as this age lasts. very relevant for evangelistic strategy Winter’s message was a powerful call This is further buttressed by the but do not figure into defining the biblical for the church of Christ to reorient its authority Jesus claims in verse 18. He meaning of “peoples” or “nations.” thinking so that missions would be seen lays claim to “all authority in heaven and on earth.” This enables him to do as the task of evangelizing unreached “Test All Things” what he had earlier promised in Matthew peoples, not the task of merely evangeliz- My aim is to test the people 16:18 when he said, “I will build my ing more territories. In a most remark- group focus by the Scriptures. Is the spe- church.” So the abiding validity of the able way in the next 15 years the mission- cifically missionary mandate of the Great Commission passage rests on ary enterprise responded to this call. Bible 1) a command to reach as many the ongoing authority of Christ over all In 1989 Winter was able to write, “Now individuals as possible, or is it 2) a things (Matthew 28:18), and on the that the concept of “unreached peo- command to reach all the “fields,” or is it purpose of Christ to build his church ples” has taken hold very widely, it is 3) a command to reach all the “people (Matthew 16:18), and on the promise immediately possible to make groups” of the world, as the Bible defines to be an ever present help in the mission plans...with far greater confidence and people groups? Is the emphasis that of the church to the end of the age precision.”3 has dominated mission discussion since (Matthew 28:20). 1974 a Biblical teaching, or is it sim- A Milestone Definition These words of the Lord are cru- ply a strategic development that gives Probably the most significant cial for deciding what the missionary task mission effort a sharper focus? unified effort to define what a “people of the church should be today. Specif- group” is came in March, 1982, as a The Great Commission Passage ically the words “make disciples of all result of the work of the Lausanne Strat- 18 And Jesus came and said to nations” must be closely examined. them, “All authority in heaven egy Working Group. This meeting They contain the very important phrase and on earth has been given to defined a “people group” as me. 19 Go therefore and make dis- “all nations” which is often referred a significantly large grouping of ciples of all nations, baptizing to in the Greek form panta ta ethne (panta

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS John Piper 17

= all, ta = the, ethne = nations). The rea- naturally and normally carried a corporate is written, I have made you the father of son this is such an important phrase is meaning in reference to people many nations.” Here Paul is quoting that ethne, when translated “nations,” groups with a certain ethnic identity. In Genesis 17:4-5 where “father of many sounds like a political or geographic fact the reference in Acts 2:5 to nations” does not refer to individuals grouping. That is its most common Eng- “every nation” is very close in form to but to people groups. Ethnon is a Greek lish usage. But we will see that this is “all the nations” in Matthew 28:19. In translation of the Hebrew goyim not what the Greek means. Nor does the Acts 2:5 the term must refer to people which virtually always means people English always have this meaning. groups of some kind. At this stage, groups. For example, in Deuteronomy For example, we say the Cherokee Nation therefore, we find ourselves leaning 7:1 Moses says that God will “clear away or the Sioux Nation. This means toward a corporate “people group” many nations before you, Hittites, something like: people with a unifying understanding of “all the nations” in the Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Periz- ethnic identity. In fact the word “eth- Great Commission of Matthew 28:19. zites, Hivites and Jebusites.” The nic” comes from the Greek word ethnos word “nations” here is goyim in Hebrew The Plural Ethne (singular of ethne). Our inclination and ethne in Greek. Here we meet a change. Unlike then might be to take panta ta ethne as a What we have seen then is that the the singular, the plural of ethnos does not reference to “all the ethnic groups.” plural ethne can mean Gentile indi- always refer to “people groups.” It “Go and disciple all the ethnic groups.” viduals who may not be part of a single sometimes simply refers to Gentile indi- people group, or it can mean (as it But this is precisely what needs viduals.7 Many instances are ambigu- always does in the singular) people to be tested by a careful investigation of ous. What is important to see is that in the groups with ethnic identity. This the wider Biblical context and espe- plural the word can refer either to an means that we cannot yet be certain which cially the use of ethnos in the New Testa- ethnic group or simply to Gentile individ- meaning is intended in Matthew ment as well as its Old Testament uals who may or may not make up an 28:19. We cannot yet answer the question background. ethnic group. For example, to illustrate whether the task of missions accord- the meaning of Gentile individuals The Singular Ethnos ing to the Great Commission passage is consider the following texts. When Paul In the New Testament the singular merely reaching as many individuals turns to the Gentiles in Antioch after ethnos never refers to an individual.5 as possible or reaching all the people being rejected by the Jews, Luke says, This is a striking fact. Every time the sin- groups of the world. “And when the Gentiles heard this, gular ethnos does occur it refers to a they were glad and glorified the word of Nevertheless, the fact that in the New people group or nation, and often the Jew- God” (Acts 13:48).This is a reference Testament the singular ethnos never ish nation, even though in the plural it not to nations but to the group of Gentile refers to an individual but always refers to is usually translated “Gentiles” in contrast individuals at the synagogue who a people group should perhaps incline to the Jewish people.6 Here are some heard Paul. Consider 1 Corinthians 12:2. us toward the people group meaning examples to illustrate the corporate people Paul writes: “You know that when unless the context leads us to indicate group meaning of the singular use of you were Gentiles, you were led astray to otherwise. This will be all the more true ethnos. dumb idols.” In this verse “you” when we put before us the Old Testa- Nation (ethnos) will rise against refers to the individual Gentile converts at ment context and the impact it had on the nation (ethnos) and kingdom against king- Corinth. It would not make sense to writings of John and Paul. But first dom, and there will be famines and we should examine the New Testament earthquakes in various places. (Matthew say, “When you were nations.” use of the crucial phrase panta ta 24:7) Perhaps these are sufficient to ethne (all the nations). Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem show that the plural of ethnos does not devout men from every nation (eth- have to mean nations or “people nos) under heaven. (Acts 2:5) groups.” On the other hand the plural, like Panta ta Ethne There was a man named Simon who... the singular, certainly can, and often Our immediate concern is with amazed the nation (ethnos) of Samaria. does, refer to “people groups.“ For exam- the meaning of panta ta ethne in Matthew (Acts 8:9) ple, in Acts 13:19, referring to the 28:19, “Go and make disciples of all You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood. a taking of the promised land by Israel, Paul the nations.” Since this is such a crucial holy nation (ethnos), God’s own peo- says, “And when he had destroyed phrase in the understanding of mis- ple. (1 Peter 2:9) seven nations (ethne) in the land of sions, and since it is tossed about as a What this survey of the singular Canaan, he gave them their land as an Greek phrase today even in non tech- establishes is that the word ethnos very inheritance.” Romans 4:17-18 says: “As it nical writings, it’s important to make

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 18 The Supremacy of God among “All the Nations” some of the uses of it readily accessible “in every nation. ”) viduals but always carriers the meaning for the non-Greek reader to consider. Acts 14:16—“In past generations “all the nations” in the sense of peo- Space does not permit an entire study of He allowed panta ta ethne to walk in their ple groups outside Israel.9 That the New all (18 references), however the fol- own nation.” Testament vision for missions has this lowing texts provide a representative sam- Acts 15:16-17—“l will rebuild the focus will appear even more probable ple where the combination of pas/pan dwelling of David which has fallen... when we turn now to the Old Testa- (all) and ethnos (nation/Gentile) occurs in that the rest of men may seek the Lord, ment background. the New Testament, either in the sin- and panta ta ethne upon whom is The Old Testament Hope gular (“every nation”) or plural (“all called my name upon them.” (I render the The Old Testament is replete with nations/Gentiles”). The different verse at the end with this awkwardly forms of pan, panta, pasin and pantõn are promises and expectations that God literal translation simply to highlight the simply changes in the grammatical would one day be worshipped by people fact that this is a quotation from case of the same word to agree with the from all the nations (peoples) of the Amos 9:12, which in Greek follows the various forms of the noun ethnos world. We will see that these promises Hebrew with similar literalness. (ethne, ethnesin). form the explicit foundation of New Again the Hebrew word behind ethne is Testament missionary vision. Matt. 24:14—“This gospel of the goyim which means nations or people Foundational for the missionary kingdom will be preached throughout the groups.) whole world, as a testimony to pasin vision of the New Testament was the Acts 17:26 “And He made, from tois ethnesin; and then the end will come” promise which God made to Abram one, pan ethnos of men to live on all the in Genesis 12:1-3: Matt. 28:19—“Make disciples of face of the earth.” (As with Acts 2:5 panta ta ethne.” 1 Now the Lord said to Abram, and 10:35 this is a reference to “every Go from your country and your Luke 12:29-30—“Do not seek people group” rather than individuals kindred and your father’s house to what you are to eat and what you are to in general because it says that every the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great drink, nor be of anxious mind. For the nation is made up “of men.” It would nation and I will bless you and panta ta ethne of the world seek these not make sense to say that every individ- make your name great, so that you things.” ual Gentile was made up “of men.” will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who Luke 21:24–“They will fall by the Nor does the suggestion of some that it curses you I will curse; and by edge of the sword, and be led captive means “the whole human race” fit the you all the families of the earth among ta ethne panta.” (This warning meaning of ethnos of the context.8 (Also shall be blessed. echoes the words of Ezekiel 32:9 see Rom. 1-5, Gal. 3:8, 2 Tim. 4:17, This promise for universal bless- where the corresponding Hebrew word is Rev. 12:5,and 15:4.) ing to all the “families” of the earth is goyim which means nations or people We can conclude that the singu- essentially repeated in Genesis 18:18; groups. See also Deuteronomy 28:64.) lar use of ethnos in the New Testament 22:18; 26:4; 28:14. In 12:3 and 28:14 the Luke 24:47—“ Repentance and always refers to a people group. The Hebrew phrase for “all the families” forgiveness of sins should be preached in plural use of ethnos sometimes must be a (kol mishpahõt) is rendered in the Greek his name to panta ta ethne, beginning people group and sometimes must Old Testament by pasai hai phulai. from Jerusalem.” refer to Gentile individuals, but usually The word phulai means “tribes” in most Acts 2:5—“Now there were can go either way. The combination contexts. But mishpaha (singular) can dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men of these comparisons suggests that the be, and usually is, smaller than a tribe.10 from pantos ethnous under heaven.” meaning of panta ta ethne leans heav- For example when Achan sinned, (This must clearly refer to people groups ily in the direction of “all the nations Israel is examined in decreasing order of rather than individuals. The reference (people groups).” It cannot be said size: first by tribe, then by mishpaha is to various ethnic or national groups with certainty that it always carries this (family) then by household (Joshua 7:14). from which the diaspora Jews had meaning wherever it is used, but it is So the blessing of Abraham is come to Jerusalem.) far more likely than not in view of what intended by God to reach to fairly small Acts 10:35—“In panti ethnei any we have seen so far. groupings of people. We need not one who fears him and does what is right This likelihood increases even more define these groups with precision in is acceptable to him.” (Again this when we realize that the phrase panta order to feel the impact of this prom- must be a reference to people groups or ta ethne occurs in the Greek Old Testa- ise and mandate. The other three repeti- nations not to individual Gentiles ment some 100 times and virtually tions of this Abrahamic promise in because the individuals who fear God are never carries the meaning of Gentile indi- Genesis use the phrase “all the nations”

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS John Piper 19

(Hebrew: kolgoyey) which the Septuagint What we may conclude from the to God with loud songs of joy!” (Ps. 47:1) translates with the familiar panta ta wording of Gen. 12:3 and its use in “Bless our God, O peoples, let ethne in each case (18:18; 22:18; 26:4). the New Testament is that God’s purpose the sound of his praise be heard.” (Ps. This again suggests strongly that for the world is that the blessing of 66:8) panta ta ethne in missionary contexts has Abraham, namely, the salvation achieved “Declare his glory among the the ring of people groups rather than through Jesus Christ, the seed of nations, his marvelous works among Gentile individuals as such. Abraham, would reach to all the ethnic all the peoples.” (Ps.96:3) people groups of the world. This The New Testament explicitly “Ascribe to the Lord, O families would happen as people in each group put cites this particular Abrahamic promise of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory their faith in Christ and thus become twice. In Acts 3:25 Peter says to the and strength! Say among the nations, “`sons of Abraham” (Gal. 3:7) and heirs Jewish crowd, “You are the sons of the “the Lord reigns! Yea, the world is estab- of the promise (Gal. 3:29). This event prophets and of the covenant which lished, it shall never be moved; he of individual salvation as persons trust God gave to your fathers, saying to Abra- will judge the peoples with equity.” (Ps. Christ will happen among “all the ham, ‘And in your posterity shall all 96:7,10) the families of the earth be blessed.”’ nations.” The size and make up of the nations or people groups referred to The second category of texts express- The other New Testament quota- in this promise and its New Testament ing the hope of the nations is a collec- tion of the Abrahamic promise is in Gala- usage are not precise. But the words tion of promises that the nations will one tians 3:6-8: point to fairly small groupings. Since the day worship the true God. 6 Thus Abraham believed God, reference to “all the nations” in Gene- “I shall give thee the nations for and it was reckoned to him as thine inheritance.” (Ps. 2:8; cf. 111:6) righteousness. 7 So you see that it sis 18:18 (Gal. 3:8) is an echo of “all the is men of faith who are the sons of families” in Gen. 12:3. “I will cause your name to be cele- Abraham. 8 And scripture, fore- brated in all generations; therefore the seeing that God would justify the The Hope of the Nations peoples will praise you for ever and ever” Gentiles (ta ethne) by faith, One of the best ways to discern preached the gospel beforehand to (Ps. 45:17) the scope of the Great Commission as Abraham, saying, In you shall all “The princes of the peoples gather as the nations (panta ta ethne) be Jesus gave it and the apostles pursued the people of the God of Abraham. blessed, it is to immerse ourselves in the atmos- For the shields of the earth belong to God; Interestingly all the English ver- phere of hope which they felt in read- he is highly exalted!” (Ps. 47:9) sions translate the word ethne differently ing their Bible, the Old Testament. One in its two uses in Verse 8: in the first overwhelming aspect of this hope is “All nations whom thou hast made case, “Gentiles” and the next, “nations.” its expectation that the truth of God would shall come and worship before thee, One could try to argue that Paul’s use reach to all the people groups of the O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.” (Ps, of the promise to support the justification world and that these groups would come 86:9) (Also see: Ps. 102:15; 111:6, of individual “Gentiles” means he did and worship the true God. This hope Isa. 11:10; 25:6-7; 49:6; 52:10; 52:15; not see people groups in the Abrahamic was expressed in people group terminol- 55:5, 56:7; 60:3; 66:18; 66:18-19.) promise, since it is individuals who ogy again and again (peoples, nations, The third category of texts that are justified. But that is not a necessary tribes, families, etc.). Here is a sampling express the hope of the nations conclusion. More likely is the possi- from the Psalms and from Isaiah of announces the plans of the psalmist to bility that Paul recognized the Old Testa- the kind of hope that set the stage for make God’s greatness known among ment meaning of panta ta ethne in Jesus’ Great Commission. The texts the nations. Genesis 18:18 (the closest Old Testament fall into four categories of exhortation, “For this I will extol thee, O parallel) and drew out the inference promise, prayers and plans. Lord, among the nations, and sing praises that individual Gentiles are necessarily The first category of texts expressing to thy name.” (Ps. 18:49) implied. So the English versions are the hope of the nations is a collection “I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, right to preserve the different meaning in of exhortations that God’s glory be among the peoples; I will sing praises the two uses of ethne in Gal. 3:8. declared and praised among the to thee among the nations.” (Ps. 57:9) Paul’s use of the promise alerts us not nations and by the nations. “I will give thanks to thee, O to get so swept up into people group “Sing praises to the Lord, who Lord, among the peoples, I will sing thinking that we forget the truth that the dwells in Zion! Tell among the peoples praises to thee among the nations.” “blessing of Abraham” is indeed his deeds.” (Ps. 9:11) (Ps. 108:3) experienced by individuals, or not at all. “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 20 The Supremacy of God among “All the Nations”

Blessed to Be a Blessing that “nations” here refers to people filled with jealousy and contradicted what What these texts demonstrate is groups—not Gentile individuals. But was spoken by Paul and reviled him” that the blessing of forgiveness and salva- how was this promise supposed to come (Acts 13:45). So Paul and Barnabas turn tion that God had granted to Israel true? How could a Jew become the away from the synagogue and focus was meant also to reach all the people father of a multitude of nations? It would their ministry on the people from other groups of the world. Israel was not be enough to say that Abraham people groups. To give an account of blessed in order to be a blessing among became the great grandfather of the this decision Paul cites Isaiah 49:6, the nations. This is expressed best in twelve tribes of Israel plus the father “Since you thrust [the word of God] Psalm 67:1-2, “May God be gracious to of Ishmael and his descendants plus the from you, and judge yourselves unworthy us and bless us and make his face to grandfather of Esau and the Edom- of eternal life, behold, we turn to the shine upon us, [WHY?] that thy way may ites. Fourteen hardly makes a multitude of Gentiles (ethne). For so the Lord has com- be known upon earth, thy saving nations. manded us, saying, ‘I have set you to power among all nations.” Blessing came Paul’s answer to this was that all who be a light for the Gentiles (ethnon, to Israel as a means of reaching the believe in Christ become the children nations), that you may bring salvation nations. This is the hope of the Old Testa- of Abraham. In this way Abraham to the utter most parts of the earth”’ (Acts ment: the blessings of salvation are becomes the father of a multitude of 13:46-47). nations, because believers will be found for all the nations. Passion for Unreached Peoples in every nation as missionaries reach To see what power this Old Tes- We see therefore that the people all the unreached people groups. Paul tament hope had on the missionary vision group focus governed Paul’s missionary argues like this: In Romans 4:11 he of the New Testament we need to turn practice. We might ask: Was his aim points out that Abraham received circum- now to the apostle Paul and his idea of the to win as many Gentile individuals as pos- cision as the sign of righteousness missionary task. The Old Testament sible or to reach as many people which he had by faith before he was cir- hope is the explicit foundation of Paul’s groups or nations as possible? Romans cumcised. “The purpose was to make life work as a missionary. 15:18-21 gives a startling clear him the father of all who believe without answer: Paul’s Idea of the Mission Task being circumcised and who thus have For I will not venture to speak of We treated Paul’s use of Genesis righteousness reckoned to them” (Romans anything except what Christ has 12:3 (Galatians 3:8) earlier in this article. 4:11) So true spiritual sonship in wrought through me to win obedi- He saw the promise that in Abraham Abraham is to share his faith and not his ence from the nations (ethnon), by word and deed, by the power of all the nations would be blessed, and he Jewish distinctives. signs and wonders, by the power reasoned that Christ was the true off- When Paul read that Abraham would of the Holy Spirit, so that from spring of Abraham and thus the heir of the be made ”the father of many nations“ Jerusalem and as far round as promise (Galatians 3:16). Further he Illyricum I have fulfilled the gos- he heard the Great Commission. These pel of Christ thus making it my reasoned that all who are united to Christ nations would only come into their ambition to preach the gospel, not by faith also become sons of Abra- sonship and enjoy the blessing of Abra- where Christ has already been named, lest I build on another ham and heirs of the promise. “It is men ham if missionaries reached them man’s foundation, but as it is writ- of faith who are the sons of Abra- with the gospel of salvation by faith in ten, They shall see who have ham... If you are Christ’s then you are Jesus Christ. It is not surprising then never been told of him, and they Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to find Paul supporting his own mission- shall understand who have never heard of him. to the promise” (Galatians 3:7, 29). So the ary calling with these and other Old promise of Genesis 12:3 becomes true Testament promises that predicted the Literally Paul says, “From Jeru- as the missionaries of the Christian church reaching of the nations with God’s salem and around to Illyricum I have ful- extend the message of the gospel to light and salvation. filled (peplerokenai) the gospel.” all the families of the earth. What can that possibly mean? We know “Light to the Nations.” that there were thousands of souls yet Father of Many Nations In Acts 13:47 Paul’s explanation of to be saved in that region because this is But Paul saw another connection his ministry to the Gentile nations is Paul’s and Peter’s assumption when between the promise to Abraham and rooted in the promise of Isaiah 49:6 that they wrote letters to the churches in those Paul’s own calling to reach the nations. God would make his servant a light to regions. It is a huge area that stretches We read in Genesis 17:4-5 that God the nations. As Paul reached the syna- from southern Palestine to northern Italy. promised to make Abraham the father of gogue of Antioch of Pisidia on his Yet Paul says he has fulfilled the Gos- a multitude of nations. We saw earlier first missionary journey, the Jews “were pel in that whole region even though his

