Why Foreign Missions? 20f. The Gospel According to Paul—Word Study 3: Martyrion/Martyreō

Why Foreign Missions? 20f. The Gospel According to Paul—Word Study 3: Martyrion/Martyreō

Not only is the Gospel something to proclaim (see the previous study); it is also a ‘testimony’ or ‘witness.’  This study will explore the significance of the Gospel as a witness by looking at the verb (martyreō) and the noun (martyrion).

While the word is widely used in the Bible (195 times in 170 verses in the New Testament and 529 times in 472 verses in the entire Bible[1]), its relevance to a study on the content of the Gospel is limited to a few verses in Paul, several in the Johannine literature, and a couple verses in Acts.  Once again, the content of the Gospel is seen to be about Jesus Christ.  However, one of the passages in this study (1 Tim. 2.3-7) expands the search for the Gospel’s content to include the use of Israel’s confessional statement in the Shema.  The following study, then, reaffirms that Jesus is the content of the Gospel, but it also provides us a way to understand the interesting link for Paul between Israel’s confession and the Gospel.

‘Martyrion’ in Paul

1. 1 Corinthians 1.4-7

The first use of maryrion of interest is in 1 Cor. 1.4-7:

1 Corinthians 1:4-7  ⁴ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus,  ⁵ for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind--  ⁶ just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you--  ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

One might, conceivably, take ‘testimony of Christ’ (martyrion tou Christou) as a subjective Genitive, such that the meaning is ‘a witness that Christ himself gives.’  In that case, the speech, knowledge, and spiritual gifts would be understood as Christ’s witness among believers.  While that is true, the meaning that I prefer takes the phrase as an objective Genitive: ‘the witness about Christ’ that the Church gives in its enriched speech and knowledge.  Paul gives thanks for the Corinthian church’s strong witness to Christ.  In this way, there is parity between Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel and the Church’s witness of the Gospel.  This witness of the church is not merely verbal; whatever the church is and does is to be a witness about Christ.  In this way, v. 7 is also significant.  The church’s witness about Christ is conducted through its spiritual gifts that bear witness to the truth of Christ, and this is a witness that will be proven as true when our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed at his second coming.  To the extent that the power of God is evident in the church through spiritual gifts, the church functions as a testimony to the truth of the power of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Paul is subtly correcting the Corinthians while praising them in this thanksgiving at the beginning of his letter.  They have not tied their understanding of the power of God to the cross (1 Cor. 1.17-18), their experience of spiritual speech (tongues and prophecy; 1 Cor. 14), spiritual knowledge (1 Cor. 8-10), and spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12) to a witness about the death and resurrection of Christ.  Some have even denied a future resurrection (1 Cor. 15.12), such that they see their present life as a witness to the future coming of Christ.  Thus, while Paul offers thanksgiving for elements of the truth in the Corinthian church’s witness of Christ, he also has much to critique about their witness.  In such a use of the phrase ‘witness of Christ,’ we see how much more Paul has in mind than a proclamation of the Gospel in word.  One can witness without words, and the church is itself a witness to the world about Christ Jesus.

2. Second Thessalonians 1.10

Another passage of interest is 2 Thes. 1.10:

2 Thessalonians 1:6-10   ⁶ For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,  ⁷ and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels  ⁸ in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  ⁹ These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,  ¹⁰ when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

The proclamation of the Gospel is a testimony.  Just as the correct response to hearing the proclamation is faith, so too the correct response to hearing the testimony is belief (English has two words, ‘faith’ and ‘belief,’ while the Greek is the same).  The content of the witness is, in this case, focussed on the future coming of Jesus.  The reason for this focus is that this church has been confused by a false prophecy or forged letter that claimed that Jesus had already returned—that the day of the Lord was already present (2 Th. 2.1-2).  As in 1 Corinthians, Paul places in his thanksgiving at the beginning of the letter an indication of the error in regard to the Gospel into which this church has fallen.  Unlike 1 Corinthians, the error is not focussed on the cross and resurrection of Jesus but is focussed on the future coming of Christ.  The cross, resurrection, and future coming of Christ are all part of the Gospel to be believed.

