MISSIONS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
“Missions is the heart of God and the over all messege for all believers and is also he theme of the Bible."1 This missions unites all sixty-six books in the Bible. Paul makes known the mystery of the gospel Ephesians 3:6 stemming from the Old Testament, that it is also for the gentiles and not limited to the Jews only.
From the very beginning of creation the gentiles, or all peoples not Jews, have been a part of the saving grace of the Lord. The apostle's understood this plan and is evident in their writings. On the day of Pentecost Peter quotes the book of Joel saying stated, "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Joel 2:32). What the prophet Joel said was fulfilled that day before Peter’s very eyes. Later, Peter enters the house of a Gentile and preaches the good news. The Holy Spirit came upon on all who heard and believed. "All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:43). Paul had a clear understanding of the Gospel in the Old Testament and said in one of his sermons, he quotes Isaiah 49:6 where it states, "I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth."
It was not easy for the Apostles to learn this. Luke 18:31-34 says, "they understood none of these things." H. Cornell Goerner says that Jesus began to show them from the scriptures everything about his death and the father's plan. Jesus also instructed
1H. Cornell Goerner, All Nations in God's Purpose, (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1979), 11.
James, John, and Peter after the transfiguration on the mountain. These teaching sessions were passages from the Old Testament.2 In spite of these...
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...a heart for missions even before Christ came and iterated this from the very beginning. Israel’s early mission was to be a witness to the world so that when the right time came, the Gentiles would be ready to receive the salvation that was promised to the world.
14Ibid., 85.
Works Cited
Goerner, H. Cornell. All Nations in God's Purpose: What the Bible teaches about missions. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1979.
Hedlund, Roger E. The Mission of the Church in the World. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985.
Love, Julian Price. The Missionary Message of the Bible. New York: The MacMillan Company,1941.
Willis, Avery T. The Biblical Basis of Missions. Nashville: Convention Press, 1979.
Meek, James A. Gentile Missions in the Old Testament. Library of New
Testament Studies, 385. New York: T&T Clark, April 2009.
Wuthnow, R. (2009). Boundless Faith: The Global Outreach of American Churches. California: University of California Press.
After his conversion to Christianity, Paul traveled throughout the Roman Empire and preached the Gospel, similar to Jesus’ own ministry across Galilee. Paul’s teachings were more focused on the community and the relationships of its members with each other and with non-Christians, whereas Jesus’ teachings were geared towards the individual and his/her personal relationship to God. Despite this discrepancy in their doctrines, Paul’s teachings remain consistent with those of Jesus. In his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul’s teachings, such as unity in the community and love for others, echo the teachings of Jesus as depicted in the Gospel of Mark and Matthew. Paul essentially reiterates the teachings of Jesus, and applies them to the lives of the people he preaches to, so that they may understand Jesus’ teachings and embrace Christianity.
· Lewis, CS. Mere Christianity. New York: Doubleday, 1982. · McBride, David. The Story of the Church.
Mead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier . The Alban Institute, Inc., 1991. Kindle eBook file.
Jenkins, Phillips. The Lost History of Christianity. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2008. Print. Phillips, Jonathan.
In general, I do not believe that Christian mission and contextualization occurs only when a Christian or a group of Christian travel to remote places in the world to spread the Gospel; that concept of missiology is another way of imperialist point of view. Mission and contextualization occurs every day, not only on mission abroad.
Turner, David L. Matthew: Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008.
That is, when Jews go to Gentiles they need to show that Christianity is available to the Gentiles, without forcing them to become Jews to be Christians. Cornelius had assembled his relatives and close friends to hear Peter’s message. Peter explained as he entered the house that Jews do not associate or visit Gentiles because they are viewed as unclean, but God had shown Peter that he should not consider any man unclean, so he came without objection. This provided an opportunity to explain the gospel to those in the house and the Holy Spirit fell upon all listening. The Gentiles began to speak in tongues as the Christians had at first, showing that they were authentically saved with the repentance that leads to life (Acts 10:44–48;
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
Gonzalez, Justo L. 1984. The early church to the dawn of the Reformation. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
Watts, John D.W. Nahum. Vol. 34, in World Biblical Commentary, edited by David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker, 61-90. Waco, TX: Word Books, 1984.
...hristianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church. Grand Rapid, MI: Zondervan, 1954.
Teaching and teachers have been around for a long time. In the Old Testament, the instruction was provided by the scribes. Even though we don’t have an in-depth description of teaching techniques, we do have an idea that the usual method was rote memory. The teacher’s role was to communicate the message and the hearer was to recite that same message back to the teacher. Teaching then moved to another phase – this next phase was to arouse the listener’s aptitude by presenting problems and to cultivate the students use of his powers by demanding that he exercise those powers. This background just mentioned was to help us understand the Old Testament teaching, which laid the groundwork for the ultimate teacher – Jesus the Christ.
It was clearly not an indication of the end times, but a renewal of the covenant that God made with his chosen people. Peter regurgitate and reminded the believers of the God’s promise while connecting the experience of the Spirit with the Law already written in their hearts. Dunn shares, “The already established link between Pentecost, covenant renewal, and the giving of the Law probably prompted the first believers to interpret their experience of the Spirit as the fulfillment of the promise of a new covenant.” Luke, John, and Peter provides meaningful insight into Pentecost and the Holy Spirit. However, Paul underlines and fully expands the overall consideration of the exalted Christ and the
Gonzalez, Justo L. The Story of Christianity. 2nd ed. New York City, NY: HarperOne, 2010.