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS John Piper 21 work is only 10 or 15 years old. immediately preceded by: So shall He strategy. And the design of the atonement We know that Paul believed startle many nations (ethne polla): (Christ’s ransom, verse 9) is universal work was still needed there because he kings shall shut their mouths because of in the sense that it extends to all peoples left Timothy in Ephesus (1 Timothy him” (Isaiah 52:15). No doubt Paul and definite in that it effectually ran- 1:3) and Titus in Crete (Titus 1:5) to do reflected on the fact that his commission soms some from each of those peoples. the work. Nevertheless, he says he from the Lord came to him in similar Therefore the missionary task is to has fulfilled the Gospel in the whole words. In a close parallel to Isaiah 52:15, gather the ransomed from all the peoples region. In fact, he goes so far as to the risen Lord Jesus had said to Paul through preaching the gospel. say in Romans 15:23, “But now, since 1 that he is “to carry [Christ’s] name before Gathering the Scattered Children no longer have any room for work in the nations (ethnon) and kings” (Acts This understanding of John’s these regions..... I hope to see you as I go 9:15). vision of missions is powerfully con- to Spain..” This is astonishing! How In other words, what drives Paul firmed from his Gospel. In John can he say not only that he has fulfilled is a personal commission from the Lord 11:51-52 Caiaphas, the high Priest, the gospel in that region, but also that which has been richly buttressed and admonishes the irate Jewish council he has no more room for work? He is fin- filled out with a prophetic vision of hope. to get Jesus out of the way because “it is ished and going to Spain (Romans He was gripped by the Old Testament expedient for you that one man 15:24). What does this mean? purpose of God to bless all the nations of should die for the people, and that the It means that Paul’s conception the earth (Galatians 3:8) and to be whole nation should not perish.” of the missionary task is not merely to praised by all the peoples (Romans Then John comments on this word from win more and more individual people 15:11), and to send salvation to the Caiaphas. His words are crucial for to Christ (which he could have done very end of the earth (Acts 13:47), and to make understanding John’s missionary vision. efficiently in these familiar regions), Abraham the father of many nations John says, but the reaching of more and more peo- (Romans 4:17), and to be understood in [Caiaphas] did not say this of his ples or nations. His focus was not pri- every group where He is not known own accord, but being high priest marily on new geographic areas. Rather, (Romans 15:21).11 that year he prophesied that Jesus he was gripped by the vision of should die for the nation, and not John’s Vision of the Mission Task for the nation only, but to gather unreached peoples. Romans 15:9-12 (just into one the children of God who quoted) shows that his mind was satu- The vision of the missionary task in are scattered abroad. rated with Old Testament texts that relate the writings of the apostle John con- This ties in remarkably with to the hope of the nations as peoples. firms that Paul’s grasp of the Old Testa- John’s conception of missions in Revela- What was really driving Paul when ment hope of reaching all the peoples tion 5:9. There it says that Christ’s he said in Romans 15:20 that his aim was not unique among the apostles. What death ransomed men “from every tribe was to preach not where Christ has been emerges from Revelation and the and tongue and people and nation.” named “in order that I might not Gospel of John is a vision that assumes Here in John 11:52 it says that Christ’s build on another’s foundation?” One the central missionary task of reach- death gathers the children of God could uncharitably assume a kind of ing people groups, not just Gentile indi- who are scattered among all those nations. ego-drive that likes to be able to take all viduals. In other words, both texts picture the the credit for a church planting effort. The decisive text is Revelation 5:9- missionary task as gathering in those who This is not the Paul we know from Scrip- 10. John is given a glimpse of the cli- are ransomed by Christ. John calls ture; nor is it what the text suggests. max of redemption as redeemed people them “the children of God.” Therefore, The next verse (Romans 15:21) worship at the throne of God. The “scattered” (in John 11:52) is to be shows what drives Paul. It is the Old composition of that assembly is crucial. taken in its fullest sense: the “children of Testament conception of God’s world- The missionary vision behind God” will be found as widely scat- wide purpose that gives Paul his this scene is that the task of the church is tered as there are peoples of the earth. The vision as a pioneer missionary. He is to gather the ransomed from all peo- missionary task is to reach them in driven by a prophetic vision of hope. ples, tongues, tribes and nations.12 All every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. He quotes Isaiah 52:15, “They shall see peoples must be reached because God At this point we might ask who have never been told of him, and has appointed people to believe the gospel whether this focus on peoples was the they shall understand who have never whom he has ransomed through the intention of Jesus as he gave his apos- heard of him.” death of his Son. The design of the atone- tles their final commission. Paul’s concep- In the Old Testament these words are ment prescribes the design of mission tion of his own missionary task,

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 22 The Supremacy of God among “All the Nations” which he received from the risen Lord, way Jesus thought about the world-wide peoples praise him.” (Rom. 15:11). would certainly suggest that this is missionary purpose of God comes Thus when Jesus says in Matt. what the Lord commanded, not only to from Mark 11:17. Here Jesus cleanses the 24:14 that “this gospel must first be him, but to all the apostles as the spe- temple and quotes Isaiah 56:7: preached to all nations (panta ta cial missionary task of the church. Is it not written, “My house shall he ethne), there is no good reason for con- called a house of prayer for all the struing this to mean anything other The Great Commission in Luke nations (pasin tois ethnesin).”? than that the gospel must reach all the But there is also evidence of this in The reason this is important for peoples of the world before the end the context of Luke’s record of the us is that it shows Jesus reaching back to comes. Also when Jesus says, “go and Lord’s words in Luke 24:45-47. make disciples of all the nations Then He opened their minds to the Old Testament (just like he does (panta ta ethne),” in Matt. 28:19 there is understand the Scriptures, and in Luke 24:45-47) to interpret the world- said to them, “Thus it is written, wide purposes of God. He quotes no good reason for construing this to that the Christ should suffer and Isaiah 56:7 which in the Hebrew expli- mean anything other than that the mis- on the third day rise from the sionary task of the church is to press dead, and that repentance and for- citly says, “My house shall be called giveness of sins should be a house of prayer for all peoples (kol on to all the unreached peoples of the preached in his name to all ha’ammim).” world until the Lord comes. Jesus nations (panta ta ethne), begin- commands it and he assures us that it will ning from Jerusalem..” Here the people group meaning is be done before he comes again. He unmistakable. Isaiah’s point is not The context here is crucial for can make that promise because he himself that every individual Gentile will have a our purposes. First, Jesus “opens their is building his church from all the right to dwell in the presence of God, minds to understand the Scriptures.” peoples of the earth. All authority in but that there will be converts from “all Then he says “Thus it is written.” (in the heaven and on earth has been given to peoples.” who will enter the temple to Old Testament), followed (in the orig- him for this very reason (Matthew 28:18). inal Greek) by three coordinate infinitive worship. That Jesus was familiar with this clauses which make explicit what is Old Testament hope, and that he Implications written in the Old Testament: first, that based his worldwide expectations on ref- That there is a distinct calling on the the Christ is to suffer, second, that he erences to it (see Mark 11:17 and church to do frontier mission work is to rise on the third day; and third, that Luke 24:45-47), suggests that we should among all the remaining unreached people repentance and forgiveness of sins are interpret his “Great Commission,” groups is very clear from the Scrip- to be preached in his name to “all the along this line—the very same line we tures. So the question for us today should nations.” Jesus is saying that his com- have found in the writings of Paul and be: what persons or agencies in the mission to take the message of repentance John. various local churches and denominations should pick up this unique Pauline and forgiveness to all nations “is Back to the Great Commission written” in the Old Testament Scriptures. frontier type mission? To be sure, it is not My conclusion from what we have This is one of the things he opened the only work of the church! “Timo- seen is that one would have to go their minds to understand. But what is the thy-type” ministries are important. He entirely against the flow of the evidence Old Testament conception of the was a foreigner working at Ephesus, to interpret the phrase panta ta eth- worldwide purpose of God (which we saw continuing what Paul began. But Paul had neas as“all Gentile individuals” (or “all above)? It is exactly what Paul saw to move on, because he was driven by countries”). Rather the focus of the 14 that it was—a purpose to bless all the a special commission and by a grasp of command is the discipling of all the peo- God’s worldwide mission purpose families of the earth and win a wor- ple groups of the world. revealed in the Old Testament. There is shiping people from “all the nations.”13 Therefore in all likelihood Jesus did no reason to think that God’s purpose Therefore we have strong evidence has changed today! that the panta ta ethne in Luke 24:47 was not send his apostles out with a gen- understood by Jesus not merely in eral mission merely to win as many indi- Who then is to pick up the man- viduals as they could, but rather to terms of Gentile individuals, but as an tle of the apostle’s unique mission of reach all the peoples of the world and thus array of world peoples who must hear reaching more and more peoples who the message of repentance for the forgive- to gather the “sons of God,” which have not been reached? Should not every ness of sins. are scattered (John 11:52), and to call all denomination and church have some the “ransomed from every tongue and vital group that is recruiting, equipping, House of Prayer for All Nations tribe and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9), sending and supporting Pauline type Another pointer to show us the until redeemed persons from “all the missionaries to more and more unreached

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS John Piper 23 peoples? Should there not be in every Intended and Eternal Diversity How Diversity Magnifies God church and denomination a group of We also need to notice as we Now, we can ask the question: people (a missions agency or board) who ponder this question, that the diversity of How does God’s focus on the diversity of see their special and primary task not the nations has its creation and con- the peoples advance his purpose to be merely to win as many individuals to summation in the will of God. Its origin glorified in his creation? As I have tried to Christ as possible, but to win some was neither accident nor evil.16 Its reflect Biblically on this question at individuals (i.e., plant a church) among all future is eternal: the diversity will never least four answers have emerged.17 the unreached peoples of the earth? be replaced by uniformity. The evi- First, there is a beauty and power The Worship of the Nations dence for this is found in Acts 17:26 and of praise that comes from unity in diver- Revelation 21:3. Now what does all of this have to sity that is greater than that which do with the supremacy of God? God’s To the Athenians Paul said, “[God] comes from unity alone. Psalm 96:3-4 great goal in and throughout all of made from one every nation of men connects the evangelizing of the peo- (pan ethnos anthropon) to live on all the ples with the quality of praise that God history is to uphold and display the glory face of the earth, having determined deserves. “Declare his glory among of his name for the enjoyment of his people from all the nations.15 The ques- allotted periods and the boundaries of the nations, his marvelous works among tion now is: why does God pursue the their habitation.” This means that the all the peoples! For great is the Lord goal of displaying his glory by focussing origin of peoples is not in spite of, but and greatly to he praised. He is to be the missionary task on all the peoples because of, God’s will and plan. He feared above all gods.” Notice the of the world? How does this missionary made the nations of men. He set them in word “for.” The extraordinary greatness aim serve best to achieve God’s goal? their place. And he determines the of the praise which the Lord should duration of their existence. The diversity receive is the ground and impetus of our The first thing we notice in pondering of the nations is God’s idea. There- mission to all the nations. this question is how the ultimate goal fore, for whatever reason he focuses the of God’s glory is confirmed in the cluster I infer from this that the beauty and missionary task on all the nations, it of texts that focus missionary atten- power of praise that will come to the is not a response to an accident of history. tion on the people groups of the world. Lord from the diversity of the nations are It is rooted in the purpose God had For example, Paul said that his apos- greater than the beauty and power when he determined to make the nations tleship was given “to bring about the obe- that would come to him if the chorus of in the first place. dience of faith for the sake of the redeemed were culturally uni- [Christ’s] name among all the nations” God’s purpose to have diversity form. The reason for this can be seen in (Romans 1:5). Missions is for the among nations is not a temporary one the analogy of a choir. More depth of glory of Christ! Its goal is to reestablish only for this age. In spite of the resistance beauty is felt from a choir that sings in the supremacy of Christ among the of most English versions, the standard parts than from a choir that only sings peoples of the world. Similarly in Romans Greek texts of the New Testament now in unison. Unity in diversity is more beau- 15:9 Paul says that Christ did his own agree that the original wording of tiful and more powerful than the unity missionary work and inspired Paul’s “in Revelation 21:3 requires the translation: of uniformity. This carries over to the order that the nations might glorify “and I heard a great voice from the untold differences that exist between God for his mercy.” So the goal of throne saying, Behold the dwelling of the peoples of the world. When their Christ’s mission and ours is that God God is with men, and he will dwell diversity unites in worship to God the might be glorified by the nations as they with them and they will be his peoples,” beauty of their praise will echo the depth experience his mercy. Accordingly, and not “his people” (singular). and greatness of God’s beauty far the consummation of missions is What John is saying here is that in more exceedingly than if the redeemed described in Revelation 5:9 as per- the new heavens and the new earth were from only one or just a few dif- sons from every tribe, tongue, people and the humanity described in Revelation 5:9 ferent people groups. nation worshipping the Lamb and and 7:9 will be preserved: persons Second, the fame and greatness declaring the infinite worth of his glory. ransomed by the blood of Christ “from and worth of an object of beauty increases All of this is in accord with the every tribe and tongue and people and in proportion to the diversity of those repeated Old Testament calls to “Declare nation.” This diversity will not disappear who recognize its beauty. If a work of art his glory among the nations, his mar- in the new heavens and the new earth. is regarded as great among a small velous works among all the peoples!” God willed it from the beginning. It has and like-minded group of people, but not (Psalm 96:3). Truly, the goal of mis- always had a permanent place in his by anyone else, the art is probably not sions is the glory of God! plan. truly great. Its qualities are such that it

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 24 The Supremacy of God among “All the Nations” does not appeal to the deep universals in the leadership competition that is going revelling in his grace, not our goodness. our hearts but only to provincial on in world missions. “Declare his In pressing us on to all the peoples biases. But if a work of art continues to glory among the nations... He is to be God is pressing us further into the hum- win more and more admirers not only feared above all gods.” We should blest and deepest experience of his across cultures but also across decades declare the glory of God among the grace, and weaning us more and more and centuries, then its greatness is nations because in this way he will from our ingrained pride. In doing irresistibly manifested. Thus when Paul show his superiority over all other gods this he is preparing for himself a people- says, “Praise the Lord all nations, let that make pretentious claims to lead from all the peoples-who will be able all the peoples praise him” (Romans the peoples. The more diverse the people to worship him with free and “white-hot” 15:11). He is saying that there is groups who forsake their gods to fol- admiration! something about God that is so univer- low the true God, the more visible is Conclusion sally praiseworthy and so profoundly God's superiority over all his competi- The ultimate goal of God in all of beautiful and so comprehensively worthy tors! and so deeply satisfying that God will history is to uphold and display his glory By focusing on all the people find passionate admirers in every diverse for the enjoyment of the redeemed groups of the world, God undercuts ethno- people group in the world. His true from every tribe and tongue and people centric pride and puts all peoples greatness will be manifest in the breadth and nation. His goal is the gladness of back upon his free grace rather than any of the diversity of those who perceive his people because God is most glorified distinctive of their own. This is what and cherish his beauty. His excellence in us when we are most satisfied in Paul was emphasizing in Acts 17:26 when will be shown to be higher and deeper him. Delight is a higher tribute than duty. he said to the proud citizens of Ath- than the parochial preferences that make The chief end of God is to glorify ens, “[God] made from one every nation us happy most of the time. His appeal God and enjoy his glory forever. Since his of men to live on all the face of the will be to the deepest, highest, largest glory is magnified most in the God- earth, having determined allotted periods capacities of the human soul. Thus centered passions of his joyful people, and the boundaries of their habita- the diversity of the source of admiration God’s self-exultation and our jubila- tion.” F. F. Bruce points out that “The will testify to his incomparable glory! tion are one. The greatest news in all the Athenians...pride themselves on Third, the strength and wisdom and world is that God’s ultimate aim to be being... sprung from the soil of their love of a leader is magnified in pro- glorified and man’s aim to be satisfied are native Attica ... They were the only portion to the diversity of people he can not at odds. Greeks on the European mainland who inspire to follow him with joy. If you Therefore the church is bound to had no tradition of their ancestors can only lead a small, uniform group of engage with the Lord of Glory in his coming into Greece; they belonged to the people, your leadership qualities are cause. It is our unspeakable privilege to earliest wave of Greek immigra- not as great as if you can win a following be caught up with him in the greatest tion.”18 from a large group of very diverse movements in history—the ingathering of To this boast Paul countered: you people. the elect “from all tribes and tongues and the Barbarians and the Jews and the Paul’s understanding of what is and peoples and nations” until the full Romans all came from the same ori- happening in his missionary work among number of the Gentiles come in, and gin. And you came by God’s will, not the nations is that Christ is demon- all Israel is saved, and the Son of Man your own; and the time and place of strating his greatness in winning obedi- descends with power and great glory your existence is in God’s hand. Every ence from all the peoples of the as King of kings and Lord of lords and the time God expresses his missionary world: “I will not venture to speak of any- earth is full of the knowledge of his focus on all the nations he cuts the nerve thing except what Christ has wrought glory as the waters cover the sea for ever of ethnocentric pride. It’s a humbling through me to win obedience from the and ever. Then the supremacy of nations” (Rom. 15:18). It is not Paul’s thing to discover that God does not Christ will be manifest to all and he will missionary expertise that is being magni- choose our people group because of deliver the kingdom to God the fied as more and more diverse peo- any distinctives of worth, but rather that Father and God will be all in all! we might double our joy in him by ples choose to follow Christ. Rather, it is End Notes being a means of bringing all the other the greatness of Christ that is magni- 1. I use the word “win” in the sense that groups into the same joy. fied. He is showing himself superior to all Paul does in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 other leaders. Humility is the flip side of giving The use of “save” in verse 22 shows The last phrase of Psalm 96:3 shows God all the glory. Humility means that this is what he has in mind: to

