I have a question I’d like you to consider. I raise it because yesterday I was interviewed about this very question by Jim Burns for his nationally syndicated radio program, HomeWord with Jim Burns, who was talking with me about my book, I’m Okay-You’re Not.
The question I explore in I’m OK—and the one I’d like to ask you now—is whether or not you think that The Great Commandment and The Great Commission are (at this point in our culture) incompatible. I’m OK asserts that they are (and then, lest I be accused of being just a troublemaker, goes on to reconcile the two). I don’t want to sum the book up here; it is, after all, a question that demands some real respect and time to deal with properly. But let me here throw out this basic Stack O’ Propositions to you, and see if they don’t bring you to the same conclusion I keep coming to:
1. Fulfilling Jesus’ “Great Commandment” means loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.
2. Fulfilling Jesus “Great Commission” (“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations …”) means sharing the gospel with nonbelievers, in the hopes that they’ll really hear the message of Jesus, believe in Him, and become Christians.
3. Putting The Great Commandment into words means saying to a nonbeliever something that, in essence, amounts to, “I love you with all of my heart.”
4. Putting The Great Commission into words means saying to a nonbeliever something that, in essence, amounts to, “You should exchange whatever you believe in now for belief in Jesus Christ.”
5. Boiled down even further, “You should exchange whatever you believe in now for belief in Jesus Christ,” amounts to, “You need to radically change who you are.”
6. ”I love you with all my heart,” and “You need to radically change who you are” is a confusing, unhelpful message.
7. Maybe we should rethink how we do evangelism.
What do you think? Does all that make sense? Have I totally missed or boggled something in this line of reasoning?
I’m no logician; I’m no theologian; I’m no Bible scholar. I’m just a regular guy who, before I was a Christian, used to wonder how Christians could think that anyone would ever react positively to the message “I love you; now change.”
And now that I am a Christian, I still wonder about that.
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Posted by daniel on January 14, 2009 at 11:43 am
John, I think that as christians we’ve omitted parts of the great commission. The greatest commandment though remains what it is. The thing with the great commission is that it is the “sharing the gospel with nonbelievers”. But we often forget what the gospel, which means good news, is in this context.
Yes, it is the gospel of salvation that says “we are all sinners and we are doomed to burn in hell, but jesus christ paid the price in our place, so that if we believe in him, our sins are forgiven and we can now go to heaven”. What we often forget though, is that there’s also the gospel that the kingdom of god is right here on earth or “at hand”. What I mean is that in the context of “sharing” my faith with unbelievers, it is the kingdom of god shining through from the inside out that people around us notice and want to know “hey, you’re different. why?”. Or showing kindness to someone
who didn’t expect it and then wonders why we do what we do.
So it is first the kingdom inside of us that is demonstrated. And then it is communicating the gospel of the kingdom, that this kingdom can also be inside of the unbeliever because of the gospel of salvation.
Now, here’s the tricky thing: the great commission can only be fulfilled by fulfilling the great commandment. They MUST go hand in hand, or none of them can be effective. (Otherwise the great commission becomes the great omission – see i told you i keep finding the funnies in everything!)
Posted by LDS & Evangelical Conversations on June 12, 2009 at 10:32 am
Are Evangelicals Really Christians?…
Forgive the provocative title.
Reading through the Gospels has put a lot of questions in my mind about what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Jesus is quoted as giving some pretty direct statements regarding who would be his true followers and be pa…
Posted by Dennis Clough on November 24, 2009 at 10:27 pm
What if your understanding of the “greatest” commandment is wrong? I would like to say that the greatest commandment in the Bible is one that gives eternal life to the believer. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” is far better than asking dead men to love God.
Christ’s answer about the “greatest” is in the context of the Ten. Do you not know that both Paul and Peter, James consenting (Acts 15, also Galatians 5) call the Law, all of it, all 10, a yoke of bondage unfit for the necks of new creatures in Christ?
The Law is like an xray machine which can reveal the cancer of sin but cannot cure it. Jesus Christ is the healer who plants a new nature in forgiven sinners. This new nature is equipped to grow and be transformed into the image of Christ as it is fed the Word of God rightly divided.
Oh for a return to Galatians preached and properly understood for a surge of truth and power through out the church of the Living God! Christ fullfilled the Law; both it’s righteous requirements and its death penalty for every Law breaker. There is no Gospel but this Gospel and only Gospel believers will go to Heaven having been born again down here. That’s a message worth sharing!
It is entirely possible to be saved and afterwards add requirements to grace, thus polluting grace and making it largely inoperative in the present earthly life of the believer.
That is what Paul was dealing with in Galatians. He said that little leaven (that’s rotted dough, btw) leaven’s the whole lump. We are to get rid of any teaching that contradicts the promises of grace in even the weakest believer’s life. God bless, Dennis
Posted by Dennis Clough on November 24, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Btw, I have found sucess in witnessing by being direct, dealing with the big issues. Asking questions with a smile works very well and trusting God to use His word is great. Definitely a learning experience every time. Questions work well … offer a tract … if its received the ask,”Are you interested in spiritual things? What do you think happens after we die? Do you believe in Heaven and h
Hell? Where do you think you will go after you die? Why? Naturally, give time for responses and try to be brief on the street unless the person shows that they really want to continue. Do not argue or take offence.
Be friendly: I spoke to a lady about the 2 dogs she was walking as I handed her a tract. She took it and started telling me about her dogs, whom she obviously loved. She mentioned that one of them had been rescued after being abandoned. She remarked that the rescued dog always seemed much more grateful than the other dog. What an opening! I told her how Jesus Christ had rescued me and how I am going to be forever grateful to Him …
Posted by frank sonnek on May 25, 2010 at 6:36 am
“I love you; now change.”
But is this what christians are told to tell people?
The bible says that we are all spiritually dead. What is it that a dead person can do? Change that fact?
So maybe the Holy Gospel is proclamation and not invitation or command?
And maybe that proclamation is like God speaking “Let there be light!” Light spoken is not light that choses to be.
Jesus is the bridegroom. the church is the bride. In his day, marriages were arranged. The bride did not choose the groom.
Find a Lutheran church John. because you are Lutheran whether you know it or not.