Preaching Necessary
Rom 10:14,15 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Again notice that calling on the Lord in a sort of experimental fashion is excluded here. For the kind of prayer he refers to here is contingent upon a person actually believing in Christ. A person cannot legitimately call on the Lord in the sense spoken of here unless they first believe.
But how can a person come to believe in Christ if they don't know about Christ? How do you get to know Christ? It's not by some sort of spiritual experience or through dreams. It's by hearing what has been recorded of him in the Bible. For notice that he goes on to indicate that the kind of "hearing" he's referring to is hearing a message which is preached to them by some human being who had been sent on a mission to do so. This as opposed to one imagining that they hear God's voice speaking to them directly in their head. For that's not the way God ordained the message of the gospel to be communicated.
Thus Jesus commissioned his disciples, a commission passed on to the whole of the Christian community, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Mk 16:15 Salvation, under the New Covenant is contingent upon hearing and believing the gospel. And thus salvation of the world is in the hands of the Christian community. For if we withhold the message, if we neglect to preach the gospel, there will be people who will not be saved who could have been saved, had they heard and believed.
Obviously I have issues with those who excuse themselves and discourage others from being active in the ministry of the gospel saying, "If God wants those people saved he can do it without your help.", which is what William Carey's Presbyterian minister said to him with regards to his ministry in India. In contrast, after preaching the gospel in Acts 2, with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Acts 2:40 For God has ordained that people be saved through cooperation - cooperation on our part as ministers of the gospel, working together with God in the ministry, and cooperation on the listener's part, accepting the message by faith. This as opposed to the fatalistic view advocated by some in the Christian community.
You Christians who know the gospel, the Bible authorizes you to propagate the message. "God has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us." 2Cor 5:19b-20a The Thessalonians had been believers for just a short time before Paul wrote to them saying, "The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia— your faith in God has become known everywhere." 1Thess 1:8a And Paul writes, "I believed and therefore I spoke" 2Cor 4:13b The Lord authorizes you to preach the gospel and make disciples. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Mt 28:18-20 The church age has not ended yet, so get to it! Consider yourselves sent.
The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources
Rom 10:14,15 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Again notice that calling on the Lord in a sort of experimental fashion is excluded here. For the kind of prayer he refers to here is contingent upon a person actually believing in Christ. A person cannot legitimately call on the Lord in the sense spoken of here unless they first believe.
But how can a person come to believe in Christ if they don't know about Christ? How do you get to know Christ? It's not by some sort of spiritual experience or through dreams. It's by hearing what has been recorded of him in the Bible. For notice that he goes on to indicate that the kind of "hearing" he's referring to is hearing a message which is preached to them by some human being who had been sent on a mission to do so. This as opposed to one imagining that they hear God's voice speaking to them directly in their head. For that's not the way God ordained the message of the gospel to be communicated.
Thus Jesus commissioned his disciples, a commission passed on to the whole of the Christian community, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Mk 16:15 Salvation, under the New Covenant is contingent upon hearing and believing the gospel. And thus salvation of the world is in the hands of the Christian community. For if we withhold the message, if we neglect to preach the gospel, there will be people who will not be saved who could have been saved, had they heard and believed.
Obviously I have issues with those who excuse themselves and discourage others from being active in the ministry of the gospel saying, "If God wants those people saved he can do it without your help.", which is what William Carey's Presbyterian minister said to him with regards to his ministry in India. In contrast, after preaching the gospel in Acts 2, with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Acts 2:40 For God has ordained that people be saved through cooperation - cooperation on our part as ministers of the gospel, working together with God in the ministry, and cooperation on the listener's part, accepting the message by faith. This as opposed to the fatalistic view advocated by some in the Christian community.
You Christians who know the gospel, the Bible authorizes you to propagate the message. "God has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us." 2Cor 5:19b-20a The Thessalonians had been believers for just a short time before Paul wrote to them saying, "The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia— your faith in God has become known everywhere." 1Thess 1:8a And Paul writes, "I believed and therefore I spoke" 2Cor 4:13b The Lord authorizes you to preach the gospel and make disciples. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Mt 28:18-20 The church age has not ended yet, so get to it! Consider yourselves sent.
The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources