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS John Piper 25

be used by God in love and witness to 18:35 (all in reference to the Jewish 18; 1 Samuel 8:20; 1 Chronicles 14:17; “win people over to faith in Christ nation); Revelation 5:9; 13:7; 14:6; 18:11; 2 Chronicles7:20; 32:23; and so to save them from sin and con- 1 Peter 2:9. Paul never uses the singu- 33:9; Nehemiah 6:16; Esther 3:8; demnation. “For though I am free lar. Psalm 9:8: 46:2; 48:2; 58:6,9; from all men, I have made myself a 7. For example, Matthew 6:32; 10:5; 71:11, 17; 81:8; 85:9; 112:4; 116:1; slave to all, that I might win the 12:21; 20:25; Luke 2:32; 21:24; 117:10; Isaiah 2:2; 14:12, 26; more. To the Jew I became as a Jew, in Acts 9:15; 13:46, 47; 15:7, 14, 23; 25:7; 29:8; 34:2; 36:20; 40:15, 17; order to win Jews; to those under 18:6; 21:11; 22:21; Romans 3:29; 43:9; 52:10; 56:7: 61:1l; 66:18,20; the law I became as one under the 9:24; 15:9, 10, 11, 12, 16; 16:26; Gala- Jeremiah 3:17; 9:25; 25:9; 32:13, 15; law—though not being myself tians 2:9; 3:14; 2Timothy 4:17; 33:6; 35:11, 14; 43:2; 51:8; Ezra under the law—that I might win those Revelation 14:18; 16:19; 19:15-20:8; 25:8; 38:16; 39:21, 23; Daniel 3:2, 7; under the law. To those outside the 21:24. When I use the term “Gen- 7:14; Joel 4:2, 11, 12; Amos 9:12; law I became as one outside the law— tile individuals” I do not mean to focus Obadiah 1:15, 16; Habukkuk 2:5; Hag- not being without law toward God undue attention on specific per- gai 2:7; Zechariah 7:14; 12:3, 9; but under the law of Christ—that I sons. Rather, I mean to speak of non- 14:2, 16, 18, 19; Malachi 2:9; 3:12. might win those outside the law. Jews in a comprehensive way with- 10. Karl Ludwig Schmidt argues that To the weak I became weak, that I out reference to their ethnic groupings. the mishpahõt are “smaller clan-like might win the weak. I have become 8. Following Dibelius, this is sug- societies within the main group or all things to all men, that I might by all gested by F. F. Bruce, Commentary on nation.” (Theological Dictionary of means save some.” the Book of Acts (Grand Rapids: the New Testament, Vol.2, ed. 2. I use the word “evangelize,” in the Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Gerhard Kittel, trans. by Geoffrey broad New Testament sense of 1954), p. 358. But Lenski is surely Bromiley [Grand Rapids: Wm. B. speaking the good news of Christ and right that the very next clause in Acts Eerdmans Pub tithing Co., 1964), p.365.) his saving work. The speaking is 17:26 militates against such a with a view of bringing about faith and translation: “...having determined allot- 11. To these reflections could be added establishing the church of Christ ted periods and boundaries of their Paul’s crucial words in Romans (Rom. 10:14-15; 15:20), eventhough habitation.” This naturally refers, as l0:14-15 concerning the necessity of true evangelizing does not depend John Stott also says, to various eth- people being sent so that they can on a believing response (Heb. 4:6). For nic groups with “the epochs of their preach so that people can bear so that a remarkably thorough historical history and the limits of their terri- they can believe so that they can survey of the concept see David B. Bar- tory,” R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpreta- call on the Lord so that they can be rett, Evangelize! A Historical Sur- tion of the Acts of the Apostle saved. vey of the Concept (Birmingham, Ala- (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing 12. One can’t help but sense that John bama: New Hope, 1987). House, 1934), p. 729; John Stott, means for us to see a great rever- 3. Ralph Winter.“Unreached Peoples: The Spirit, The Church, and the World sal of the idolatry so prevalent on the Recent Developments in the Con- (Downers Grove: Inter Varsity earth, expressed, for example, in cept.” Mission Frontiers, Aug./Sept. Press, 1990), p. 286. The point of the Daniel 3:7. Nebuchadnezzar had 1981, p. 12. verse is to take the air out of the erected an idol and called every- 4. Ralph Winter.“Unreached Peoples: sails of ethnic pride in Athens. All the one to worship it. The words used to Recent Developments in the Con- other ethne have descended from describe the extent of that worship cept.” p. 18. the same “one” as the Greeks, and not are almost identical to the words John 5. Galatians 2:14 appears to be an only that, whatever time and terri- uses in Revelation 5:9 to describe exception in the English text (“If you, tory a people has, it is God’s sovereign the extent of the true worship of though a Jew, live like a Gentile doing and nothing to boast in: God:.“All the peoples nations, and not like a Jew, how can you com- “Both the history and the geography of and tongues fell down and worshiped pel the Gentiles to live like each nation are ultimately under the golden image which King Jews?”). But the Greek word here is [God’s] control” (Stott). Nehuchadnezzar had set up.” not ethnos, but the adverb ethnikos, 9. My survey was done searching for 13. From all the uses of panta ta which means to have the life patterns all case variants of panta ta ethne in the ethne in the Old Testament that Jesus of Gentiles. plural. The following texts are ref- may be alluding to, at least these 6. Following are all the singular uses in erences to Greek Old Testament (LXX) relate to the missionary vision of the the New Testament: Matthew verse and chapter divisions which people of God: Genesis 18:18; 21:43; 24:7 (= Mark 13:8=Luke 21:10); occasionally do not correspond to the 22:18; 26:4; Psalm 48:2; 71:11, 17; Luke 7:5;23:2 (both references to Hebrew and English versions. Gen- 81:8; 85:9; 116:1; Isaiah 2:2; the Jewish nation); Acts 2:5 (“Jews esis 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; Exodus 19:5; 25:7; 52:10; 56:7; 61:11; 66:18-20 (all from every nation.”);7:7: 8:9; 23:22; 23:27; 33:16; Leviticus references are to the LXX verse 10:22 (“whole nation of the Jews”), 35; 20:24, 26; Deuteronomy 2:25; 4:6, and chapter divisions). 17:26; 24:2, 10, 17; 26:4; 28:19 19,27; 7:6, 7, 14; 10:15; 11:23; 14. “Depart; for I will send you far (the last five references are to the Jew- 14:2; 26:19; 28:1. 10, 37, 64; 29:23- away to the ethne” (Acts 22:21). ish nation); John 11:48, 50. 51, 52; 30:1, 3; Joshua 4:24; 23:3, 4, 17, 15. I have labored to demonstrate this

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 26 The Supremacy of God among “All the Nations”

from Scripture in Chapter One of Let against God (as at Babel) and unified it does remind us that God has reasons the Nations be Glad, and in Desir- origin restrains the temptation to that are often high and hidden. ing God (Portland: Multnomah Press, boast in ethnic uniqueness (as, we will 18. F. F. Bruce, Commentary on the Book 1886), pp. 227-238; and The Pleas- see, in Athens). The miracle and of Acts (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. ures of God (Portland: Multnomah the blessing of “tongues” at Pentecost Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1968), pp.357-358. Press, 1991), pp. 101-122. was not a declaration that in the 16. The story of the Tower of Babel in age of promise the languages of the Genesis 11 does not mean that God world would disappear, but rather a disapproves of the diversity of lan- declaration that in the age of promise Dr. John Piper is senior pastor of every obstacle to humble, God- guages in the world. We are not Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneap- told that apart from the tower of Babel glorifying unity in faith would he over- olis, Minn. He is author of The Jus- God would not have created differ- come. ent languages in the world. Blocking an 17. I omit discussing the real possibility tification of God, Desiring God, Love act of pride (Genesis 11:4) was the that there are mysterious correla- your Enemies and Let the Nations occasion when God initiated the diver- tions between the numbers and the pur- be Glad. sity of languages in the world. But poses of the peoples and the num- that does not mean that the diversity of bers of the saints or the angels. languages was a curse that would Deuteronomy 32:8 says, “When need to be reversed in the age to come. the Most High gave to the nations their [Editor’s Note: This article is a In fact the diversity of languages is inheritance, when he separated the shortened reprint of chapter 5 of Dr. reported in Genesis 10:5, 20, 31 before sons of men, he fixed the bounds of the the tower of Babel is mentioned in peoples according to the number of Piper’s book Let the Nations be Genesis 11. What we learn is that the sons of Israel.” The Greek Old Tes- Glad. Printed with permission from the God’s plan of a common origin for tament has the strange rendering: “ author and Baker Book House, all peoples on the one hand and his ...according to the number of the angels Grand Rapids, Mich. The entire chapter of God,” which the RSV follows, plan for diversified languages (and was printed in IJFM Vol. 9:3, cultures) on the other hand restrains the by translating, “...according to the num- 1992, and is available upon request.] pride of man on two sides: diver- ber of the sons of God.” Making sity restrains the temptation to unite much of this would be speculation. But

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS All the Clans, All the Peoples

Disciple the nations? Yes, but God is more specific! The Abrahamic blessing that forms the foundation for the mission mandate central to the entire Bible makes it very clear that the blessings of salvation need to go to all the clans , to all the peoples of the earth.

by Richard Showalter o whom was the Abrahamic prom- of the cross falls across the lives of those underlie even the broader references to a Tise directed? (Gen. 12:1-3) First who obey, falls in decisive separation whole tribe or people. (For example, and obviously, to his lineal descendants. from familial and national loyalties which mispaha clearly refers to the whole tribe But its ultimate fulfillment is directed often trammel and bind the witness. of Dan in Judges l3:2. However, on to “all the families of the earth.” (v.3) Abram was called out from hearth and closer comparison, we discover that in the “All” is inclusive, but who are the home; the disciples later were told to detailed tribal enumeration of Num- “families”? The term mispahot in Genesis “hate” father and mother for the sake of bers 26, Dan was composed of a single l2:3 has been variously rendered by Christ. But nonetheless, both were mispaha, in contrast to the other Hebrew translators. The Septuagint trans- promised a larger family as they obeyed: tribes. Consequently, for Dan the tribe lates it phulai (tribes, nations, peo- for Abram—descendants as the dust and the mispaha are probably synony- ples.1 Traditionally, standard English of the earth (Gen. l3:l6); for the disci- mous.) In these instances we would trans- 2 Bibles have read “families.” Other ples—parents and houses and lands late “clan.” recent translators have rendered it “tribes” (Mark l0:29,30). In both cases, too, the (3) It is used loosely on a few occa- (Jerusalem Bible) and “peoples” commission’s object was the whole sions to refer to a whole tribe or a (Today’s English Version, and the New earth. whole people. Clear examples of this International Version). Some exe- Yet it is characteristic of the Lord usage are Amos 3:l, 2 and Jer. 8:3. getes have suggested reading it “commu- that He does not give the promise as a (4) Other uses are metaphorical or by nities.”3 How are we to understand mere generality. The precise word of analogy with these basic meanings, the precise meaning of this significant blessing is for “all the mispahot and are not important for understanding term in the “bottom line” of the Abra- (Hebrew)” of the earth. Who are the promise of Genesis l2:3.7 hamic promise? they? Can we define a social unit which The missionary heart of God is sharpens for us the object of the Reiterations of the Promise nowhere more clearly revealed than in promise? Does that definition reveal more Hebrew lexicographers support the this great commission passage of the clearly the path and the destiny of the general features of this analysis. Old Testament and its essential reiteration blessing of world mission? Gesenius gives the primary English mean- in Matthew 28:l9, 20. The two com- ing as “clan.”8 Koehler and Kittel missions are essentially one and the same. Contextual Definition give both “family” and “clan.9 All recog- The promise (epangelion) to Abram A careful contextual examination of nize the fact of a reference to a tribal is the gospel (euangelion) to the world. the term in the Old Testament (300 or people subdivision.l0 The Sender is the same, the command usages) shows the following: Another route for determining is the same, the mission is the same. The (l) Mispaha (sing.) is most com- the meaning of mispahot in Genesis l2:3, promise is Christ; the gospel is Christ. monly used to describe a subdivision of a is to compare reiterations of the The Lord says go for the sake of the 6 tribe or larger people-group. This is promise.11 In this case, we discover that world. Even the promise of his abid- clearly indicated in the tribal enumera- three passages (of five total) read ing presence is the same. Compare Gen. tions of Numbers 26 and the land goyim (nations, peoples) instead of mispa- 28:14,15 with Matt. 28:20. The simi- divisions of Joshua l3 and l5. hot. The Hebrew goyim is roughly larities are striking between God’s prom- (2) The most precise definition equivalent to the Greek ethne of Matthew ise to Jacob and the Lord’s promise to comes from Joshua 7:l4 and I Samuel 28:l9.l2 This interchange between mis- the disciples of his abiding presence till l0:20, 2l. Here it is a social group pahot and goyim in five passages contain- the end. It’s as if the Lord in the Mat- smaller than a tribe but larger than a ing the same promise provides good thew passage is quoting directly from household. When Achan sinned, the support for the TEV/NIV rendering “all Gen. 28:15.4 In both cases the com- Israelites were reviewed first by tribe, the peoples” in Genesis l2:3,l3 and the mission is echoed again and again in then by mispaha, then by household. Scripture.5 In both cases the shadow TEV translation of ethne as “peoples” in This precise usage may be assumed to Matthew 28:19. It also underscores INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 Challenging the Church to World Mission

Underlying the task of challenging the Church is something very basic—something that lends meaning and urgency to all other appeals. It’s the perception, purpose and plan of Almighty God. Divorced from God’s all-encompassing understandings and undertakings, all other appeals and challenges lose their ultimate significance and become counter productive.