3. 1 Timothy 2.3-7 and Paul’s Use of the Shema

A third text using the term ‘witness’ in relation to the Gospel is 1 Tim. 2.3-7.  This passage allows us to include a brief study of Paul’s use of the Shema in his writings to describe the content of the Gospel.  The Shema is a daily prayer composed of Dt. 6.4-9; 11.13-21; and Num. 15.37-41.  Of significance for our purposes is only the first verse:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone (Dt. 6.4).

Commentators are aware of Paul’s use of the Shema, but they typically do not notice that Paul’s use of the Shema is related to his understanding of the Gospel’s content.  Yet, since Israel’s unique witness to the world was its belief in one God, and one might expect that Paul would connect this witness to the Gospel, the Church’s and his own witness to the world.  Indeed, Paul does this very thing in 1 Tim. 2.3-7:

³ This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,  ⁴ who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  ⁵ For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human,  ⁶ who gave himself a ransom for all-- this was attested at the right time.  ⁷ For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

The witness given at the right time (v. 6; the Greek might be rendered as ‘who gave himself a ransom for all, the witness at the right time’) in this passage is a witness that interprets the meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross.  Jesus’ death was a ‘ransom [antilutron] for all.’  Paul’s words in v. 7 indicate further that Jesus’ death as a ransom for all gets at the core of his Gospel, for it is the substance of the message he offers as a herald, apostle, and teacher.  Also interesting is how Paul’s alteration of the Shema, Israel’s own ‘Gospel,’ as it were, serves as a statement of Paul’s Gospel witness: one God, one mediator, who gave himself as a ransom for all.  The ‘for all’ (v. 6) relates to the Shema precisely because, if there is only one God, then there is only one God for all instead of each nation having its own god or gods.  That is, the Jews’ Shema is the basis for a universal Gospel, in Paul’s view.

Paul appears to use the Shema not only in 1 Tim. 2.5-6 but also in 1 Cor. 8.6; Rom. 3.30; and Eph. 4.4-6.  In 1 Corinthians 8.6 he says,

yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord [kurios], Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Paul’s expansion of the Shema in 1 Cor. 8.6 involves understanding ‘Lord’ in the Greek of Deuteronomy 6.4-5 (the beginning of the Shema) to refer to Jesus, as follows:

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD [Greek: kurios] is our God, the LORD alone.  ⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might (Dt. 6.4-5).

As Richard Bauckham notes in reference to 1 Cor. 8.6, Paul

is redefining monotheism as christological monotheism.  If he were understood as adding the one Lord to the one God of whom the Shema` speaks, then, from the perspective of Jewish monotheism, he would certainly be producing not christological monotheism but outright ditheism….  Thus, in Paul’s quite unprecedented reformulation of the Shema`, the unique identity of the one God consists of the one God, the Father, and the one Lord, his Messiah.[2]

If 1 Cor. 8.6 witnesses Paul’s emendation of the Shema to include Jesus as the one Lord and mediator between God and men, then Rom .3.27 witnesses Paul’s emendation of the Shema to include a confirmation that justification (or righteousness) comes through faith for both Jews and Gentiles—that is, for all.  Romans 3.27-31 states,

²⁷ Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith.  ²⁸ For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.  ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,  ³⁰ since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.  ³¹ Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

The Shema is also the basis for Paul’s theology in Eph. 4.4-6:[3]

⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,  ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

The oneness of God is the reason for every other oneness of the believers.  In fact, Eph. 4.4-6 offers a Trinitarian version of the Shema:

                One body, one Spirit, one hope

                One Lord, one faith, one baptism

                One God and Father of all—above all, through all, in all

The unity of God is the Trinitarian fullness of God, ‘God in three Persons,’ as the Church will later say.  It is not a tri-theism, which would mean a plurality.  The monotheistic confession of Israel’s Shema is the very basis of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.  Also, the Trinitarian unity of God is the basis for the unity of the Church and its faith.  Furthermore, it is the basis for God’s universal fatherhood,[4] as in Rom. 3.29-30 and Eph. 4.6. 

