(From Justin Taylor's Blog)
"Gospel" means "good news." If so, then *the saying "Preach the gospel at all times; use words if necessary" makes about as much sense as telling a reporter he should broadcast the news but that words are optional.
(*St. Francis of Assisi apparently didn't say this; not sure who said it first.)
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The comments under the original post on JT's blog are worth reading also. Here's my personal opinion, having been involved in ministries that love to quote this saying: Speaking the gospel and living the gospel are inseparable. In America today, speaking the gospel is about the most unpopular thing you can do. Therefore, in ministries, especially relational ministries, I think that people need more encouragement to speak the gospel than they need encouragement to live it out (that is, in ways other than speaking it, which is certainly one way to live it out). For me personally, the result of hearing this saying over and over again was a massive under-emphasis on speaking the gospel.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
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1 comments:
Well said. We so emphasize relationship that we forget to ever mention Jesus, for fear of breaking the relationship. Did you ever see that Penn and Teller video? The dying world needs to know that there is an answer. And the answer is not a nice person who is willing to bake them cookies. The answer is Jesus.
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