by David J. Hesselgrave

he traditional word was “exhort.” themselves have initiated significant mis- greatness of the church’s missionary task TIn New Testament Greek it is sionary endeavors. sometimes obscure the problem. parakaleo–to “call near,” i.e., to invite, If, then, the call to mission has been When this happens, biblical principles invoke, entreat, beseech. But the con- effective both in the West and East, yield to blatant pragmatism, divine temporary word seems to be “to chal- and North and South, we might ask, why intention to human invention. In the vast lenge.” subject it to scrutiny at this late date majority of cases, it is not the con- It has been said that church leaders in the history of church and mission? scious intent of missionary recruiters and promoters to mislead the Christian have done a much better job of chal- The answer is really quite simple. public. It is just that the needs are so lenging Christians to good works and Underlying these challenges is something many, the opportunities are so great, Christian witness than they have in still more basic—something that channeling them in work and witness. and the time is so short that even though lends meaning and urgency to all such Generally speaking, that is probably there may be an occasional twinge of appeals. Namely, the perception, pur- true. However, it may not be true when it conscience over lack of depth and objec- pose and plan of Almighty God. comes to Christian missions. In evan- tivity in our preaching and reporting, Divorced, or even temporarily separ- gelical circles at least, not only has the it is quickly quieted by the assurance that ated, from HIS all-encompassing under- call to mission been loud and clear; God’s hand is in this entire enterprise standings and undertakings, appeals opportunities for missionary involvement and therefore all appeals are justified. such as those mentioned lose their ulti- have been many and varied. Never- There comes to my mind a car- mate significance and may actually theless, as we have come to know it, the toon I saw a number of years ago. It pic- become counter productive. missionary challenge cries out for tured a missionary speaker about to Some years ago, one seminarian reexamination. take his turn on the podium. As he left the expressed his concern about typical mis- Contemporary calls to mission- pew he turned to a missionary col- sionary challenges in the following ary commitment usually are directed to league and queried, “Shall we tell them manner (as closely as I can recall): one or more of three types of motiva- the truth or keep them happy?” That Sometimes I grow weary of going to tion: 1) obedience to the commands of captures something of the dilemma, missionary conferences, drinking Scripture (principally but not solely missionary firewater, and returning though the alternatives are not quite the Great Commission), 2) meeting the home to regurgitate, only to be that stark and simple. Nevertheless, it desperate needs of people (primarily invited to return for more firewater. must be admitted that missionary Unless the Spirit speaks I sometimes spiritual but including all kinds of needs), fear that missionary activists will challenges do not always take the high and 3) involvement in an exciting and only succeed in turning me off on road. winning cause (being “where the action missions. The Spirit speaks through Consider briefly some of the ways in Scripture I am told. is,” participating in a cause that will which human invention can obscure ultimately triumph). Down through the Although his reaction may have divine intention in communicating mis- years challenges of these types have been extreme, it nevertheless is worth sionary challenges of the three types been relatively effective in motivating pondering. mentioned above. Western churches to support Chris- Divine Intention or Human Invention Obedience to the Great tian missions around the world. In more Commission recent years, and largely motivated by Perhaps the age-old question the same kinds of appeals, many of the “Does the end justify the means?” per- On the face of it, simple obedi- younger churches of the Third World tains here. We may not see its rele- ence to what our Lord has commanded vance because the inherent goodness and may seem to be the most uncompli- INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 28 Challenging the Church to World Mission cated and purest form of motivation for this research, whereas their forebears had was elevated on the agenda of churches participation in the world mission of an abiding concern for evangelism and missions. However, today we the church. Even in this case, however, and church-planting in the “regions know more about the problems of both the command can be misrepresented beyond,” baby boomers tend to favor the nations and the churches of or misinterpreted so as to make it subser- a “holistic” mission that is more socially Africa. Inter-tribal strife is everywhere vient to our special interests and oriented and starts “right here at evident. Even many evangelical undertakings. For example, in spite of tex- home.” This indicates that there will be an churches are plagued by lingering ties to tual and exegetical problems, the increasing problem when it comes to questionable tribal customs and Marcan statement of the Commission raising support for missions among baby- witchcraft. As a result, churches and mis- (Mark 16:15-20) has been used to boomers. Engel’s solution is to make sions in Africa receive much less support the notion that attesting miracles a corresponding adjustment in the way we attention though the challenge is greater must accompany the preaching of the view and promote missions in the than ever! Bandwagons are not rec- gospel. In spite of the emphasis on author- future (James F. Engel “We are the ommended conveyances if one really itative sending in the text, the Johan- World” Christianity Today 34, no 13, wants to go somewhere. nine statement (John 20:21) has been used 1990, pp 32-34). From a pragmatic per- A word of caution: By no means are to support the idea that political and spective, that solution seems incontro- the above lines to be interpreted as social action is an equal partner with vertible. However, lest we mistake God’s questioning the necessity of obedience to evangelism in the Great Commission. priorities, perhaps both baby-boomers Christ and responding to human need, In spite of a grammatical construction that and their elders together should take a or as an indictment of short-term missions binds the whole world together as the more careful look at the biblical text! and statistical analysis. Not at all! immediate arena of mission, Acts 1:8 has 3) An exciting and winning cause However, there is a better way to chal- been used to challenge churches to Make no mistake about it. From lenge the church. There is a mission- concentrate on their “Jerusalem” before a Christian perspective no cause is greater ary motivation that holds more potential considering missions “to the utter- than that of proclaiming the gospel to and promise. There is an understand- most parts.” our world and inviting its peoples to ing of both church and mission that runs Meeting the needs of humankind become citizens of the Kingdom of deeper. To that we now turn. I recall the stirring address of a prom- God. Nor does any cause have an out- The Supremacy and Glory of God inent evangelical professor upon his come that is more hopeful and cer- return from Africa several years ago. He tain. Unfortunately those truths are easily Not a few church and mission related how Africans had crowded transmuted into appeals that are sus- leaders have based the missionary calling around the airplane as he was about to pect. The missionary volunteer who and motivation in the nature of God take off. One mother especially was responded to a short-term opportunity and the church as revealed in Scripture. pressing toward the window and pointing in Eastern Europe by exclaiming “I think Writings of Johannes Verkuyl, J. to her sickly child. With great passion I'll go. It sounds like fun” was misled Robertson McQuilkin, Arthur Glasser, he explained how, after taking off, he had in the same way as the recruit who signs Herbert J. Kane, Don Richardson and said to the pilot, “I’ve just seen Jesus. on with the Navy after viewing the Steven Hawthorne, among others, readily I've just seen Jesus.” Then, referring to sign “Join the Navy and see the world.” come to mind. That is all to the good. But it must be admitted that when it Jesus’ words to the effect that when So are all those who are overly comes to the world mission of the we care for these little ones we care for impressed by statistics which point to the Jesus himself (Matt. 25:40), he made great growth of the church world- church, all too often pastors and leaders of an impassioned appeal for funds for medi- wide. Growth there is, but statistics can our congregations leave the task of cal work in that African country. Of conceal as much as they reveal. Over instructing and challenging God’s people course, the cause itself was legitimate and a decade ago some church growth ana- to others. That in itself is quite dis- the use of Matthew 25 for this kind of lysts projected general population and couraging. But the problem is com- appeal is a common one. But careful exe- church growth rates of sub-Saharan Africa pounded when mission people who gesis simply will not sustain it. (See into the future and confidently pre- inherit that opportunity by default are not John Amstutz article “Humanitarianism dicted that Africa would be a Christian given the time, or do not have the with a Point” in IJFM Vol. 9:4. 1992) continent by the year 2000. For a ability or inclination, to go about it in the This brings to mind the results of while all eyes were trained on Africa. best way. some recent research by James F. Optimism and enthusiasm were eve- Happily, there are many exceptions Engel and his associates. According to rywhere evident. Africa as a mission field to this state of affairs. One such is

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS David J. Hesselgrave 29

Minneapolis’s Bethlehem Baptist Church Piper has written on a variety of topics, missions that really want to be theo- logical as well as anthropological, where John Piper is senior pastor. I like the art of preaching, the doctrine methodological and technological. stress “pastor” because that fact in itself is of justification, the basics of Christian liv- And it’s for leaders who need the important to my present purpose. ing, the teaching of the Synoptics and flickering wick of their vocation fanned into flame again with a focus Piper is no ordinary pastor and Beth- more. But for our purposes perhaps the on the Supremacy of God in missions. lehem Baptist is not your average most revealing work is a recent one (Piper 1993: 7-8; emphasis his.) entitled Let the Nations be Glad!: The church. Piper has a doctorate in theology What a word that is! How humbling Supremacy of God in Missions from the University of Munich. He to even those of us who have devoted and his family (in fact, most of the church (1993). In the preface of that book, Piper years to the mission field and taught in the staff) live within walking distance of mission classroom! their inner-city church. Piper has been I am fully persuaded But it is not so much the testimony in actively involved in writing, in lectur- the preface but the substance of the ing and preaching elsewhere, and in anti- that the farther book itself that is crucial to our thesis abortion and other social causes in our runaway world here. Namely, that it is the Word of Minneapolis, in addition to ministering to gets from the Bible God itself that provides the basic context, the local congregation. At the heart of content, and correctives that the all that he does in writing, preaching and the closer the church Spirit uses to guide and guard us in glo- ministering is a concern for the supre- and mission must bal mission. These are not, of course, macy of God in church and mission. Per- get to it—not just for mutually exclusive categories. They inter- haps a part of the secret to under- twine considerably so that, at times, standing both Piper's mind and heart is to information, but any one of them becomes inextricable be found in his own words: for sustenance and I have to admit that most of my soul’s from the others. But they do furnish food comes from very old books. I strength! us with one way of getting at what Piper find the atmosphere of my own cen- says and does in this book so I will tury far too dense with man and dis- tant from the sweet sovereignty of opens his heart and mind to the scru- employ them here. God (Piper 1991:14). tiny of his readers. What he writes cannot The Context be expressed in a more poignant way Little wonder that, according to The Bible is the context of mission. I than he has already expressed it: World Pulse (Vol. 28, No.5; Feb. 12, know that that sounds strange. It is 1993), Bethlehem Baptist is ranked sev- This book is a partial payment of a debt I owe to the nations... To those not Piper’s phrase, it is mine. To be sure, enth in the list of the top twenty mis- culturally near me and those cultu- the context of mission is the world, sions churches in the United States; has rally far I am a debtor. Not because but it is the world as that world is seen by an organized group of some fifty or they gave me anything that I must pay back, but because God gave me God—the world first of all in joyful sixty people who meet regularly with an what can’t be paid back. He gave me subjection to its Creator, then in rebellion eye to missionary service; devotes the all satisfying pleasure of knowing and conflict, and, ultimately, the one-third of its budget to support the mis- him and being loved by him through his Son Jesus Christ. world restored to a glad relationship with sionary program; is a center for those I have said to the missionaries of our its Sovereign God. It is not the world who want to enroll in the Perspectives church, “Your devotion has a tremen- as worldlings view the world that is really World Christian Movement course dous power in my life. Your leaving the context of mission. It is not even inaugurated by the U.S. Center for World is a means of my staying. Your strengths make up for my weak- the world as we Christians might be Mission. That is not to say that the nesses. Your absence empowers my tempted to view the world. It is the church has had no problems. On the con- presence. So I thank God for you. world as God views the world that is mis- trary, one might expect that Satan will May God make the reciprocity of our sions’ real context—the world take aim on a church with this kind of motivation more and more effective in the years to come.” But the [this] defined and described in the Bible, the vision and outreach. At the same book is not just for missionaries. It’s biblical world of which our contem- time, the success of the church and its for pastors who (like me) want to porary world is an extension. pastoral staff has been outstanding connect their fragile, momentary, local labors to God’s invincible, eter- The primary question in mis- even in the kind of geographical location nal, global purposes. It’s for lay peo- sions, then, is not “What in the world is being vacated by many churches. ple who want a bigger motivation for being world Christians than they get God doing?” but “What in the Word Let the Nations be Glad! from statistics. It's for college and is God doing?” What he is doing in the seminary classes on the theology of As a theologian-pastor, John world is what we find him doing first

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 30 Challenging the Church to World Mission in the Word. Piper understands that, relentless pursuit of praise and honor from These and similar issues are met head-on though he does not express it in this creation to consummation” (Piper and analyzed biblically and inten- way. Why do I say it that way? Because, 1993:17). The God of the Bible looks on sively. This is not accomplished by a mis- by my calculations there are well over his world as a jealous God who will siologist as such but by a pastor- 600 Scripture references in this book of not share his glory with another. Jealous, theologian. Not for the seminary class- but 228 pages. Of course, even that not as though he needs us. Jealous room alone but is for all God’s peo- can be misleading. Gustavo Gutierrez has because only when God is God to all his ple who all are, or should be, concerned about 425 Bible references in his creatures can the world be put on its for God’s work in the world. book Liberation Theology but the picture true axis. So here we have both breadth and he paints of the world, and its prob- The Content depth of content. Could it be that too lem and its solution, is still very different many of us underestimate the capacity of Without even the thought of doing from that which is revealed in the too many of God’s people too much justice to the content of a book abso- Bible. So it is important to add that Piper of the time? It would seem so from a read- lutely crammed with the really solid stuff does not just refer to Scripture, he ing of this book. on missions, I would simply point responds to it. He does not wrest from the again to the central theme of the supre- The Correctives text, but rests in the text. macy of God in the Word and world David Wells charges that evan- That makes for both a world of differ- and provide two intimations of how the gelicals have lost the power of dissent ence and a different world because, as text of the Bible informs the content (1992: 288). Not Piper. He refuses to we have said, the biblical world is a world of Piper’s book. capitulate to cliches like “Missions work that begins and ends with God—with The content of Let the Nations Be is the greatest activity in the world” both the supremacy of God and the wor- Glad is first of all extensive. The grand and “Prayer is THE work of missions.” ship of him. So, though we have not sweep of the biblical perspective on He does not run away from themes always looked at things that way, Piper is mission is both prescribed and preserved. like suffering and judgment. He takes essentially correct when he writes: The blurb on the back cover says that issue with the proposals of prominent Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions Piper deals with key biblical texts. He people, like the universalism of George exists [sic] because worship doesn’t does that. But he does more than deal MacDonald and the pluralism of John Worship is ultimate, not missions, with important, but unconnected, texts. Rick. He even takes issue with the conclu- because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the count- He literally marches through four sions of some fellow evangelicals. less millions of the redeemed fall on solid pages of biblical texts to show how, Piper is thorough-going in his criticism of their faces before the throne of God, at all times and in every situation, Clark Pinnock, John Stott and missions will be no more. It is a tem- God has demonstrated zeal for his own Edward Fudge for defining hell, not as a porary necessity. But worship abides forever. Worship, therefore, is the glory (Piper 1993: 17-21). When place of eternal punishment, but as an fuel and goal in missions. It’s the Piper sets out to show how the early “event of annihilation.” He takes issue goal of missions because in missions church called upon God in prayer to with Millard Erickson and Norman we simply aim to bring the nations into the white-hot enjoyment of the end that God be glorified in his world, Anderson who have espoused the idea God’s glory. The goal of missions is he devotes almost five solid pages to that people can be saved apart from the gladness of the peoples in the make his case (Piper 1993: 56-61). Of conscious knowledge and belief in Jesus. greatness of God. “The Lord reigns; course, no author can simply pile up let the earth rejoice; let the many By the way, it is important to coast lands be glad.” (Psalm 97:1). verse upon verse (not just the reference, note that Piper does not oppose these “Let the peoples praise thee, 0 God; but also the text). Nevertheless, the scholars on the basis that such teach- let all the peoples praise thee! Let the Bible itself supplies a great part of the nations be glad and sing for joy!” ings cut the umbilical cord of missions (Psalm 67:3-4) (Piper 1993, 11; content of this book quantitatively. and rob the church of missionary emphasis his). The content is also intensive. Over motivation. No, he opposes them on the So if we begin with a beneficent and over, Piper faces really tough and basis that their views do not square but benign God looking down at a way- contemporary missiological questions with the biblical text. He does so cour- ward world and compassionately con- such as those having to do with the teously and christianly as well as sidering what he might do to rescue his meaning of ethne, the definition of (many will be persuaded) conclusively. In creatures and creation, we’ve got the “unreached peoples,” the complemen- the process Piper rescues significant wrong starting point for understanding tarity of the various statements of the motivations for world mission. But he wolrd mission. Mission begins with Great Commission, and the necessity does so almost as a byproduct of loy- the supremacy and glory of a “God in of repenting and believing in Christ. alty to the text itself.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS David J. Hesselgrave 31

Conclusion Dr. David Hesselgrave served as a mis- [Editors note: With minor revisions, this article is a reprint of Chapter 9 If it were true that Piper is falling sionary to Japan for twelve years. from Dr. Hesselgrave’s recent book on his face as a pastor, or that he were not Currently he is professor emeritus of Scripture and Strategy: The Use of in demand as a preacher and teacher, the School of World Missions at the Bible in Postmodern Church and or that his writings had little market and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Mission, 1994, William Carey impact, then I might at least waver in located in Dearfield, Ill. Library. Used with permission. my confidence not in the potential of the Word to convict and challenge God’s people, but in the capacity of contempo- rary congregations to hear and respond to it. But Piper’s record lead in another direction. I am fully per- suaded that the farther our runaway world gets from the Bible the closer the church and mission must get to it—not just for information, but for suste- nance and strength! I have learned that there is no better way to get on track, perhaps no other way exists, than placing mis- sions squarely in the context of Scripture. Piper points us in that direction. If and when other visions move us in the wrong direction, or point us to less worthy pursuits, we could do no better than join Piper in a reconsideration of the biblical text and see again that which supersedes all of “our” worlds, both ancient, modern, postmodern, because God is pressing us further into the humblest and deepest experience of his grace, and weaning us more and more from our ingrained pride. In doing this he is preparing for himself a people from all the peoples of the earth who will be able to worship him with free and white-hot admiration. Therefore the church is bound to engage with the Lord of Glory in his cause. It is our unspeakable privilege to be caught up with him in the great- est movement in history—the ingath- ering of the elect “from all tribes and tongues and peoples and nations” until the full number of Gentiles come in, and all Israel is saved. and the Son of Man descends with power and great glory as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and the earth is full of the knowledge of his glory as the waters cover the sea for ever and ever. Then the supremacy of Christ will be manifest to all and he will deliver the kingdom to God the Father and God will be all in all (Piper 1993: 223).

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 Biblical Foundations for Missions: Seven Clear Lessons

“Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people... Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts” (Ps.96:7-8) .