This reflection on the Shema in a Trinitarian statement is something that Paul explored before writing Ephesians in 1 Cor. 12.4-7:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;  ⁵ and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord;  ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.  ⁷ To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Thus 1 Tim. 2.6-7 combines the expansion of the Shema in 1 Cor. 8.6; Rom. 3.27-31 and Eph. 5.4-6 (a passage that is paralleled in 1 Cor. 12.4-7 and again affirms unity among believers).  1 Tim. 2.6-7 does not include the Trinitarian expansion of Eph. 5.4-6 and 1 Cor. 12.4-7, however.  The witness of Judaism, that there is one God who should be obeyed by every Israelite, becomes the witness of the Church, that there is one God, with Jesus Christ sharing in the divine identity, serving as a mediator between God and humanity, and giving himself as a ransom for all, both Jews and Gentiles.  This is the substance of the ‘witness’ given at the proper time that constitutes Paul’s Gospel (1 Tim. 2.5-7).

Earlier (study 20b), I discussed Gordon Fee’s argument that, in Paul’s Corinthian correspondence, there is a Trinitarian dimension to the Gospel’s content.  The previous paragraphs have found this in Paul outside the Corinthian correspondence in Eph. 5.4-6.  There may also be some further evidence of this outside of Paul in Hebrews 2.1-4 (note the Trinitarian declaration in my italics and structuring):

Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.  ² For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty,  ³ how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was

*declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him, 

*⁴ while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles,

*and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.

To be sure, the content of the Gospel is not typically stated in a Trinitarian form, even though this comes to be the form for the Apostles’ Creed much later.  The focus is usually Christological, as we have it in, e.g., 2 Tim. 1.8, which also uses the term ‘martyrion’:

Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony [martyrion] about our Lord[5] or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God.

The Johannine Literature

The term ‘martyrion’ as a way of speaking about the message of the early Church that is focussed on Jesus is common in the Johannine literature.  For example,1 John 5.6-10:

⁶ This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.  ⁷ There are three that testify:  ⁸ the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree.  ⁹ If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son.  ¹⁰ Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.  ¹¹ And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

Here again, with the term ‘martyrion,’ we find the content of the Gospel to be Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Jn. 1.2; 4.14).  The Gospel of John also understands Jesus’ message, a revelation of the Father, to be a ‘witness’ or ‘testimony’ (e.g., Jn. 3.33; 18.37), and God’s witness to be about Jesus (Jn. 5.31; 8.18).  Jesus’ works, inasmuch as they are given Jesus by the Father, also function as the Father’s witness about Jesus (Jn. 5.36; 10.25).  The Scriptures also testify about Jesus (Jn. 5.39), the Spirit will testify about Jesus (Jn. 15.26), and the disciples testify about Jesus (Jn. 15.27).  In other words, the Gospel is understood as a ‘witness’ that centres on Jesus.

The same can be said in regard to the book of Revelation.  In Revelation, the ‘word of God’ is another way of speaking about the ‘testimony’ or ‘testimony of Jesus Christ’ (Rev. 1.2, 9; 6.9; 20.4), and Christian ‘testimony’ is what is otherwise spoken of as proclaiming the Gospel about Jesus (Rev. 11.7; 12.11, 17; 17.6; 19.10.  Moreover, John the Baptist and the disciples are witnesses—eye-witnesses—to Jesus (Jn. 1.17f, 15, 19; 19.35; 21.24).

The Book of Acts

Similarly, Acts has two verses that affirm that Jesus is the content of the Gospel.  The apostles are eyewitnesses who can witness to Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 4.33) just as Paul, who was not an eyewitness, witnesses about Jesus (Acts 22.18).

Conclusion

This study affirms what we find through other word studies and methods of examining the content of the Gospel.  By examining the use of the term ‘witness’ as a verb (martyreō) and as a noun (martyrion) in relevant New Testament passages in Paul’s letters, John’s writings, and Acts, we have seen that the Church’s witness was a witness about Jesus Christ.

In this study, Paul’s use of ‘martyrion’ in 1 Tim. 2.6 raised a further point of interest in regard to the Gospel and its content: the relation between Israel’s testimony in the Shema and the Church’s testimony in the Gospel.  Paul adapts the Shema to the Christ-focussed Gospel.  The Christian (Paul and Hebrews) adaptation can also be stated in a Trinitarian way.  Whether Jesus is understood as participating in the identity of the One God or whether the Trinity is understood as the fullness of the One God, the early Church continued to affirm that there is only One God.  In addition to Christology and Trinitarian theology, Paul found the Shema to be a way to affirm that there is a single plan of salvation for both Jews and Gentiles.  He also found in the Shema’s affirmation of God’s Oneness the grounds for unity among God’s people, the Church, and God’s fatherhood over all peoples of the earth.

