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.
[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, 3rd 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.
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