by Thomas Schirrmacher here are many Old Testament texts laristic attitude of His people Israel, who ings to the true God. In his prayer in the T which address the heathen peo- claimed Him for themselves alone. fish’s belly (2:2-10), which includes ples directly. The general tone of these To be sure, God’s covenant with Abraham parts of various Psalms, Jonah remembers texts is “Give unto the LORD, O ye gave Israel a special position, but that, “Those who cling to worthless kindreds of the people, give unto the only in order to bless all the other nations idols (literally, ‘the vapor of emptiness’) LORD glory and strength. Give unto of the earth (Gen. 18:18). The com- forfeit the grace that could be the LORD the glory due unto his name: plete book of Nahum treats God’s word to theirs,”—the grace that they can only bring an offering, and come into his Nineveh (Nahum 1:1, compare with receive from God. Jonah then prom- courts” (Ps.96:7-8). This is particularly Nahum 1-3). ises to bring the Lord offerings and vows. the case with the Old Testament The book of Jonah begins, as if it (2:9-10). prophets. were a matter of course, with the com- The command to preach God’s mes- We must consider those prophets mand that Jonah proclaim God’s sage in Nineveh, having been given in who addressed non-Jewish nations exclu- word to a heathen city. “Arise, go to Nine- Jonah 1:2 and repeated in 3:2, we see that 1 sively. By far, not only is judgment veh, that great city, and cry against its fulfillment is described with clas- preached against heathen nations but also it.” That the sin of the Gentiles is a sin sic terminology of missionary activity: salvation through repentance (see against God, is also considered obvi- Jonah “proclaimed” and the residents Niniveh in Jonah) or through the coming ous, for they too are under the Law of of Nineveh “believed” (3:4-5 NIV). The Messiah. God was always the God of prophecy of judgment does not con- God: “for their wickedness is come all nations, so that He naturally turns to tradict the fact that the sermon was up before me” (Jonah 1:2). the nations. Israel’s particular role intended to be evangelistic. Both In spite of his disobedience, was not to hinder salvation for all peoples, Peter in his sermon on Pentecost (Acts Jonah confesses to the sailors in which for Abraham’s calling included the 2:14-26) and Paul in Athens (Acts God he believes: “I am an Hebrew; mandate, “In thee shall all families of the 17:14-31), preach judgment only to wait and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, earth be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). In for the reaction of their audience which hath made the sea and the dry Abraham, “all the nations of the earth before introducing the theme of grace. land” (1:9). He uses the description of shall be blessed” (Gen. 18:18). The prophet uses the term “to God—Creator of heaven and earth— For this reason, Paul and Barnabas turn” which is otherwise used to describe which the Jews preferred when speaking support their evangelization among Israel’s turning from sin to her God. to Gentiles, and which implies God’s the Gentile nations (Acts 13:47) with a In 3:5-9, the book reports a mass conver- universal sovereignty over all human quote from the book of Isaiah, “It is sion of Gentiles that has few parallels, beings. (Compare 2 Kings 19:15, Isa. too light a thing that thou shouldst be my even in the history of Israel. The report 37:16, 40:12, Jer. 10:11, Acts 4:24, 14:15, servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, ends with the message of 3:12, “And and to restore the preserved of Israel: I 17:24-25, Rev. 14:6-7). God saw their works, that they turned will also give thee for a light to the After that, the sailors, having first from their evil way; and God Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salva- prayed “every man to his god” (1:5), repented of the evil, that he had said that tion unto the ends of the earth” (Isa. then cry to the Lord (see their prayer in he would do, and he did it not.” Jesus 49:6). 1:14), and even “feared the LORD later uses Nineveh’s conversion as an exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto accusation against His Jewish con- Missions in Jonah the LORD, and made vows.” (1:16). temporaries, “For as Jonah was a sign In the book of Jonah, God, who It is very significant that the book of unto the Ninevites, so shall also the created all nations and wants to bring Jonah reports not only the conversion Son of man be to this generation...The His salvation to all the peoples, demon- of the heathen in Nineveh but also that the men of Nineveh shall rise up in the strates how He deals with the particu- mariners brought sacrifices and offer- judgment with this generation, and shall INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 34 Biblical Foundations for World Missions condemn it: for they repented at the spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16). Pentecost sermon is held in the face of preaching of Jonah, and, behold one For this reason, he quotes the whole judgment pending over Jerusalem, greater than Jonah is here” (See Luke chapter2 (Acts 2:17-21), beginning with which took place in 70 B.C. Peter exhorts 11:30, 32, and Mt 12:41). What a dis- the outpouring of the Spirit with his audience, “Save yourselves from grace to Jews: Gentiles are being held up miraculous signs upon “all flesh” (Joel this untoward generation” (Acts 2:40), as good examples for them! 2:28)—that is, upon Jews and Gen- that is, the generation living in the Jonah being a good theologian, knew tiles alike, upon all men and women, etc., forty years between Christ’s crucifixion very well that God wanted to be mer- continuing with terrible judgments and the destruction of Jerusalem—the ciful to the heathen Gentiles as well as to (2:30-31) and ending with the statement last generation which had the opportunity Israel. The prophet’s anger (4:1) that that from this time on, all can be to repent before the great catastrophe, arose rests on this knowledge, “Was not saved by calling on the Lord, and that sal- which Jesus had also predicted,“All these this my saying, when I was yet in my vation will come out of Zion (2:32). things shall come upon this genera- country? Therefore I fled before unto When Paul wanted to prove in tion” (Mt. 23:36, also “generation” in Mt. Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a Romans 10:11-12 that all people, not 24:34 and 17:17). gracious God, and merciful, slow to only the Jews, but also the Gentiles, can World Missions in Daniel anger, and of great kindness, and be saved through faith on Jesus The prophet Daniel is of double repentest thee of the evil.” (4:2). It Christ, he quotes not only Isaiah 28:16 significance for worldmissions to all the becomes evident here, that Jonah had “he that believeth shall not make nations. On the one hand, the events fled from his evangelistic mission for the- haste,” but also the same promise from of his book takes place among the heath- ological, not from personal reasons! Joel cited by Peter (Joel 2:32) “who- ens and reports that they have heard As a Jew, the prophet could not endure soever calleth on the name of the Lord of the God of Israel on an international the thought of heathen Gentiles, espe- shall be delivered”). In 1 Corinthians scale. On the other hand, Daniel cially their enemies, being treated with the 1:2, the description that “all who in every announces prophetically how God will same mercy as Israel. place call upon the name of Jesus Christ” is used to define the universal deal with them and that His kingdom Using the first verdant and the with- church. Paul assumes in both cases will one day include the whole world ered gourd, God however illustrates that his audience knows that Joel 2 refers through the atoning death of His Son. His relationship to the heathen, and con- to “all flesh.” We see Daniel and his three friends at cludes in the final verse with a dis- Paul adopts not only the meaning of the Babylonian Court (Dan 1) and, in tinct justification for Old Testament mis- “calling on the name of the Lord” spite of Chaldean education, they keep the sions, “But Nineveh has more than a from Joel, but the significance of the out- commands of the true and living God hundred and twenty thousand people who pouring of the Holy Spirit as well, for (Dan. 1:8-17), and with God’s great bless- cannot tell their right hand from their God has “saved us, by the washing of ing (Dan. 1:15-20), so that Daniel left and many cattle as well. Should I not regeneration, and renewing of the becomes the third most powerful man in be concerned about that great city?” Holy Ghost... shed on us abundantly the government of three successive (4:11, NIV). through Jesus Christ our Saviour” world empires (Dan. 1:2, 2:48-49, 5:29 Missions in Joel (Tit.3:5-6). and 6:3-29). The prophet Joel proclaims not only In short, the apostles understood God reveals himself in a dream to the the pending judgment over Israel Joel to proclaim world missions, which pagan ruler Nebuchadnezzar—even (Joel 1-2) but also the future judgment depend on the outpouring of the Holy though the dream could only be inter- upon the heathen Gentiles who Spirit as well as on God’s grace, which preted by the “Jewish missionary” oppose His people. In both cases, the saves all without exception who call Daniel (Dan. 2 and compare the dream in prophet speaks of God’s grace and upon Him as Lord. Dan. 4:7-24). The courageous testi- salvation and of returning to the Lord. Note that the sermon on Pente- mony of Daniel’s three friends, which Both sections have the proclamation cost uses not only this passage out of Joel, brought them into the blessings of the of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in but the whole book. Joel prophesies fiery furnace, leads the King to an initial, Joel 3 in common. This is as signifi- the destruction of Jerusalem (Joel 1-2), wonderful confession of the true and cant for the salvation of Israel as it is for which can only be prevented by a living God, the God of Israel, to all the all the nations (“all flesh” Joel 2:28). thorough conversion of the people and the world, (Dan. 3:28-30) “because there For Peter, this text was fulfilled on Pente- priests (Joel 2:12-17), for God is “gra- is no other God that can deliver after this cost (“but this is that which was cious and merciful” (Joel 2:13). Peter’s sort” (Dan. 3:29). Even more wonder-

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS 35 Thomas Schirrmacher ful is Nebuchadnezzar’s letter (Dan. 4:1- that heathens have heard of the God of kings shall the God of heaven set up a 37) to all “people, nations and lan- Israel on an international scale, and kingdom, which shall never be guages that dwell in all the earth” (Dan. secondly, because Daniel prophetically destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be 4:1). In this letter, the most powerful announces how God would deal with left to other people, but it shall break man of his time confesses how God had the heathen nations, and that His kingdom in pieces and consume all these king- humiliated him. He begins and ends will encompass the whole world doms, and it shall stand for ever” the document with a magnificent confes- through the atoning death of the Son of (Dan. 2:44). The age of world empires sions and descriptions of the living Man. will therefore end with the Romans, God (Dan. 4:1 2. 34-36). “His kingdom is The future of the world’s great the Kingdom of God will be established an everlasting kingdom and his empires and the coming of the Son of during the period of Roman rule and dominion is from generation to genera- grow, until it fills the whole earth. This tion” (Dan. 4:1 and 34): “All his kingdom will not be taken over by works are truth and his ways justice. And Daniel was one of the any other nation, either by those men- those who walk in pride he is able to most significant and tioned in the text or by the Jews–as put down.” (Dan. 4:37). the statement, “shall not be left to another successful missionaries people” is interpreted by many. In the same way, God reveals of all history! Jesus—beginning with the disciples and himself to Nebuchadnezzar’s heir, Bel- the Church—had indeed established shazzar (Dan. 5) through a writing on His Kingdom during the Roman period, the wall, and continues to do likewise to Man to save mankind are primarily described in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and in many parables had already the Mede, Darius, through Daniel’s in Daniel 2 and in the prophet’s visions in announced that the Kingdom would grow courageous testimony in the lions’ den. chapters 7 to 12. Although heathen until it filled the earth (see Mt. 13:24- Darius also proclaims God’s power to nations play an important role in other 35). the whole world in an official, interna- prophecies in the book (Dan. 8), we Daniel interprets the end of the tional “circular” (Dan. 6:25-28). He will discuss here only the prophecies worldly kingdoms represented by the commands that “in every dominion of my which deal with the relationship beasts in the same way (Dan. 7:9-14 kingdom men tremble and fear before between the kingdoms of the world and and Dan. 7:26-27). God decides from His the God of Daniel...for he is the living the Kingdom of God. throne to end the empires (Dan. 7:9- God, and steadfast for ever, and his... Most Bible-believing theologians 12). This occurs when the Son of Man dominion shall be even unto the end” agree that the statue in Nebuchadnez- (Jesus’ own designated name) (Dan. 6:26). Like Nebuchadnezzar zar’s dream (Dan. 2) and in Daniel’s ascends to Heaven and there receives before him, Darius emphasizes that Dan- vision of the four beasts (Dan. 7) rep- “dominion and glory, and a kingdom” iel’s God “delivereth and rescueth” resent a succession of great world king- from God, so that “all people, nations and (Dan. 6:27). The final chapters of Daniel doms; the Babylonians (gold, lion), languages, should serve him” (Dan. reveal the prophet’s own dreams dur- the Medes and the Persians (silver, bear), 7:14), and this kingdom will be eternal ing the reigns of Belshazzar, Darius and the Greeks (copper, panther) and the (Dan. 7:14). “And the kingdom and Cyrus. Romans (iron, terrible beast). Both visions dominion, and the greatness of the king- During Daniel’s lifetime the great show that God will replace these dom under the whole heaven, shall be world empires had heard at least worldly kingdoms in the period of Roman given to the people of the saints of the twice, from the mouths their highest rul- rule by his own eternal Kingdom— most High, whose kingdom is an ers, that the God of Israel is the true which is to be realized especially in the everlasting kingdom and all dominions God, the most powerful God, the Creator New Testament Church. The theme shall serve and obey him” (7:27). and the only real Saviour! Daniel was that God is the only true Sovereign of the In the context of the prophecy of the one of the most significant and successful world, and that His Kingdom, not establishment of an eternal kingdom, missionaries of all history! those of human rulers, will last eternally, including all peoples, Daniel 9:24-27 is permeates the whole book of Daniel. significant, although its interpretation God’s Worldwide Kingdom Nebuchadnezzar’s dream ends when is disputed. In my opinion, this concerns We have assumed that the the figure is destroyed by a stone, the time between the reconstruction prophet Daniel was significant for mis- which grows into a “great mountain and of Jerusalem (vs 24, 25) and the crucifix- sions to all nations for two reason: filled the whole earth” (Dan. 2:35 and ion of Jesus (“to make an end of sins, First because the contents of his book 45). Daniel explains, “In the days of those and to make reconciliation for iniquity, takes place among pagans and reports VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 36 Biblical Foundations for World Missions and to bring in everlasting righteousness, port the evangelization of non-Jewish peo- them, Thus it is written, and thus it and to seal up the vision and the ples (Lk. 1:54-55 and 72; Acts 3:25- behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise prophecy and to anoint the most Holy,” vs 26; Rom. 4:13-25; Eph. 3:3-4; Gal. from the dead the third day: And that 24, “shall Messiah be cut off” vs 26, 3:79+14; Heb. 6:13-20; 11:12). repentance and remission of sins, the cessation of the sacrifices, vs 9:27). Several examples will demonstrate should be preached in his name among all The period of time between the that New Testament world-wide mis- nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And events is set at 490 years (70 year-weeks sions were based on Old Testament foun- ye are witnesses of these things. And of 7 years per week), which fits arith- dations. For instance, in Acts 13:46- behold, I send the promise of my metically, in any case. Not until the elimi- 49, Paul and Barnabas, having been Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city nation of Messiah does a prince rejected by the Jews in Antioch, of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with destroy the holy city (vs 26), which ini- explain their decision to preach to the power from on high.” According to Jesus’ tiates the “end” (vs 26) of the age of Gentiles in the future by citing Isaiah own words, all parts of the Old Testa- the Jews. This occurred in 70 B.C., when 49:6 (Acts 13:47) “For so hath the Lord ment speak not only of His coming, as Jerusalem was destroyed by the commanded us, saying, I have set thee well as of the cross and the resurrec- Roman Emperor, (vs 27 repeats vs 26 to be light of the Gentiles, that thou tion, but also of world missions that for- chronologically). “He” in vs 27 shouldest be for salvation unto the giveness must be preached to all the would therefore be the messiah, the ends of the earth.” nations. “Abomination of desolation” the James uses Amos 9:11-12 in his Missions in John destruction of the Temple, (see Mt. closing speech at the Apostolic Council to When studying the significance of 24:15). justify Paul’s right to preach the Gos- missionary thought in the Gospel of pel to the Gentiles (Acts 15:13-2; Isa. O.T. Foundations for N.T. Missions John, there are four points to note: 61:4; Ps. 22:27-28; Zech. 8:22). He Although the apostles spoke of believes the Church to be the “tabernacle 1. Missio Dei Jesus’ commandment several times after of David that is fallen,” which will In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ sending Pentecost, (Acts 1:2, 10:42). they join the remnant of Judah with the heathen of His disciples into the world is never cited the Great Commission as Gentiles. understood to be a continuation of His such, (Mt. 28:18-20. Mk.16:15-16). Peter combines the Great Commission commission from His Father (about Did the early church agree on preaching with a reference to the Old Testament fifty times in John, the first time 3:17, the Gospel to all peoples so that there as an argument for his preaching the Gos- esp. 10:16, 17:18,21 and 23, compare was no need to mention Christ’s com- pel to Cornelius. “And he commanded 14:31) and the sending of the Holy Spirit mand? On the contrary, missions to by the Father and Jesus (John 14:26, us to preach unto the people, and to testify the Gentiles began very slowly and was 15:26, Luke 24:49). For this reason, John that it is he which was ordained of for a long time a controversial matter. uses the same word, ’to send’, (Latin: God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To Take the Apostolic Council in Acts 15 him give all the prophets witness, that (missio) both times. In John 17:18-23, and the Epistle to the Galatians as through his name whosoever believeth in Jesus says, “As thou hast sent me into examples. him shall receive remission of sins” the world, even so have I also sent them In studying the New Testament (Acts 10:42-43). into the world.” In John 20:21, He changes this phrase into a personal and discussions on the justification of For this reason, we are not sur- address, “As my Father hath sent me, missions, we discover that wherever prised that the Great Commission takes on even so send I you.” In His prayer for the we would have quoted the Great Commis- a different form in Luke than in Mat- disciples of chapter 17, He reports to sion, the apostles referred to the Old thew and Mark, and that Jesus’ command His Father that He has given them God’s Testament. The Great Commission is the in Luke is derived directly from the Word, and has prepared them to carry fulfillment of the New Testament, a Old Testament. In Luke 24:43-49, Jesus the message to the world. signal that the long-announced plan was says to the disciples, “These are the to be set into action. The letter to the words which I spoke unto you, while I was 2. John as an Evangelistic Tract Romans, particularly Chapter 15 is an yet with you, that all things must be Much attention has been paid to this obvious and clear example.3 fulfilled, which were written in the law of gospel’s character as an evangelistic The promise made to the patriarchs, Moses and in the prophets and in the tract, that is, as a text for people who have that all nations would be blessed in psalms, concerning me. Then opened he not yet come to believe in the Mes- them (Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:17; 26:4; their understanding, that they might siah, Jesus Christ, as Savior and light of 28:14) is also used repeatedly to sup- understand the Scriptures. And said unto the world. We cannot consider here

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS 37 Thomas Schirrmacher the discussion between Wilhelm Oehler, shows how strongly both Jesus and John The divine bread which has come down who held this gospel to have been wish the whole world to believe in from heaven “giveth life unto the written for the world,4 that is, for the non- Jesus Christ. “As thou hast sent me into world.” (6:33). Jesus is the “Christ” and Jew, or for Israel, as Karl Bornhauser the world, even so have I also sent the “Son of God” “who should come interprets it.5 I believe that John’s empha- them into the world. Neither pray I for into the world” (11:27) as Martha con- sis on Jesus’ coming for the whole these alone, but for them also who fesses and believes. He is the prophet world, as light of the world, etc., supports shall believe on me through their word: that “should come into the world” (6:14). the theory that is was intended to be a That they all may be one; as thou, He has come to judgment (9:39), ‘tract for the heathen’. (Point 4 below). Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they although He has not come to judge, but to also may be one in us:, that the world 3. Non-Jews in the Gospel of John save the world (12:47). His well- may believe that thou has sent me... that known words to Nicodemus underline After Jesus’ long discussion with they may be made perfect in one; and this idea, “For God so loved the Nicodemus, a representative of Jew- that the world may know that thou has sent world, that he gave his only begotten Son ish spirituality (John 3:1-26), John had no me, and hast loved them, as thou hast so that whosoever believeth in him qualms to continue with a long con- loved me” (17:18-23). should not perish, but have everlasting versation with the Samaritan woman at That Jesus’ commission is meant life. For God sent not his Son into the the well (John 4:1-42). While John not only for Israel, but for the “world” is world to condemn the world: but that the does not tell us how Nicodemus reacted to further developed by the repeated world through him might be saved” Jesus’ words, the depiction of the insistence that Jesus’ significance in His (3:16-17). incident at the well ends with the the con- offices (king, priest, prophet, Son of fession of a whole Samaritan city, Nor does John the Baptist’s early God, Christ, sacrificial lamb), His proper- “that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour confession concern only the Jews. ties (truth) and in the central imagery of the world” (4:42). Jesus had made Although this term, ‘the lamb’, calls (bread, light) is intended for the whole it clear to the woman, that with His com- to mind a central Old Testament thought, world. ing, the question of where one was to nevertheless John says, “Behold the worship God had become insignificant, John emphasizes most often that Jesus Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of but that “the true worshipper,” should is the “light of the world” (in Jesus’ the world” (1:29). Like the confes- worship Him in “spirit and in truth,” description of Himself, 8:12, 9:5, similarly sion of the Samaritans, Jesus is “indeed therefore providing the possibility in 1:9, 3:19, 11:9, 12:46). Jesus says, the Savior of the world” (4:42). that the Gentiles who lived far away from “I am the light of the world: he that fol- The activity of the Holy Spirit con- Jerusalem could now worship God loweth me shall not walk in darkness, cerns the whole world when Jesus just as the Jews could. but shall have the light of life” (8:12). At promises the Spirit’s coming and the suc- the very beginning of the gospel, cess of world missions. “And when 4. The Whole“World” as Object John, speaking of the ‘Word’, that is of he is come, he will reprove the world of John’s strong emphasis that Jesus is Jesus, says, “That was the true light, sin, and of righteousness, and of not only the Savior of the Jews, but of which lighteth every man that cometh into judgment” (16:8). all peoples, and that the disciples, as His the world. He was in the world, and ambassadors, were to preach the Gos- the world was made by him and the world Missions in Matthew pel to all nations, becomes particularly knew him not” (1:9-10). The classic Great Commission (Mt. apparent when one observes all occur- Jesus tells Pilate, “To this end was I 28,16-20) is not only the end of the rences of the word “world.” born, and for this cause came I into Gospel of Matthew, it is really its climax The usage of “world” with but the world, that I should bear witness unto and its goal. For this reason, Matthew few exceptions, (see 12:19, for example) the truth” (18:37). John emphasizes emphasizes from the first chapter on, that always means either the whole of repeatedly that Jesus had come into the the Good News is for the heathen human creation or all those who rebel “world”—into the creation rebelling Gentiles. That this particular Gospel, writ- against God. against God on the one hand, and all peo- ten for Jewish Christians—as the the We have already examined a few ple, not just to Israel, on the other. “I book itself demonstrates, and as the early texts in which Jesus proclaims that came forth from the Father, and am come Church unanimously reports—should His Father had sent Him into the world, into the world” (16:28). Jesus is the so emphasize missions, demonstrates that, and that He now sends His disciples bread that comes from heaven, so that men beginning with his birth, the earthly into the world. A close look at the context may live eternally, for He will give Jesus was already the Salvation of the of the central role of the ‘Missio Dei’ His body “for the life of the world” (6:51). Gentiles, of all the nations. VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 38 Biblical Foundations for World Missions