The significance of such a study might be stated in how erroneous understandings of the Christian Gospel fail to understand what has been observed here.  Any who would attempt to articulate the Christian faith apart from Jesus at its very centre are manufacturers of another Gospel altogether.  Second, any who would attempt to downplay the significance of the Trinity in Christian teaching have not noticed the relationship between Israelite monotheism in the Shema and the Christian Trinitarian Gospel.  Third, any who would attempt to understand the Gospel as only for a particular group of people, not for all people, have failed to understand the Fatherhood of God and the good news that He offers to all people.  Fourth, God’s universal Fatherhood is not the same as universal salvation: the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Church’s witness to the world about Jesus Christ.  It is a witness that must be believed or received.

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[1] Many of the times the word is used in the Old Testament occur in the phrase ‘tent of witness’—the tabernacle.

[2] +Richard Bauckham, God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1998), p. 38.

[3] +Andrew Lincoln also sees that the Shema underlies this passage (Ephesians (Word Commentaries, Vol. 42; Waco, TX: Word, 1990), p. 240).

[4] I say this because of Rom. 3.29-30, already discussed, as well as because of Eph. 3.14-15: ‘For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.’  See +Markus Ephesians: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary on Chapters 4-6 (Anchor Bible, Vol. 34a; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974), p. 471; Andrew Lincoln, Ephesians, p. 240.  Contra +Harold Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), p. 519.  Paul’s point is that the basis for unity in the Church and its faith—which applies only to Christians, as Hoehner points out—is the Trinity and God’s universal fatherhood—which applies to all.

[5] This is, again, an Objective Genitive: the witness of our Lord (to martyrion tou kyriou).

Why Foreign Missions? 20e. The Gospel According to Paul—Word Study 2: kērygma and kerussō

Why Foreign Missions? 20e. The Gospel According to Paul—Word Study 2: kērygma and kerussō

The ‘Gospel’ that was discussed in the previous study is something that is ‘proclaimed.’  My second word study related to the content of the Gospel, then, has to do with the words ‘kērygma’ (proclamation) and kerussō’ (to proclaim).[1]  Here, too, a deeper understanding of the content of the Gospel can be discovered through a study of where the words are to be found in Scripture.

The Greek Old Testament uses ‘kērussō’ 27 times in 25 verses.  The verb means more than just ‘to say something out loud.’  It is used in reference to an important announcement of some sort.  As we study examples of such a usage in the Old Testament, we also see a connection with a particular announcement of importance that relates to the New Testament’s Gospel.

We find the word used in the Old Testament in reference to a public announcement.  For example, a crier ran before Joseph’s chariot in Egypt to proclaim, ‘Bow the knee’ (cf. Ex. 36.6; 1 Kgs. 22.36; 2 Kgs. 10.20; 2 Chr. 20.3; 24.9; 36.22; Est. 6.9, 11; Prov. 1.21; 8.1; Dn. 3.4; Hos. 5.8; Joel 1.14; 2.1, 15; 3.9; Jon. 3.5).  Prophets also give public announcements; they ‘proclaim’ their message (Mic. 3.5; Jon. 1.2; 3.2, 4).  In all the uses of the verb in the Old Testament, none of the passages conveys what we would consider as preaching, which is how the term is often translated.  It does not have to do with a sermon or homily that is a study of a Biblical texts or an exhortation to a congregation.  It is public declaration and an announcement of some very important information or news.

The final two passages to note where the verb is found from the Old Testament are of interest for a study on the ‘Gospel;’ both have to do with a public announcement of the important news of the coming of God’s kingdom.  The first passage comes from Zephaniah, a prophetic book from the time of Josiah and directed to Judah and neighbouring nations.  It predicts judgement and removal from the lands of these nations because of sin.  Yet it also predicts forgiveness and restoration.  Israel is told to ‘proclaim’ (LXX)[2] that God has taken away His judgement against him, removed his enemies, and that the ‘Lord’ is in his midst as king (Zeph. 3.14).[3]  Earlier in this passage, the sinfulness of Jerusalem and the nations is in view, and God’s solution is to render judgement against both (Zeph. 3.8) and then to ‘change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord’ (Zeph. 3.9).  Thus Zephaniah 3 involves a proclamation of God’s gracious restoration of Israel and the nations after he has judged them for their sins. 

