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Preaching Jesus David A. Cox
There are many people in the religious world today that say “We need
to just preach Jesus, and forget about the church and the plan of
salvation.” Their thoughts are that preaching Jesus should be “about
the man and the plan.” It is agreed that we must be preaching the
good news of Jesus Christ and the word of His saving grace for that
is God’s plan for saving man (1 Corinthians 1:18; Romans 1:16). Our
emphasis in preaching and teaching must be the same emphasis as in
the first century or else we will cease the practice of New
Testament Christianity. All we need to do is to go to the Bible and
read what kind of preaching was done under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit.
The Day of Pentecost
The first example of preaching is seen in Peter’s sermon on the day
of Pentecost. In Acts 2, we have Jews gathered from every nation at
Jerusalem to keep the feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:5). Peter preached
to them about Jesus Christ and who he was (Acts 2:14-36). After the
conclusion of Peter’s sermon, those that heard were pained immensely
for their sins and asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Peter told them to “repent and be baptized everyone of you for the
remission of sins” (Acts 2:37-38). Peter was preaching Jesus. If
preaching Jesus did not include repentance
and baptism, then Peter would not have preached it. But preaching
Jesus did include these commands. Jesus taught the necessity of
these commands. “I tell you Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all
likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). The command Jesus gave just before He
ascended to heaven. “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;
but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15-16). As a
result, Peter preached Jesus and included these commands that Jesus
taught that were necessary for the forgiveness of sin. As a result
of Peter preaching Jesus, we read, “Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them
about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).
The Preaching To The Samaritans
Another example is in Acts 8. After the persecution arose against
the church the Christians
“were all scattered abroad throughout the regions…they that were
scattered abroad went
every where preaching the word” (Acts 8:1,4).
In verse 5, we are told that Philip “went to the city of Samaria,
and preached Christ unto them” (Acts 8:5). Philip was preaching
Christ and confirming the word he preached by performing miracles.
“When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the
kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized”
(Acts 8:12). Even a man that had used sorcery and bewitched the
people of Samaria believed and was baptized (Acts 8:13). Here in the
city of Samaria, Philip preached Christ or Jesus. After believing
what Philip was preaching was the truth from God they were baptized.
The Ethiopian Eunuch
After the conversion in Samaria, Philip came into contact with a
man, the Ethiopian treasurer, on the road to Gaza. This man had been
to Jerusalem to worship God. He had travelled many miles and was
reading from the prophet Isaiah while returning home. The prophesy
which he was reading was about Christ, but he did not understand of
whom Isaiah was speaking and he inquired of Philip to see if he
could give him an answer. “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began
at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus” (Acts 8:35).
Here again we have Philip preaching Jesus. As they went along the
road they came upon some water and the Ethiopian said, “See, here is
water what doth hinder me to be baptized?” As a result of Philip
preaching Jesus, the Ethiopian learned of his need to obey the
commands of the Lord and desired to be baptized.
The Corinthians
Another example of one preaching Jesus is Paul. Paul wrote to the
church at Corinth, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not
with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the
testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1-2). Paul
was describing the time when he first came to Corinth and preached
“Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” In Acts 18, we have recorded the
time that Paul is referring to in First Corinthians. We are told
that Paul reasoned with the Jews and the Greeks in the synagogue
testifying to them that Jesus was the Christ. In verse 8 we read,
“And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord
with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed,
and were baptized” (Acts 18:8). Remember Paul said that his only
concern when he came to Corinth was to preach Christ and Him
crucified. Paul did just that, he preached Jesus and those convicted
of the message obeyed the commands of the Lord.
Application
These examples of preaching Jesus show that to preach Jesus means to
preach Him completely.
If one were to teach you about Abraham Lincoln, what would one need
to teach you about him? If you are going to know Abraham Lincoln it
would be necessary to talk about him. Not just his death, but his
birth, what he did, what he accomplished and what he stood for. That
is exactly what those in the first century did
when they preached Jesus. Their preaching involved everything about
Jesus, His love, His compassion, His righteousness, His judgment,
His birth, His death, His resurrection, His church and His plan to
save man. As Peter, Philip and Paul preached Jesus, they did not
stop short of telling men completely about Jesus. They were not ugly
or hateful, but told men because of their love for their souls.
Today, we need to be sure we are preaching Jesus. Making him the
focus of the message because that is exactly what we see they did in
the first century. The preaching of Jesus then pricked the hearts of
men and they responded overwhelmingly to obey (Acts 2, 8, 18). ~
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The Reliability of
the Scripture By Pat Goguen
There are three tests which are generally applied to determine
the historical reliability of historical documents. These are not
tests made up by Christian scholars to overemphasize the importance
of the Bible: Sanders outlines these tests in an English
text-Introduction to Research in English Literary History. These
tests are: 1). The bibliographic test-how many manuscripts of the
document exist, and how long was the time from the original writing
to the earliest copy? 2). The internal evidence test - does the
document in question contain any contradictions or known
inaccuracies? 3). The external evidence test - do other documents
confirm the document in question? As we will see, the New Testament
is so far ahead of the writings of man in these categories that if
we deny the New Testament, then we must deny the greater part of the
history of the world:
"To be skeptical of the resultant text of the New Testament is to
allow all of classical antiquity to slip into obscurity, for no
documents of the ancient period are as well attested
bibliographically as the New Testament. "
John Montgomery, History and Christianity, p. 29.
The Bibliographic Test
No other book in history has nearly the bibliographic evidence of
the New Testament. Over 24,000 manuscripts of New Testament books
survive today, some of which date only 25-100 years after the
writing of the original documents. The only secular document which
comes close to having the manuscript support that the New Testament
has is Homer's Iliad, which only has 640 surviving copies, and the
earliest of these dates 500 years after the writing of the original
document. Other ancient writers, whose works are accepted without
question on the basis of only 20 or 30 manuscripts are Aristotle,
Caesar, and Livy.
The Internal Evidence Test
This test strives to determine if a document is reliable by
searching for inconsistencies within the document itself. There are
many people who believe that the Scripture does contradict itself in
places. However, most of these critics violate this basic rule of
literary criticism, stated by Aristotle and repeated by John W.
Montgomery in History and Christianity : "the benefit of the doubt
is to be given to the document itself, not arrogated by the critic
to himself ."
One must listen to the claims of the document under analysis, and
not assume fraud or error unless the author disqualified himself by
contradictions or known factual inaccuracies.
John W. Montgomery - History and Christianity
The New Testament passes this test in every respect when this simple
rule is remembered.
Consider also that the Bible was composed and circulated during a
time in which there were many alive who could verify the things
which were testified of. If a New Testament author were to be
inconsistent or untrue to the facts, there were people alive who
could challenge those accounts with eyewitness testimony.
The External Evidence Test
This test of accuracy looks to see if the document in question is
supported by other historical evidence. In the case of the Bible,
there is no evidence from other writers of that day which would lead
us to believe that the Bible is inaccurate. Rather, much of the
historical account given in the New Testament is confirmed by
ancient historians such as Thallus, Josephus, and Pliny. The
writings of early Christians are also an important external witness
because not only do these Christians quote extensively from the
Scripture (giving us even yet more evidence of the accuracy of the
New Testament text), it is apparent from these early writers that
the New Testament was accepted as a reliable historical document.
These men were much closer to the events of the New Testament than
any scholar of today, and in some cases were men who had actually
been taught by the apostles.
- Pat Goguen |