According to Mt. 5:14, Christ’s disci- Salma (Mt. 1:5). Ruth (Mt1:4) had been Shortly afterwards, Matthew reports ples are “the salt of the world,” that is born a Moabitess (Ruth 1:4), and had that Jesus said of the Jewish cities of the cosmos, not only of the Jewish thus been cut off from the fellowship with that rejected His messengers (Mt. 10:15), homeland, as in the case of “the salt the people of God (Deut. 23:4). “Verily, I say unto you, it shall be of the land (or of the earth)” in Mt. 4:13. Because, however, of her vow, “thy peo- more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Similarly, the “field” which God ple shall be my people and thy God Gomorrha in the day of judgment sows in Mt. 13:38 is the whole “world.” my God” (Ruth 1:16), she was able to than for that city.” A similar statement “This gospel shall be preached in the marry Boas and become the best- may be found in the following chap- whole world” (Mt. 26:13). known ancestress of David and of Jesus. ter (Mt. 11:20-24) for Tyre and Sidon, The harvest in Mt. 9:37-38 is What an affront to Matthew’s symbols of paganism as were Sodom great, so that the disciples must ask God Jewish contemporaries, to find heathen and Gomorrha, would have repented, had for more laborers, for “this gospel of women in Jesus’ genealogical table! Jesus done such miracles there as He the kingdom shall be preached in all the He must have mentioned them on purpose, had done in Jewish cities. world for a witness unto all nations” in order to show that the very purpose In Mt. 15:21-28, Jesus is on Gen- (Mt. 24:14). of Israel’s history was to bring salvation tile territory again and meets a believing In Mt. 25:31-46, when the and blessing to the Gentiles! (Com- Canaanite woman, who is willing to heathen nations appear before the throne pare Gen.12:3 and 18:18). be satisfied with Israel’s leftovers and the of the Son of Man, some are lost and While Luke, a Gentile, mentions Messiah. In Mt. 16:4, Jesus reminds others saved (the “blessed of My Father”, the Jewish shepherds in the Christmas the Pharisees of the “sign of Jonah” that vs 34). For this reason, the disciples story as the first visitors to the new- had been understood by the Gentiles will “be hated of all nations” (Mt. 24:9). born Saviour of the world (Lk. 2), Mat- (see “Missions in Jonah” above). In chapter.12:18-21, Matthew thew ignores them and reports the In the parable of the laborers in quotes a prophecy from Isaiah (Isa. 4:1-4) journey of the heathen Wise Men of the the vineyard (20:1-16), the Jews would that the Messiah will “show judgment East, who believed, unlike the edu- seem to be the first who are last and to the Gentiles” and that “in his name cated Jewish scribes, and travelled to the Gentiles to be the last who are first. shall the Gentiles trust.” (Compare a Bethlehem to worship him (2:1-12). This idea is repeated more strongly in similar quote Isa. 8:23 and 9:1, Mt. 4:13- That Gentiles were often more likely the parable of the wicked husbandmen 17.) to believe than were the Jews, is a (21:33-46), in which the vineyard is The “nations”, whom Mt. 28:18 story with an unbroken thread in Matthew. taken from the original tenants, the Jews, describes as recipients of the procla- The following examples must have and given to others, the Gentiles mation of the Gospel, have therefore been as insulting to his Jewish readers as (21:41-43), as the chief priests had to already been mentioned in the whole Jesus’ own statements were to his realize to their own condemnation. book. (Approximately half of the exam- hearers. Jesus had to flee his homeland This message recurs again in the par- ples of the word Gentiles or nations in and seek refuge in Egypt of all places . able of the wedding guests (22:1-4), Matthew have been mentioned.) (2:13-15)! In 4:13-17 the writer reports for here the original guests, the Jews, are Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus in that Jesus began his call to repentance rejected in favor of the people from 1:1-7 mentions women who were Gen- in heathen Galilee, in order to fulfill the the highways, the Gentiles, who certainly tiles! The Canaanite Thamar (Mt. 1:3. prophecy in Isa. 28:23 and 9:2, that did not belong there. Gen. 38) and the Hittite Bathseba (in Mt. “the people who walked in great darkness” The message that the Gentiles could 1:6, who merely is called “the wife of that is, in the above mentioned Gentile be grafted onto the olive tree of Uria” rather than naming her by name, territory, “have seen a great light”—Jesus Israel’s salvation history through the because she was a Hittite were cases (Mt. 4:15-16). cutting off of the Jews (Rom 11:11- of adultery. Two of the women, however, Mt. 8:5-13 describes a heathen centu- 24)—which does not contradict the doc- were Gentiles who had come to rion, who has come to believe in trine of the repentance of Israel in the believe in the living and true God of Jesus, of whom Jesus says: “I have not future—had, therefore, been preached by Israel. The former prostitute, Rahab, found so great faith, no, not in Israel” Jesus again and again. Matthew dem- (Mt. 1:5) had made a covenant with the (vs 10) and adds, that many people from onstrating that faith is the essential factor, Israelite spies and was saved from the the far corners of the earth will feast not nationality, held up the mirror of destruction of Jericho (Josh. 2). Because with the patriarchs in Heaven, while many the Gospel to and for the whole world to she had taken the God of Israel to be Jews (“children of the kingdom”) will his Jewish contemporaries. her own God, she could be married to be cast out (vs 12-13). End Notes

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS 39 Thomas Schirrmacher

1. Obadiah writes only against Edom, (Amos 1:6-8), Tyre (Amos 1:9-10), from heaven, which would destroy the Nahum against Niniveh, which is Edom (Amos 1:11-12), Ammon earth in any case, so that there also the object of the prophet Jonah, (Amos 1:13-15), Moab (Amos 2:1-3) could be no more history on this earth. whom we will consider later in this and finally in the same list, Judah 3. Compare “Romans as a Charter of article. Isaiah prophesied against Baby- (Amos 2:4-5) and Israel (Amos 2:6-16). World Missions: A Lesson in the Rela- lon (Isa. 13:1-14,21. 21:1-10), Zephaniah addresses Moab and tion of Systematic Theology and against the Assyrians (Isa. 14:24-27. Ammon (Zeph. 2:8-11). Joel speaks of Missiology”. by the author in IJFM 31:4-9), against the Philistines (Isa. Tyre, Zidon and the Philistines Vol.10:4, Oct. 1993, pp 159-162 14:28-32), Moab (Isa. 15-16), Damas- (Joel 4:4-8), but actually to all nations 4. Oehler, Wilhelm. Das Johannesevan- cus (Isa. 17:1-11), Ethiopia (Isa. 18 (Joel 4:2): “Proclaim ye this among gelium eine Missionsschrift fur die and 20:1-6), Egypt (Isa. 19:1-20:6), the Gentiles: (Joel 4:9, compare vs. 1- Welt, C. Bertelsmann, Gutersloh, 1936. Edom (Isa. 21:11-12. 34:1-17), 13). The dreams which Daniel had Oehler, Wilhelm. Zum Missions- Arabia (Isa. 21:11-17), and the Phoeni- or interpreted (Dan. 2, 7, 8 and 11) charakter des Johannesevangeliums, cian cities Tyre and Zidon (Isa. include the great heathen world Beitrage zu Furderung Christlicher 23). Ezekiel prophecied against the empires, Babylon, Medio-Persia, Theologie, Reihe 1, No 43, pp. 435- Ammonites (Ez. 25:1-7), Moab Greece and Rome. 546, 1950. (Ez. 25:8-11), Edom (Ez. 25:12-14. 2. Dispensationalists see Pentecost only as 5. Bornhauser, Karl. Das Johannesevan- 35:1-15), the Philistines and the a “prefulfillment” of Joel 2 and do gelium eine Missionsschrift fur Cretes (Ez. 25:13-17), Tyre (Ez. 26:1- not expect the complete fulfillment until Israel, Beitrgezur Furderung Christ- 28:19), Zidon (Ez. 28:20-24) and the millennium. This interpretation licher Theologie, Reihe 2, Band Egypt (Ez. 29-32). Jeremiah speaks of is primarily directed against charismat- 15, C. Bertelsmann, Gutersloh, 1928. Egypt (Jer. 46), the Philistines (Jer. ics, who expect the fulfillment of 47), Moab (Jer. 48), Ammon (Jer. 49:1- the latter rain of Joel 2 in the form of a 6), Edom (Jer. 49:7-22), Damascus universal outburst of charismatic (Jer. 49:23-27), the Arabian tribes (Jer. activity in the last days. In my opinion, 49:28-33), Elam (Jer. 49:34-39) neither interpretation adequately Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, who holds and Babylon (Jer. 50-53). These proph- explains the fact that Peter is preaching the Th.D degree in missiology and ecies are headed, “The word of the an immediate fulfillment of Joel’s a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology, is LORD... against the Gentiles.” in Jere- prophecy in the Pentecost occurrence. director of the Institut fur Welt- miah 46:1. God commands the He includes the miraculous signs of mission and Germeindebau (German prophet to speak to a list of rulers, Joel 2:28-32 in his description of Pente- Center for World Mission) and including Judah and 25 Gentile cost signs which, in the Old Testa- teaches missions and comparative nations and kingdoms, “all the kings of ment always indicated overwhelming religion at the Free Evangelical the north, far and near, one with spiritual, mental and political School of Theology (FETA), in Basel, another, and all the kingdoms of the upheavals, such as in my opinion, suffi- Switzerland. He is a missionary earth:” (Jer. 25:18-26). Amos ciently accompanied the end of the with Gospel Recordings Int’l. warns Damascus (Amos 1:3-5), Gaza old covenant. No stars must literally fall

Objections? World Missions in the Old Testament?

Do you have doubts, maybe serious objections, about seeing any real world-wide mission concern and outreach in the O.T? Perhaps these will be cleared up after carefully considering the fine articles in this special issue. For instance, seeing “The Great Commission in the Old Testament,” or standing in awe at “The Supremacy of God Among All the Nations” or learning the seven lessons of the “Biblical Foundations for World Missions” and “Seeing the Big Picture”unfold can absolutely change the way you see the Bible, change the way you see God's purpose and plan and can certainly change your view of the O.T. Hopefully this has happened to you! However, if any doubts still linger in this area, please share these with us and we’ll make every effort to try to answer them. Also ask for the article (for which there was no room in this issue) “Missions in the Old Testament: Taking a Good Look at the Objections” by Dr. Hans M. Weerstra, editor of the IJFM. Tel. 915-779-5655; Fax: 915-778-6440; E-Mail: 103121,2610

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 Seeing the Big Picture

When we speak of evangelizing the world, using popular phrases like “winning the world to Christ,” we do not think in detailed technical terms, nor consider the fundamental elements of exactly what it is we are doing. But are we “Seeing the Big Picture”? by Ralph D. Winter hat we see 100 years ago, and faith depended upon the shed blood of necessary to create the family-like fellow- W again today, is only part of a Christ, the seed which one day would ship of the church in mission church lengthy pattern running back to Abraham, bruise the head of the serpent. (Gen. 3:15) planting activity. Unless the church to the beginning of the Bible, and is God changed Abram’s name to already has been planted among a best seen in that light. I think we can Abraham, father of peoples, in order to given people, this is a necessary work of profit by tracing that whole series of emphasize what was meant in Gene- missionary effort. events very briefly. sis 12 by his being the one through whom But a dual meaning of this wonderful Genesis 1 to 11 tells us how all of the peoples on earth would be truth is the fact that from the begin- God’s creatures were alienated from Him brought into that same amazing blessing ning this blessing for us was intended for in the first place. Those few pages are of sonship and inheritance. all other peoples as well. This gives like the introduction to the whole Bible, us a breathtakingly broader mandate than The Mystery in Our Mission emphasizing three points: 1) we see to run throughout the world proclaim- The Bible does not talk as though the goodness of God’s original creation, ing the Gospel. How differently our evan- God is just out to save us as individuals. 2) the entrance of a God-defying evil gelical terms sound when compared God is not just out to save us from person—more than a force—who is still to what Paul summed up his work to be— harm, and certainly not to save us to be alive and menacing today, and 3) we “to bring about obedience of faith independent of Himself. Yet, as evan- see the hopelessness of man “only doing among all peoples for His Name’s sake.” gelicals, our most important tenet of faith evil continually.” The implication is that missions work is that God wants to make us, individ- for at least one obedient, evangelizing More than “Getting Saved” ually, his children, with all the rights and family tradition within every people However, every commentator privileges and responsibilities which or lineage on earth. divides Genesis at chapter 12, because come with that relationship. But God does there is where we find the beginning not just want to “save us,” whatever The Patriarchal Period of the one, long, sustained, dramatic that means to a new believer. He wants In this period of roughly 400 years account of the gradual redemption of us to become joint-heirs with His we see many examples of both suc- this planet—the story of “The Kingdom only Son, whom He sent to die for us, so cess and failure on the part of this man Strikes Back,” something much more that through His shed blood we might and his lineage, in regard to being the significant than a few individuals here and be brought into the household of God, not means of the blessing, or the inclusion as there “getting saved.” as servants but as sons, and, as part of sons, of those of other nations, tribes, That is, beginning in Genesis 12 we a family—His family. and tongues. Abraham’s own first journey find that God has in His sovereignty All of this rich meaning is down to Egypt was a disaster as a chosen to “bless” a man named Abram, implied in the master term blessing, mission, in that his own personal security, not just “save” him, but bless him. although it does not come through in elevated above even his wife’s well- We note that this is also the key word English. That is, we don’t think of being being, brought him low rather than high in when Isaac confers the “blessing” blessed as gaining a new family rela- the eyes of the ruler of Egypt. What a upon Jacob and not Esau. tionship, something that normally missed opportunity! Abraham’s great includes others in that family, on grandson, Joseph, would be a much Not a Raise in Salary! earth and in heaven (Gal. 3:26-28).The greater blessing in Egypt, although we do It is not merely a word implying English word allows us to suppose not know all that we someday will worldly blessings but one which that missions is all about helping people, know about what transpired there. speaks primarily of a new, family rela- to save people, when in fact mission- tionship, made possible only because aries are inviting people and their whole The Period of the Captivity Abram was able, as Jesus put it, “To see families into our same global and Then, God moved this chosen family, my day and be glad.” Yes, Abram in heavenly family. To do that it is virtually this chosen race, this special people, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 42 Seeing the Big Picture right into Egypt for another 400 years. Thus the period of the Judges is influential) missionary translation of all Again we do not know the details but described as one in which a blessed time, the Septuagint, which became we do know the purpose: they were to nation survives, but does not reach out the Bible of the early church, in Greek, enable the Egyptians to come into very effectively with that special and which provided the source of that same blessing. Perhaps this happened blessing conferred upon them and 80% of the quotations from the Old Testa- in part. One of the pharaohs in a entrusted to them, a response charac- ment in the New Testament. totally unique shift moved to monotheism, teristic of many other groups and periods The Jews, in their limited grasp of and in his tomb we see some of the later in human history. God’s purpose, were constantly phrases of the Psalms. But again we must The Period of the Kings anguished by distressingly foreign and wait until later to know more of the cosmopolitan inroads into their pre- In the next roughly-400-year details. Egypt certainly ended up rejecting cious land and into what they considered period, called the Kings, God’s redemp- the will of the One who could have their sacred culture, but it is evident tive purpose is more clearly discov- been their Father in heaven, and their that God was in the mission business ered and enacted, but limply and sporadi- revolt and its terrible consequences whether they were or not. Besieged cally. First, God uses great strength were acted out on a stage for all the world by foreigners and foreign armies going against the northern kingdom, pushing to see. back and forth over them as a door- them unwillingly into contact with mat was not what they had in mind, but The Period of the Judges other nations. Then He does the same was apparently significant to the pur- with the southern kingdom when it, In a third roughly-400-year poses of God. period, called the Judges, we see the chil- too, falls short of the relationship He The Pharisees actually began dren of Abraham, specifically of intended, a relationship with Himself sending missionary teams out in every Israel, reestablished in the strategic global and with other nations. God was in the mission business whether Israel was direction, “traversing land and sea to location of Palestine, led out of Egypt or not. make a single proselyte.” Such missionar- by one of their own who had been an ies then and now will tend to be a Egyptian, but who had been brought The Period Following the Exile resented threat to the cultural and social up by a mother who stood within the line- In the final roughly-400-year period tradition of other nations, and do not age of the blessing of God. before Christ, the children of Israel carry a complete nor true understanding As the people leave Egypt, the pur- straggle back from Babylon and in of the nature of the blessing to be pose of the blessed nation is restated renewal rediscover more clearly than mediated—which speaks of spiritual son- in reference to the original covenant with ever just what God wanted of them. They ship more than external cultural trans- Abraham. It is said that this people is had glimpses of the fact that even formation (proselytization). to function as a nation of priests and a their deportation had missionary pur- holy people, in “all the earth” (Ex. pose—God was not as interested in The Midpoint of History 19:5,6). Meanwhile, however, the prom- re-establishing them in their land as He At this point the ultimate occurs. ised base of their global operations was in their functioning as His Salva- God’s purpose is uniquely breathed had become inhabited by a people whose tion (Blessing) to the ends of the earth into the dramatic story by the entrance of fullness of evil has grown to the place (Isa 49:6). His own Son, who was sent to fulfill, where God must erase them from the About a hundred years before Christ, not to destroy, but whose destruction by record, a task in which God plans to a devout and biblically focused group His own people both identifies the use His own people. By that time His peo- within this chosen nation (Pharisees) degree of their own degradation and also ple have themselves degenerated to a gained momentum, at the very time God’s grace and unvanquishable pur- level in which they are not useful for any- when the Jews had been relocated into pose. In the face of Jesus Christ we have thing more refined than military many mission fields. By this point, all beheld the glory of the eternal exploits, a phenomenon reminiscent of the Jews had been scattered by divine God. In His parables we see the purposes another unspiritual leader (standing forces both to the East (two-thirds of of God for all the nations. We see the within a nation which had received the the Jews never made it back from Iran), to special nature of the nation first chosen blessing) named Cortez, who with a the North (where in every city Moses not only for sonship, but with an tattered handful of men pushed over an was preached), and to the Southwest, into overriding purpose for all peoples— evil empire called Aztec, which also Greek-speaking Egypt. In Egypt their whose “blessing” even that chosen had moved to a crescendo of human sacri- concern for the Word of God produced nation’s inadequacy would not be able to fice. the first (and by all odds the most forestall.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS Ralph D. Winter 43