The Septuagint of Zechariah 9.9 uses ‘kērusse,’ ‘proclaim’ (imperative) in reference to the righteous king riding a donkey into Jerusalem and bringing salvation: ‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud [kērusse], O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’  Here we have a messianic proclamation.

In this regard, we should note that a passage already referenced, Is. 61.1, which also uses the word: the one on whom the Spirit descends will announce good news (euangelisasthai) to the oppressed, heal those who have been broken in heart, and proclaim (kēruxai) liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.  This is Jesus’ own programmatic passage for his ministry (Lk. 5.16ff).

The noun, ‘kērygma,’ refers to the proclamation, the content of the proclaiming.  It is only used three times in the Old Testament (2 Chr. 30.5; Prov. 9.3; Jon. 3.2).  The two uses of the noun outside of Paul in the New Testament are in verses referring to Jonah’s proclamation to Nineveh (Mt. 12.41; Lk. 11.32).  

The verb’s and the noun’s usage in regard to the proclamation of the Gospel in the early Church likely derives from the more basic meaning of the words, not from a significant Old Testament passage.   However, the proclamation of salvation for God’s people in Zeph. 3.14 and the related passage in Zech. 9.9 that envisions the righteous king bringing salvation do relate to the New Testament understanding of the Gospel.

Matthew, Mark, Luke (in both the Gospel of Luke and in Acts), Paul, and John (once in Revelation) use the verb, kērussō.  ‘Proclaim’ is what John the Baptist does (e.g., Mk. 1.4; Mt. 3.1; Lk. 3.3; Acts 13.34).  It is also what Jesus does (Mk. 1.14; Mt. 4.17; Lk. 4.4).  Jesus’ travelling ministry involved proclaiming the ‘good news/gospel of the kingdom’ (Mk. 1.38-39; Mt. 4.23; 9.35; 11.1; Lk. 8.1; Acts 10.37).  The disciples are also to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is near (Mk. 3.14; 6.12; Mt. 10.7; Lk. 9.2) or, as Acts 10.42 puts it, ‘He commanded us to preach [kēruxai] to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.’  Some who are healed or delivered begin to proclaim what Jesus had done (Mk. 1.45; 5.20; 7.36; Lk. 8.39). 

In this change from the message of the kingdom being the proclamation to the message of what Jesus, the one bringing the kingdom, has done, we see how Jesus becomes the content of the ‘good news.’  Thus, when we turn to Acts, Philip is said to ‘proclaim’ Christ in Samaria (Acts 8.5).  After his conversion, Paul begins to ‘proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God’’ (Acts 9.20; cf. 19.13).  But Paul can just as easily refer to his message as ‘proclaiming the kingdom’ (Acts 20.25).  Proclaiming the kingdom of God and proclaiming Jesus amount to the same thing, as we see in Acts 28.31: Paul is in Rome ‘proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.’

In Paul’s letters, Jesus is the content of the proclamation that is the Gospel.  The passages to consider are the following.

*The words ‘Gospel’ and ‘proclamation’ appear together in Rom .16.25: ‘Now to the one able to make you stand fast according to my Gospel and the Preaching [Proclamation]of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of past but now revealed the mystery hidden in ages through the writings of the prophets according to the command of the eternal God being made known for the obedience of faith to all the nations....’  This passage also emphasises the obedient response of faith from those who hear and that the proclamation is for all nations. 

*Similarly, the ‘foolishness of the preaching [proclamation]’ (1 Cor. 1.21) that brings salvation to those who believe is a preaching about Christ crucified (1 Cor. 21.23). 

*In 1 Cor. 2.4, Paul says that his word and proclamation were not through the persuasive words of wisdom but in a showing of the Spirit and power.  Here the relationship between content and character of Paul’s missionary proclamation are brought together.  Paul does not proclaim as do the Greek orators.[4]  The content of the Gospel is at odds with the powerful rhetoric because this would upstage the show of the Spirit and power that is consistent with the content of the Gospel.  Note in this passage, too, that the response to the Gospel is not some sort of powerful expression on the hearer’s part but simply faith.  The proclamation’s content is commensurate with its expression and reception.  This power of the Gospel is seen in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, which is equally a part of the proclamation as the cross of Jesus. 