The Roman Period and Beyond to 800), the Gothic tribesmen and other misunderstanding of the Great Commis- middle European tribes, notably the sion. They also tried to glorify God in Thus, in the first AD period of Celtic peoples, had their turn at the Scrip- out-doing each other at one point in the 400 years, we see the invasion of God’s tures, gleaning the inner meanings at building of astonishing buildings grace into one of the world’s largest least partially, in a more amazing devo- called cathedrals (all of which were begun and most powerful empires, as the follow- tion to the pages of holy writ than has within a single 50-year period). Much ers of a helpless babe born in a stable graced any period of history. (That is, the good was also accomplished. Remaining grew in wisdom and knowledge and in so-called illuminated manuscripts of Bible study centers earlier established favor with God and man, the meek lit- the Bible—intended to impress the dark- by Celtic missionaries, but mainly burned erally inheriting the earth, perplexing all ened hearts of tribal chieftains— down by the Vikings, were renovated secular scholars, moving from a represent the most detailed artwork and now transformed into much larger stable in a tiny town to the palace of the known in the annals of humanity). centers of order and worship, underly- emperors in just a few decades. In the third post-biblical 400-year ing most of the major cities of Europe That’s right, the emperor of Rome, mov- period, from 800 to 1200, we see today, while scholarship, a virtual ing his seat of empire East into Greek drawn into blessing a cluster of peoples monopoly of the most committed Chris- territory, turned over the keys to the Late- still further north, called the Vikings. tians, emerged in the form of the ran Palace to the Christian leaders of They too had to come after the blessing early universities. Most important, the Rome, the equivalent of today’s White they had not been sent. Their raids on mechanisms of global mission were House being given over to Billy Mel- middle Europe, spread out over 250 years, decisively hammered out by sheer deter- vin of the National Association of Evan- were as destructive as any force God mination and devotion, and the unre- gelicals. ever brought against Israel, and the result lenting efforts of strategists like Prince And all this in about 300 hundred was as missionary as any era—God Henry the Navigator and Christopher years. This peaceful conquest of was in the mission business whether His Columbus, both of whom, once we Rome ushered in a final, flourishing cen- people were or not. The young remove our contemporary secular tury of Bible translation into the lan- women the Vikings loved to take as interpretations, were actuated by devotion guage of the Western half of the empire, slaves and concubines, and at times as to Christ and to global missionary Latin, and the collation of the New wives, were, in some cases—those who endeavors. Testament documents, but also introduced kept the faith—the main instrument affluence and distraction from divine that carried the blessing to these northern Dr. Ralph D. Winter is General purpose, dissipation of energy in self peoples. Director of the U.S. Center for defense, and the exclusion of mission- The result of this unusual, although World Mission located in Pasadena, ary rationale. The weighty fact for us, not very desirable missionary mecha- Calif. He also is the editor of the however, is that the Romans did not nism, was that the pitch darkness of these bi-monthly Mission Frontiers. With busy themselves extending the blessing incredibly ruthless sea-going savages Steven Hawthorne he has co-edited that had been carried into their midst. the famous mission course called was, after two and a half centuries of tur- Perspectives on the World In response to their missionary moil and heartache, brought into con- Christian Movement. unfaithfulness, God sent the very peo- tact with the light. As Churchill puts it in ples who threatened Rome’s autonomy— his History of the English Speaking Parts of this document were first pre- the Gothic tribal peoples—into the Peoples, these northern peoples were sented at the Executives Retreat of heart of the civilization of Rome, to get “held and dazzled by the effulgence the Evangelical Foreign Mission Associa- what they were not sent, namely, the of the glory of the Gospel.” But not tion (EFMA), in September of 1989. blessing of the Abrahamic Covenant. Oh, because very many missionaries were (The EFMA is now renamed the Evangel- ical Fellowship of Mission Agencies.) these tribal peoples had already been sent to them. They had to come after the alerted to the Gospel, because Rome had blessing they were not sent—do we [Editor’s note: The article here continuously exiled its heretics into need to wonder why our country is being produced is Part I of “The Big Picture” the barbarian domains beyond its borders. invaded from all sides by hundreds of with its main focuses on the Biblical But the point is this: When the nationalities? story followed by subsequent post biblical periods of missions,up to AD 1600. Romans did not give away their best, God In the next four centuries, ruthless forced them to give it up. Could that Readers who would like to obtain Part II, pirates, now transformed, became Chris- covering the events of modern be true for us today? tian leaders of a sort, leading the Cru- mission history since 1600 should contact In the second AD period (AD 400 sades against the Muslims in a pathetic the IJFM editor and ask for a copy.]

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 Melchizedek and Abraham Walk Together in World Mission

Why must the church today begin mission where God and the apostles began? Here is a biblical rational that world mission needs to start with creation, conscience and culture.

by W. Douglas Smith, Jr.

o truth is more overwhelming will do it without your aid or ours.”1 In peaks echo their agreement. “For the N than the unyielding fact that those years the Church assumed abso- invisible things of Him from the crea- mankind is lost. Our minds boggle at the lutely no responsibility for the lost tion of the world are clearly seen, being thought of hundreds of generations of unreached peoples of the world. understood by the things that are unevangelized heathen whose souls are Now the pendulum has swung to the made, even His eternal power and God- already in hell. The vast majority of other extreme—and has hung there. head so that they are without excuse” today’s population will follow shortly. The burden of world evangelization top- (Rom. 1:20). Through nature God sings We sink before the immense task of ples from heaven to earth. Our current an anthem of Himself, and men uni- dispersing the darkness which envelopes view nearly leaves God out of the picture. versally hear. God’s attributes are clearly nearly 2.5 billion fellow human Sermons, films, lectures, literature seen. At all times God is being per- beings. Our feelings rebel against such a and even scholastic preparation for mis- ceived. The message written in natural tragedy. We know our theology con- sion service stress the human factor wonders strikes so forcefully that it tradicts those feelings, but just this once so heavily that mission ceases to be leaves all men without excuse. we wish our theology were mute. regarded as a basic divine enterprise. Think back to when God chal- Christians can never give enough nor To be sure, God started the clock lenged Job to an intellectual battle (Job pray enough. Missionaries, no matter ticking, but according to many sin- 38). He began, “Where were you how zealously they work, can feel they cere mission promoters, He seems to be when I laid the foundation of the earth?” have stretched themselves far enough. distant, uninvolved, watching help- God then multiplied that question The mission executive pensively scans his lessly while we botch His magnificent with several dozen more. Those questions map, mentally totaling the vast popu- program of world redemption. He probed into stellar space and delved lations whose spiritual destiny may well depends on us. We fail miserably. The into the microscopic world of the snow- hang on his decisions. unreached perish without hope. He is flake. God could not quote Scripture The colossal responsibility for the bitterly grieved. We go to heaven and because Job had no Bible. He could not two and half billion weighs us down eventually live happily ever after. remind Job of laws and covenants, and mocks our puny efforts. Somewhere, Is God frustrated? Has He been but He could awaken Job’s conscience in some missionary conference, some- unable to reach the pagan world prior with a whirlwind tour of many kinds one told us that if we were truly obeying to the traditional date of the founding of of natural phenomena. the Holy Spirit, the world would be Catholic and Protestant missions? Is God still speaks to cultures with- saturated with the Gospel. That voice reg- out the Bible through the drama of wind, ularly reminds us how much heathen His mighty voice stifled in the many cul- cloud, storm and thunder; through the blood clings to our hands. tures where no mission penetrates? If not, then how has God been speaking in panorama of galaxies; through the mira- Yet, less than two hundred years time and space ever since creation? cles of birth, blossom and fruit. Do ago the Church in England, influenced by primitive cultures jumble this message by rationalism and deism, could not have God Speaks Through Creation insensitiveness to the light they do cared less. When young William Carey in “The heavens declare the glory have, thereby inverting God’s order? Do 1785 proposed to a group of ministers of God” (Psa. 19:1). The lavish sunset they become oppressively subdued that they discuss “The Obligation of colors stroked by the Master Artist on under a harsh creation? Answer: They Christians to Use Means for the Con- the easel of the sky communicates God’s worship the creation rather than the version of the Heathens,” the moderator majesty, intelligence and omnipo- Creator. Satan abuses creation and culture squelched him with this icy reply, tence. The rhythm of the seasons sings of for his own ends, usurping man’s vice “Young man, sit down. When God His goodness and concern for men. regency under God. (Rom. 1:18-32; Isa. pleases to convert the heathen, He The fertile valleys and snow mantled 14:12-14)

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 46 Melchizedek and Abraham Walk Together

God Speaks Through Conscience the globe, nor even the Roman Empire. ment, somehow expecting theological Every culture recognizes some What does Paul mean here? The understanding to inspire repentance. system of right and wrong. Paul speaks of answer lies in the fact that the Gospel Sometimes it does, especially in Chris- “the work of the law written in their written on the scroll of the heavens tianized cultures. However, the man hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and in the hearts of men had reached without the Bible8 seldom understands and their thoughts alternately accus- them. and very seldom sees the need to ing or else defending themselves (Rom. Don Richardson calls this “the Mel- repent. He sees no relation at all between 2:15). Conscience declares that the chizedek factor,” that gives men of all the message he reads in his environ- God of creation is holy and just. As C. S. races, times and cultures “eternity in their ment and the message he sees in the mis- Lewis has so poignantly expressed: hearts.” It encompasses God’s general sionary’s presentation. Why? We fail “when I open that particular man called revelation to all men everywhere, speak- to build on God’s universal communica- myself, I find that I do not exist on ing as He does through their con- tion—“the Melchizedek factor.” my own, that I am under a law; that some- science, and linking it with God’s special When the apostles confronted their body or something wants me to revelation embodied in Abraham. pagan audiences, they zeroed in on behave in a certain way...we conclude that Richardson calls the latter “the Abraham the great truths pregnant in creation and the Being behind the universe is factor.”4 conscience.9 Paul and Barnabas intensely interested in right conduct, fair asked: Co-Laborers with God play, unselfishness, courage, good Men, why are you doing these faith, honesty and truthfulness.”2 The above indicates that God has things? We are also men of the Since creation God planted a always been evangelizing the unbelieving same nature as you, and lost world, including the lost preach the Gospel to you in order device in all men which sounds an alarm that you should turn from unreached peoples on the other side of the on sin. True, the device can be tam- these vain things to a living God, world in every culture. Nowhere do pered with, as Cain did in attempting to who made the heaven and the we ever start from scratch without God’s earth and the sea, and all that is in escape responsibility for his brother. them. He did not leave Him- prior witness.5 Human beings can rewire their con- self without a witness, in that He sciences so that the alarm sounds only Our listeners are never theologically did good and gave you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, faintly or infrequently, as with the new blank or morally untutored. As co- satisfying your hearts with moralists. Certain cultures pattern the laborers with God we should reemphasize food and gladness (Acts 14:15,17 conscience with blurry, inaccurate data what God has already said, beginning NAS). 6 concerning right and wrong. Still, where each person is in his own culture. The pagan hearer is more likely to because God conceived it, it works. It When the Church encounters the sense that he is in the presence of demands response in obedience born lost, two things are known: truth when he hears of the God who sends out of faith in Him because of the kind of * The lost know God in some way. the rain and the crops and who made 3 person He is. * They do not honor Him as God intends, heaven and earth. He can understand the Let us not underestimate the power of giving Him thanks (Rom. 1:21). clear demand to “turn from these vain God’s voice in creation and in con- When we preach in the name of our things to the living God” long before he science. He speaks clearly and effectively Heavenly Father, we must require can master the concepts of propitia- through these media. He broadcasts men to first recognize and honor the Crea- tion and justification (Rev. 14:6,7; Mark the Gospel to the ends of the earth. tor as the only, true and living God, in 13:10). Romans 10:18 says, “But I say, surely repentance born of the Spirit (Acts 11:18). God’s revelation in the outer universe they have never heard, have they? Indeed Secondly, men must offer thanks to and in the inner mind unite to call for they have: their voice has gone out Him. This is the essence of repentance. repentance, worship and thanks. Paul into all the earth, and their words to the Men must stop ignoring God and makes this clear from Romans 2:14, ends of the world.” We find the evi- begin to worship Him. Men must turn “Or do you think lightly of the riches of dence of the same universal message in from indifference and begin to praise His kindness, forbearance and Colossians 1:23, which directs our their Maker in gratitude for life, food, patience, not knowing that the kindness of attention to “ the hope of the Gospel you family and goods, as God ordained God leads you to repentance?” With a have heard, which was proclaimed in since Adam. Martin Luther emphasized natural and moral revelation urging men all creation under heaven.” this same teaching in his ministry and to repent specifically of their ingrati- But some might protest: The writings.7 tude and indifference, should our Gospel Christian message had not yet permeated Often we try to explain the atone- fail to do likewise? If we are co-

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS W. Douglas Smith, Jr. 47 laborers with God, then we should join the plan of salvation, or expounded on the promised, “Ask, and it shall be given you; His chorus. We sing the same song significance of His death. Rather, He seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it and preach the same message. Notice this simply promised, “This day thou shalt be shall be opened unto you. For every one in Paul’s address to the Athenians, with me in paradise” (Luke 23:42,43). that asks receives and he that seeks “What therefore you worship in ignor- Are there heathen who are ready to finds; and to him that knocks it shall be ance, this I proclaim to you. The God touch God? Do some individuals and opened” (Luke 11:9,10). who made the world and all things in it, whole unreached people groups ripen The Decision Making Process since He is Lord of heaven and earth, under the influence of God’s sermons Individuals and groups of people does not dwell in temples made with in the cosmos? History clearly answers in as described above go through various hands ...He gives to all life and the affirmative. steps in coming to Christ and deepen- breath...He made from one all nations of In the last century a young Japanese ing their discipleship. It appears that the mankind to live on all the face of the lad named Neesima renounced idola- Great Commission imperative of earth...that they should seek God” (Acts try at an early age and began to search for “make disciples” can be broken down into 17:23-27 NAS). We too must chal- God. Later, after reading Genesis 1:1, four basic participles: 1. Going 2) lenge men to respond to God, the God of he prayed, “Oh, if You have eyes, look Teaching, 3) Equipping 4) Sending. Part whom they instinctively, and initially upon me; if You have ears, listen to of the problem with gathering in the know. “God is now declaring to men that me.”11 Neesima became one of Japan’s harvest among the ethne comes from fail- all, everywhere should repent” (Acts mightiest evangelists. ing to discern where the audience is l7:30) Nee records meeting a man who at in this mission process. Consider Apollos, a man mighty the age of twelve, while worshipping Every receptor appears some in the Scriptures, a Spirit–directed an idol, began to think to himself, “You were along this continuum. All peoples preacher who knew “only the baptism are too ugly and too dirty to be wor- have some awareness of the Supreme of John.” Was he saved? Certainly! Did shipped! What is the sense of worshipping Being through God’s general revelation in he have an effective ministry? Yes! you?” The boy slipped away to touch creation and conscience. However, at What did he preach? John’s message: the true and living God. Finding an open this stage there is no effective awareness Repent! We should not prize theologi- space, he poured out this prayer, “O of the Good News of the possibility cal ignorance, but we must insist that it God, whoever You are, I do not believe of forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. does not prevent people from being You can dwell in that shrine. You are Other receptors will have an aware- saved. The minimum requirement for sal- too big, and it is too small and dirty for ness and grasp of the implications of the vation is a heart-felt cry for the God You. You surely must dwell right up Gospel from exposure to Christian there in the heavens. I do not know how who is there! Watchman Nee emphasizes, proclamation. When awareness is accom- to find You, but I put myself in Your “For what is it to be reckoned right- panied by a strong felt need for eous? It is to touch God.”10 As men obey hands; for sin is very strong and the world change, designated as personal problem this summons, they call out and fulfill pulls. I commit myself to You recognition, does the individual open wherever You may be.”12 the divine promise, “Whosoever will call his life to Christ. Prior to this moment of upon the name of the Lord shall be Entire peoples become receptive truth, there in neither sufficient under- saved” (Joel 2:32; Rom. 10:12, 13). in a similar fashion. When an animistic standing nor the felt need to allow a valid Ayore tribe of Bolivia was reached by Touching God in Repentance response. Once a person is persuaded missionary, Bill Pencille, a large number to receive Christ, he enters a process of When the publican cried, “God be trusted Christ. The Ayore chief told spiritual growth through obedience to merciful to me a sinner,” his prayer Pencille that missionary effort would have the Word under the illumination of the reached the heart of God. The man was failed with an earlier generation. Holy Spirit. saved! We are not told how much the- “They would have killed you.” But the ological knowledge he possessed. Cer- chief’s prior observation of the mar- The Pendulum of Responsibility tainly, it was less than that of the velous majesty and rhythm of the seasons To summarize, we may ask, pharisee. But we do know that the pub- stirred him to cry out, “Oh God of “How swings the pendulum of responsi- lican went down to his house justified creation, reveal Yourself to me”. He bility for evangelizing the lost?” The (Luke 18:13,14). dreamt that a white man would come same sustaining God of creation who The thief on the cross prayed, with that very revelation. As his tribe causes the fields to ripen, wants to “Remember me.” The Lord Jesus might searched and waited, his generation guide us to the repentant seekers, as He have used this opportunity to explain ripened to a new receptivity.13 Christ did with Carey, poring over his crude