*1 Cor. 15.14 states: ‘If Christ has not been raised, then both our preaching [proclamation] is vain and your faith is vain, and we are found to be false witnesses of God, for we witnessed accor­ding to God that he raised Christ, whom he did not rise if it is true that the dead are not raised.’  I have once again suggested replacing the NRSV’s ‘preaching’ with ‘proclamation.’  What Paul does is make a public announcement to do with the remarkable good news concerning Jesus’ death and resurrection more than offer a public lecture or sermon of some sort.  He offers a ‘witness’ to this event which, once again, calls for faith. 

*Similarly, Paul’s goal is to ‘fulfill’ the proclamation of this message to the nations (2 Tim. 4.17).  In order to do so, ‘the Lord stood by’ Paul and ‘empowered’ him. 

*The final use of ‘proclamation’ by Paul could be discussed at length: ‘Titus 1:1-3  Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that is in accordance with godliness,  ² in the hope of eternal life that God, who never lies, promised before the ages began--  ³ in due time he revealed his word through the proclamation with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior…. (Titus 1.1-3).  One might note the parallel terms of ‘faith,’ ‘knowledge,’ ‘truth,’ ‘hope,’ ‘word,’ and ‘proclamation.’  This is a particular message to be proclaimed and believed, and here the content of the message is described as ‘the hope of eternal life.’

In conclusion, proclamation is what Paul does as an apostle (one sent), particularly to the Gentiles.  What he proclaims is ‘the Proclamation.’  This proclamation refers to a specific content that is about Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Paul understands his own role to involve carrying this proclamation of God’s power to the nations as it is for Jews and Gentiles.  The content of the proclamation needs to be expressed not only in word but in how it is presented—not as the Greek orators—and in how it is received—by faith.

The proclamation is about God's saving work for a sinful people, whether Jews or Gentiles.  This proclamation is already one stated in the prophets, such as in Zeph. 3.14-15; Zech. 9.9; and Is. 61.1.  God would restore his sinful people and the nations (Zeph. 3.14-15); Israel's king would be restored to Zion to save her from her enemies (Zech. 9.9, cf. v. 16); and God's Spirit-anointed prophet would proclaim liberty to the captives.  This salvation came in Jesus Christ.  It came first in Jesus' ministry, which announced God's coming reign, the Kingdom of God.  It came in particular through Jesus' death and resurrection.  The news of God's salvation for Jews and Gentiles in the prophets, of the Kingdom of God in the Gospels, and of Jesus Christ in Paul is the same thing.  This is the content of the proclamation that drives Paul the apostle on.  It is his mission to the nations.

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[1] I am avoiding the technical term ‘preach’ for translating this word, since we are likely to read into such a word our own understanding of what ‘preaching’ is in the church.  The same might be said for our word ‘evangelist,’ taken from ‘euangelion’ (Gospel), since evangelists in our day may or may not have anything to do with proclaiming the Gospel.

[2] The Hebrew has ‘rejoice,’ simḥiy.’

[3] Cf. +N. T. Wright.  Although Wright does not, to my knowledge, discuss Zeph. 3 in this regard, he says that ‘Jesus applied to himself the three central aspects of his own prophetic kingdom announcement: the return from exile, the defeat of evil, and the return of YHWH to Zion’ (Jesus and the Victory of God (London: SPCK, 1996), p. 477).  Similarly, he says, ‘the Kingdom of God’ involves these three themes (p. 481).  First, the return from exile is equivalent to dealing with Israel’s sin: Israel went into exile because of her sin, and so to come out of exile means to deal with this sin (see Wright, p. 268).  It is the end of Israel’s punishment for sin (Lam. 4.22; Jer. 31.31-34; 33.4-11; Ezek. 36.24-26, 33; 37.21-23; Is. 40.1-2; 43.25-44.3; chs. 52-55; Dn. 9.16-19).  Second, the defeat of Israel’s enemies did not turn out to mean the overthrow of the Roman Empire in Israel for Jesus.  Rather, Jesus accomplished this as the shepherd who would be struck (Zech. 13.7; cf. Mk. 14.27; Mt. 26.31), the stone that the builders would reject (Ps. 118.22; cf. Mk. 12.10; Mt. 21.42; Lk. 20.17; Acts 4.11; 1 Pt. 2.7), the one rejected by God (Ps. 22), and the servant who would suffer redemptively (Is. 53).  Through his own battle that he fought by suffering, Jesus overthrew Satan (p. 605).  He also fought the battle against those pushing for Israelite nationalism, the battle of Caiphas the high priest who called for Jesus’ death, and the battle with Rome, whom he fought in Gethsemane by refusing to fight (cf. p. 609).  Finally, Wright says, ‘Jesus went to Jerusalem in order to embody the third and last element of the coming of the kingdom.  He was not content to announce that YHWH was returning to Zion.  He intended to enact, symbolize and personify that climactic event’ (p. 615),‘ and he notes the following OT passages in regard to the return of YHWH to Zion: Is. 4.2-6; 24.23; 25.9f; 35.3-6, 10; 40.3-5, 9-11; Is. 52.7-10; 59.15-17, 19-21; 60.1-3; 62.10-11; 63.1, 3, 5, 9; 64.1; 66.12, 14-16, 18-19; Ezek. 43.1-7; Hag. 2.7, 9; cf. 1.8; Zech. 2.4-5, 10-12; 8.2-3; 14.1-5, 9, 16; Mal. 3.1-4; 50.3-4; 96.12-13; 98.8-9.  To these passages we should add Zeph. 3.15.