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 48 Melchizedek and Abraham Walk Together maps and charts of the world. When we with what God is saying and doing 4. Richardson, Don, 1984:31-32, Eternity arrive we must coordinate our mis- through cosmological media to reach in Their Hearts. Ventura, Calif. sion to confirm and emphasize what God each man, woman and child where they Regal Books. has been saying and doing prior to are. World evangelization can be 5. Freytag, Walter, 1957:15, The Gos- our arrival. We must call out, “Turn to the speeded; reaping can be accelerated when pel and the Religions. London, SCM true and living God,” knowing well the Church understands God’s prior Press. that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses the ministry in every culture. Will we, like 6. Kraft, C.H., 1973:113 “Toward a Chris- sin of the ignorant as well as that of William Carey, learn to discern the tian Ethnotheology.” God, Man the scholar. Whoever truly cries out and discontinuous cultural assumptions from and Church Growth. A.R. Tippett, ed., the continuous, biblical universals? touches God in repentance will be Grand Rapids, Eerdmans. justified, even if he has never understood Will we begin with “the Melchizedek fac- 7. Forell, George Wolfgang, 1954:67 the doctrine of justification. Thus, tor” to introduce “the Abrahamic fac- Faith Active in Love. Minneapolis, every responsible witness must capture tor” especially among the unreached? Augsburg. the universal message of the Innocent It is time for the Christian 8. Schaeffer, Robert H., 1969:91-105 dying and rising again for the guilty. This Church to recognize the biblical basis for Death in the City. Chicago, Inter Var- is the supracultural significance of her responsibility to the lost, espe- sity Press. blood sacrifice (Gen. 3:21; Lev. 17:11). cially the lost with no access to the Good News. We must not minimize or 9. Glasser , A.F. 1976:3 “Theology of Conclusion exaggerate our duties. We must not think Mission”. SWM Course M610 God shoulders the burden for world of our guilt more solemnly than we notes, Winter Quarter, Jan.-Mar., Pasa- evangelization through us. Our ought to think. We have some theological dena, Fuller Theological Semi- responsibility is to obey the Lord of the repenting to do which will make us nary. harvest. He plants us where He wants feel better, as well as live healthier and 10. Nee, Watchman, 1961:41 What us as we will lift up our eyes to go to His work more fruitfully with God as His Shall This Man Do? London, Victory fields. He does not depend on our co-laborers. It is time to nudge the pendu- Press. frenzied efforts. God works through obe- lum of Christian responsibility gently 11. Glover Robert Hall, 1953:165 The dient followers who conscientiously back into balance with what God has Process of World-Wide Mission. disciple those whom God has ripened to always been saying and doing. He is a New York, Harper and Bros, (Fourth faith and repentance. We share with jealous God. Until Christ’s soon return, edition.) God in evangelizing the two and half bil- may we be found moving in rhythm 12. Nee,Watchman, 1961:43 What Shall lion. Responsible believers like Phil- with Him as we become more responsible This Man Do? London, Victory lip, Peter, William Carey and Bill Pencille in discipling the unreached peoples of Press. are lead by the Holy Spirit in their the world as His co-laborers until comple- daily “going, baptizing and teaching” 13. See Morris Leon, 1960:78-80 The tion around the Lamb’s throne. (Rev. (Matt. 28:19,20; Acts 8 and 10).13 Spirit of the Living God. Chicago, 5:9). Inter Varsity Press. The responsibility never was, nor ever will be, ours alone. Moreover, End Notes our failures and mistakes do not stymie 1. Glover, Robert Hall, 1953:101, The Dr. Douglas Smith has served in God’s program of redemption. We Process of World-Wide Missions. Bolivia as a missionary for many years. can and must harmonize with Him in His New York, Harper and Bros, (Fourth Currently he directs the Institute of harvest to disciple the lost whom He edition). Latin American Studies located in wants to save. 2. Lewis, C.S. 1959:32-36, Mere Chris- Pasadena, California. He is the Every few years International tianity. London, Fontana, (Sixth author of Towards Continuous Congresses on World Evangelization edition). Mission: Strategizing for the focus on mission strategy and the 3. Uda, Susumu, 1974:90 “Biblical Evangelization of Bolivia, and also dynamic process of reaping the harvest Authority and Evangelism.” ICOWE, Bendecidos Para Bendecir (Blessed among the remaining unreached peo- Let the Earth Hear His Voice. J.D. to be a Blessing). ples of the earth. In that light, no strategy Douglas, ed., 1975, 88-93, Minneapo- is sufficient which does not begin lis, World Wide Publishers.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS The Biblical Basis and Priority for Frontier Missions

We need to encourage those who have the gift and calling to keep moving to the peoples on the frontiers—the peoples of the earth WHO live beyond the hearing and seeing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. by William R. O’Brien few years ago the Ft. Worth Star- other? The title of this article may say word: Who-tier missions. The “who” of A Telegram carried an Etta more about the age of specialization frontier missions comprises any and Hume political cartoon. In each of the than it does about a biblical foundation all who still live beyond the hearing and four squares the reader sees a poor and priority for frontier missions. Or, the seeing of the gospel. Areas and mother with an empty bowl between her it may have more to do with the etymol- peoples of the earth with no church, with and her starving child. She speaks to ogy of the word “frontier” than it few or no believers, no Bible in the the child: 1.“Whenever you have no food does with missiology in general. Why written language, no Christian presence in your bowl at mealtime, you should bother differentiating between mis- for them to see and hear the word, no think of... 2) all of the poor bureaucrats in sions and frontier missions? broadcasts of the Good News is the focus. the world who never have...3) enough To be sure, there is but one foun- They are the peoples of the world imagination to figure out how to distribute dation for world missions. We may not be with no exposure nor access to the Word food surpluses... 4) They have to go talking so much about a difference in of any kind, just human beings, to bed with empty heads every night.” kind as we are a difference in degree. But created in the image of God, left to their It was an indicting statement that in this case the “degree” is very own inner-longings which pass in and gripped me. Beyond the physical and important. To understand the crucial out of the hole in the heart, finding noth- moral implications of the statement, I nature of that “degree,” one must ing solid on which to find repose and thought of its application related to Chris- understand what we mean by “frontier.” relief. They are the modern day “Gen- tian world mission. Can you imagine In one sense, we might say that the tiles” who are peoples “a hope not a poor lost mother saying to her child: 1) last great frontier in the world Christian having.” “Whenever you don’t have Christ in mission is the frontier of collabora- William Owen Carver was per- your heart, you should always think of... tion. Certainly the task is too large for any haps a mission scholar without peers, who 2) all the poor missiological bureau- single agency, church, denomination, taught at Southern Baptist Theologi- crats in the world who never have...3) or group of missionaries. The essence of cal Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky enough imagination to figure out how covenant is the interconnectedness of from 1896-1943. His translation and to distribute the gospel... all the parts. Collaboration is not compro- interpretation of the Greek text of Ephe- 4) They have to go to bed with empty mise; it is a mark of humility in the sians led him to the following conclu- heads every night.” presence of all the other gifts within the sion: One of the mysterious paradoxes Body of Christ. The promise, which became the only of the late twentieth century is the gap line of messianic hope and of divine But that kind of frontier is not the one between the great love of our Lord promise, was that embodied in cove- we are talking about here. Neither are nants, such as that with Abraham and confessed by those in our churches, in we talking primarily about geographic the other patriarchs. It was histori- missions agencies, and by missionar- frontiers. To speak of frontiers in cally a covenant with the descendants ies on the field, and their inability or of Abraham and fulfilled in Jesus of terms of real estate reflects a type of arro- unwillingness to close that gap Nazareth, the Christ, the Saviour. gance that defines one’s own turf as Having no share, by claim or conces- between the Good News “haves” and settled, familiar, and developed. To move sion, in that line, the Gentile peoples Good News “have-nots.” Have we were peoples “without a hope” – beyond the familiar to some frontier missed something of the heartbeat and literally, in emphatic construction, “a “out there,” requires a bit of pious condes- hope not having”.1 purpose of God? If so, does that mean cension that reflects a self-serving we have missed something of that Carver talks about the Gentiles being sacrifice. revealed will in the Word of God? God-less, not in the sense that we When we define “frontier mis- define atheists. Rather, it is those “who do Is there a biblical basis for missions, sions” we do not first ask the “where” nor not have God as he is, and must be on the one hand, and a different bibli- the “what” questions, but rather, the known for salvation. Such, then, is the cal foundation for frontier missions on the “WHO.” Maybe we ought to coin a new hopeless plight of the nations before INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS, VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996 50 The Biblical Basis and Priority for Frontier Missions

God came to them in the power of the ing on four cardinal missionary motifs in vant, not what the Servant does.”4 As lov- gospel of Jesus Christ.” 2 Scripture: compassion, martyria, ing and obedient children, the more The modern Gentiles who comprise God’s mission, and history. One could we understand mission as God’s work, the the Who-tier of missions today may say, then, that through the whole of more we as his children want to get be clustered in a geographic region such Scripture we view mission from the stand- involved with it. Divine and human activ- as the 10/40 Window. But due to point of the nature of God, modus ity must be held in countertension. migration patterns that have already operandi, ownership, and location. Bosch warns that if we separate God’s reached staggering proportions on a Compassion activity from human involvement we land in one of two untenable positions: global scale things have changed—many God’s nature is that of compassion. either we become fatalists because we of those beyond the hearing and see- The all-encompassing compassion of overemphasize God’s activity or we go ing of the gospel, have moved next door! God for the cosmos and all its contents the other extreme and focus on We distinguish them within popula- evidences itself in a litany that human endeavor and become fanatics. tion segments, like people groups, limited includes: accounts of creation, inclusion access nations, and even unreached of Adam and Eve in the plan, protec- 4. History cities. So back to the original question: tion of fallen humanity in removing them The mission of God happens in real What is the biblical basis and priority from the presence of the Tree of Life, time, among real people, in real for engaging in Who-tier/Frontier mis- guarding Cain by placing a mark on his places. The Bible contains the most sions focused on the unreached or forehead, the call to Abram and shap- important drama ever staged, and the unevangelized peoples of the earth? ing of a covenant community, denouncing reader is in front-row center. The God Principles Inherent in Scripture boundaries of narrow ethnocentrism who acts in real time, real place has through the Jonah experience, and the come among us. The risen, reigning There are “golden texts” within the ultimate word of compassion in Jesus Christ still acts among the 1.2 billion Bible that are often used on “Mis- the Christ. These few examples are mag- who do not know anything about him. He sions Sundays”, like Matthew 28, Acts 1, nified greatly when one reads the still acts in the earthly arena charac- Romans 10, etc. They are so obvious whole Bible sensitive to how the compas- terized by migration, urbanization, pov- they stand out as proof of the world mis- sionate God wills and acts, “not want- erty, tribalization, violence, AIDS, sion mandate. But proof texts can be ing anyone to perish, but everyone to and martyrdom. Christ-followers, by defi- used like a hammer to create guilt or to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) nition, neither sit still nor retreat into intimidate. When used to instruct and safe havens. They follow the Lord of the inspire, the focus on isolated texts separ- Martyria harvest to all those places where ates those very “proofs” from the This Greek word for “witness” Christ still acts in real time and real places larger body of literature that reveals the encompasses both definition and style, or to accomplish and complete His nature and purpose of God. David modus operandi. It obviously gives us redemptive purpose and plan for the Bosch says “one of the main reasons for the English word, “martyr.” How contrary world. the existence of this body of literature is this concept to much of the style of is the missionary self-understanding and Western Protestant mission endeavors A Scriptural Model involvement of the people who gave manifested in strategy, strength, and Do we need now to look at some birth to it.”3 Or, it may be that in looking triumph. Biblically speaking things are specifics from within the larger context of different: the strength of the task for a biblical basis for mission, mis- Scripture that would give us a clue flows through weakness. The mind of sionary advocates as a matter of course about concern for the unreached peoples took it for granted that it was the Christ is to be the mind of mission, of the world? The Spirit speaking enterprise they knew and were engaged in which willingly empties itself and takes through Isaiah reminded Israel that the that had to be justified biblically. the form of servant. Increasingly in task of the covenant community was this century we see servanthood taking on William Owen Carver used to ask far greater than raising up the tribes of more of the suffering qualities, even students in his introductory mission Jacob and restoring the survivors of unto death. course, “What’s the Bible all about? Is it Israel. God would give them as a light to ALL about ANYTHING?” The God’s Mission the nations (Gentiles, i.e., ethnic peo- remainder of the course was the unfolding The Church has no mission primarily ples) that God’s salvation might reach to of the whole of Scripture as the basis its own. God is the author of mission. the end of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). for understanding the mission of God. Again, David Bosch: “Mission is what In the great “resurrection seminar” Bosch helps us at this point in focus- God is doing to and through the Ser- Jesus held with his disciples during

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FRONTIER MISSIONS William R. O’Brien 51 the last forty days on earth, he “opened our apathy toward the totality of the mis- Body are not in sync with the Head. their minds” so they could understand sion reflects the assumption that God Conclusion the Scriptures and all that was written would never allow anyone to live in eter- about him in Moses, the Prophets, nal lostness. In light of the above, the matter of degree and priority of missions and the Psalms. Then, specifically, as Paul never thought in those terms. In becomes increasingly important. Through recorded by Luke, Jesus said, “This is fact he shared with believers in Rome the mission of the compassionate suf- what is written: the Christ will suffer and his joy at the opportunity to preach the fering-Servant, God acts in behalf of all rise from the dead on the third day, gospel all the way from Jerusalem creation, all peoples, and all human- and repentance and forgiveness of sins around to Illyricum, or modern-day Alba- ity. If almost twenty-five percent of all will be preached in his name to all nia. Then he said, “It has always been that humanity has never heard the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Again, my ambition to preach the gospel where Good News of God’s love, the fault does the “all nations” is not speaking of Christ was not known, so that I would not lie with God. nation-states, but all the ethnic peoples of not be building on someone else’s founda- the world (Luke 24:44-49). Since var- tion” (Romans 15:20). Paul went so It is time for the whole Church to ious groups hold to differing definitions far as to tell them that he had no more work together to find ways to express of what constitutes unreached peo- place to work, and therefore, would be compassionate, suffering service in real ples, the numbers range anywhere from moving on. The reason he might be able to time and difficult places to those 1685 to 6000 or beyond. However, visit the believers in Rome was not WHO have never heard. Since there is and this is the point to drive home, even if because Rome was his destination or even such imbalance in the stewardship of 4,000 of those ethnic people groups his next mission assignment. Rather, it human and financial resources as applied have never heard the Good News of Jesus, would be a stopping-off place on his way to Christian world mission, the it must mean the hands and the feet of to Spain where Christ was not known. Church and the churches must readjust the Body are not moving the same direc- In his great closing doxology to the their priorities to give a greater equal- tion as the Head intends them to go! Romans Paul indicates the reason that izing focus to this larger part of the unfin- As believers moved out of Judea and the mystery hidden for long ages was now ished task. The Church must give Samaria because of persecution, other an open secret and none other than greater encouragement to those who con- ethnic groups besides Jews were evangel- “that all nations (ethnic peoples) might tinuously stay out beyond the reach of ized and were added to the Church. believe and obey him (God)” (Romans the already reached—of existing planted The church at Antioch affirmed the “apos- 16:26). We note that Paul certainly churches. We need to encourage tolos” gifts of Paul and Barnabas and planned to do his share in helping all those who have the gift and calling to “sent” them to still other ethne (ethnic the Good News “have-nots” to get God’s keep moving to the peoples on the groups) beyond the reach of existing Word firsthand and without delay. frontiers WHO live beyond the hearing churches. Knowing Paul’s spirit, I doubt he even and seeing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. After all, there is a biblical basis, a To a new group of believers Paul saw Spain as an end in itself. biblical model as well as a biblical wrote his most comprehensive word on When Paul indicated there was no priority for doing so! the nature of God’s calling to the more work to do in the vast region Church and the churches. In Ephesians where he worked it did not mean that eve- End Notes Paul prayed that believers in that area ryone had become a believer and was 1. Carver, William Owen, The Glory of might “grasp how wide and long and high active in a new church, nor that unbeliev- God in the Christian Calling, and deep is the love of Christ...” To ers in Antioch, or anywhere else, were Broadman Press, Nashville, 1979, p. 93 grasp the width of the love of God is to unimportant, nor that no more churches 2. Ibid. p. 93 say that the scope of God’s love is all needed be planted. However, the ques- 3. Phillips and Coote, Toward the 21st inclusive of all the peoples and compre- tion of the matching of spiritual gifts and Century in Christian Mission, Orbis, 1993, p. 178 hensive of the whole world. calling with needs and opportunities is 4. Ibid. p. 184 But how will they know they are a crucial matter that must be kept in proper included if our actions as his people balance. And here is the imbalance: Dr. Bill O’Brien was a missionary virtually exclude them? It seems that our When 99% of all missions dollars and per- to Indonesia for 12 years with SBC. sonnel continue to work in areas actions, money, and placement of Presently he serves as Director of missionary personnel narrows the “width where over and over the gospel is pro- the Global Center of the Samford Uni- of God’s love” to include only those claimed and already received it can versity in Birmingham, Alabama. nearby and easy to reach. Furthermore, only mean the hands and the feet of the

VOL 13:1 JAN.-MAR. 1996