[4] See the excellent article on this point by +Bruce Winter, ‘The Entries and Ethics of Orators and Paul (1 Thessalonians 2.1-12),’ Tyndale Bulletin 44.14 (1993): 55-74.  Online:

http://www.tyndalehouse.com/tynbul/library/TynBull_1993_44_1_03_Winter_1Thes2_OratorsAndPaul.pdf (accessed 19 June, 2013).

Why Foreign Missions? 20d. The Gospel According to Paul—Word Study 1: ‘Euangelizomai,’ and ‘Euangelion’

Why Foreign Missions? 20d. The Gospel According to Paul—Word Study 1: ‘Euangelizomai,’ and ‘Euangelion’

The verb, ‘To proclaim good news’ (euangelizomai),[1] and the noun, ‘good news’ (euangelion),[2] could be used broadly or more specifically in Greek.  More specifically, the usage was in regard to announcing a victory, a communication of the gods, or some imperial event, such as the birth of a future emperor or his coming of age.[3]  Everett Ferguson draws attention to a 9 BC text celebrating the Emperor Augustus that uses the Greek word ‘euangelion’ to refer to the ‘good tidings’ of the benefits of his rule:

Since the Providence [Pronoia] which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life has set in most perfect order by giving to us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue [divine power] that he might benefit mankind, sending him as a Saviour [Sōtēr], both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance [phaneis] excelled even our anticipations], surpassing all previous benefactors [euergetai], and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he had done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning for the world of the good tidings [euangelion] that came by reason of him….[4]

Thus the early Church’s use of ‘gospel’ may have been heard by at least some in the audience in contrast to the Imperial Cult’s claims about its Emperor, its ‘Lord and Saviour.' 

Paul uses this verb and noun to describe his role in the Good News[5] (Rom. 1.15).  It is the activity of the one who proclaims (kērussō) (Gal. 2.2)[6] and who is sent (apostellō) (Rom. 10.15).[7]  He intends to evangelize where Christ's name was unknown (Rom. 15.20).  He is sent not to baptize but to evangelise (1 Cor. 1.17), which is his compulsion (1 Cor. 9.16, 18).  (The English word ‘evangelise’ comes from the Greek word, ‘euangelizō,’ meaning ‘I proclaim the good news.’)  Paul even sees himself as set apart from his mother's womb and called by God's grace to evangelise Christ among the nations (Gal. 1.16; Rom. 1.1; Eph. 3.8).  Emphasis may fall on the activity, preaching, or on the content, the Gospel, when Paul uses the term.  This is evident when he uses the verb and noun together: proclaim the Gospel (1 Cor. 15.1f; 2 Cor. 10.16).

The significance of the term can be seen in its use ‘to herald Yahweh's uni­versal victory over the world and his kingly rule’ (e.g., Pss. 40.9; 68.11; 96.2ff; Isa. 41.27; 52.7).[8]  The crucial meaning  of ‘Gospel’ in the New Testament comes from its usage in Isaiah.  Isaiah uses the verb six times in four verses.  Each is important for the early Christian message.

The first passage is Isaiah 40:9: ‘Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"’  This text appears at the beginning of the message that God was bringing exiled Israel out of captivity.  Is. 40.3 was taken by the early Church to refer to John the Baptist’s ministry.  Is. 40.9 announces God’s coming, reminiscent of Jesus’ proclamation that the Kingdom of God had drawn near (Mk. 1.15; Mt. 4.17; Lk. 10.9, 11).  The ‘Good News’ involves the coming of and the presence of God, which in turn means a redemption from exile for Israel.

The second passage is Isaiah 52:7: ‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."’  This text has similarities to Is. 40.9.  It is quoted by Paul in Rom. 10.15.

The third text is Isaiah 60:6: ‘A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They [the nations] shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD.’  The Greek translation of this text has for the last words ‘they will proclaim the good news of the salvation of the Lord.’  This text is significant because it refers to the participation of the nations in the redemption that God would bring for Jacob (Israel) that had just been announced a few verses earlier (Is. 59.20-21).

The final text is Isaiah 61:1: ‘The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners….’  This is the text that Jesus quotes in his first sermon in Luke’s Gospel, the sermon that inaugurates Jesus’ ministry (Lk. 4.16ff; compare the beatitudes in Mt. 5.3ff).

We see from these verses, then, that Isaiah 40ff was programmatic for John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ ministry.  We also see that Jesus’ message of the coming of the Kingdom of God is a message that is tied to the early Church’s proclamation of the ‘Gospel.’  Both proclamations announce God’s coming or bringing of salvation for Israel and extend this good news to the nations.  For the early Church, Jesus was the central figure in God’s mission of bringing this good news to Israel and the nations.  He who came proclaiming this good news of redemption and salvation in his message of the Kingdom of God also was the one who brought redemption for Israel and salvation for all nations through his sacrificial death on the cross, thus dealing with sin.  Thus the proclaimer of good news, Jesus, became the good news, the Gospel.

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[1] Paul uses the verb in: Rom. 1.15; 10.15; 15.20; 1 Cor. 1.17; 9.16, 18; 15.1, 2; 2 Cor. 10.16; 11.7; Gal.1.8, 9, 11, 16, 23; 4.13; Eph. 2.17; 3.8; 1 Th. 3.6.

[2] Paul uses the noun in: Rom. 1.1, 9, 16; 2.16; 10.16; 11.28; 15.16, 19; 16.25; 1 Cor. 4.15; 9.12, 14, 18, 23; 15.1; 2 Cor. 2.12; 4.3, 4; 8.18;  9.13; 10.14; 11.4, 7; Gal. 1.6, 7, 11; 2.2, 5, 7, 14; Eph. 1.13; 3.6; 6.15, 19; Phl. 1.5, 7, 12, 16, 27;  2.22; 4.3, 15; Col. 1,5, 23; 1 Th.1.5; 2.2, 4, 8, 9; 3.2; 2 Th. 1.8; 2.14; 1 Tim. 1.11; 2 Tim. 1.8, 10; 2.8; Phlm. 13.

[3] Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church, pp. 56f.

[4] As quoted by +Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 3^rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003), p. 46.  From W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae (2 vols.; repr. Hildesheim, 1960) number 458.  Trans. A. D. Nock in Early Gentile Christianity in its Hellenistic Background (repr. New York, 1964), 37 (Essays, 79).

[5] The English word ‘Gospel’ is an old English word.  It is made up of two words, ‘good’ and ‘spell’ (meaning ‘tale’ or what someone says—‘news’).  The word is used for the ‘good news’ that the early Church proclaimed and believed.  It was also used of the biographical writings of the early Church about Jesus—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  The use of the term for these writings originates from Mark’s use of the term in his first verse: ‘the beginning of the ‘good news’ of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’ (Mk. 1.1).  Here, ‘Jesus Christ, the Son of God’ is understood as the content of the good news.  Since a Gospel writing explores this content through a biographical writing, the term ‘Gospel’ came to be applied to these writings.

[6] ‘Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain’ (Gal. 2.2).  The Greek word ‘kērussō’ is often translated ‘I preach.’  ‘Preach’ has become a highly nuanced term, being associated with a Sunday morning sermon.  The general term, ‘proclaim,’ is better for English translations of the New Testament usage.

[7] ‘And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Rom. 10.15).

[8] U. Becker, ‘Gospel,’ The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1975-1978), 107‑115; here, p. 109.