Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary

GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS

- THE THEOLOGY OF MISSIONS

Submitted to Dr. Jim O’Neill

in partial fulfillment of requirements for ICST 500

by

Elke B. Speliopoulos

Downingtown, PA

April 10, 2010

 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3

MISSION IN OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT..............................................................................3

MISSION THEOLOGY IN RELATIONSHIP TO BROADER THEOLOGY..............................5

MISSION IN ITS THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT............................................................................5

KEY THEMES OF MISSION THEOLOGY..................................................................................6

IMPACT ON GOD’S PEOPLE.......................................................................................................7

CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7

BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................................9

ii
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INTRODUCTION

By default, a theology of mission has to be developed on a solid understanding of what is

meant by this term. Grudem offers the following description of evangelism and mission:

It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord
Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man’s spirit by
God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all
rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly
commanded in the teachings of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the
preaching of the gospel to all nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek
constantly to win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian lifestyle,
and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.0

It seems that the concept of “mission” has evoked a more focused effort in the Western

church than Grudem’s definition seems to provide, yet in it is the heart of a mission theology:

that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him

will not perish, but will have everlasting life, as John 3:16 tells us, and that this love God imparts

will drive His children to take this message to their neighborhood, their nation and the world. As

will be shown, God’s desire to bring His creation back into fellowship through the means of

missions is not a new one, but permeates the pages of the entire sixty-six books of the Bible.

MISSION IN OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT

Key passages that drive our understanding to what God intends for His creation in

missionary activity are found in both the Old and the New Testament. As Moreau, Corwin and

McGee describe, mission in the Old Testament is best viewed as a “divine drama in four acts”0:

creation and fall, God’s calling and setting a people for Himself, God’s work to rescue His

people, and God’s work in sending His people into exile. From God’s initial command to

multiply and subdue the earth in Genesis 9:1-7 to His covenant with Noah and his sons, which
0
. Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 1994), 1203.
0
. A. Scott Moreau, Gary R. Corwin, and Gary B. McGee, Introducing World Missions (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Academic, 2004), 27.
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encompasses all of mankind, to Abraham’s covenant with God, where God promises to bless all

nations through Abraham, God is shown consistently to extend His blessings to more than just a

chosen group of people. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s care for the foreigner living

among the Israelites shows that “even in the forging of Israel’s national identity the universal

nature of God’s concern is found.”0 Examples of this are found in many passages of the Hebrew

Scriptures, especially in the Psalms, e.g. Psalm 67, which clearly incorporates all nations into

this beautiful image of how God desires all people groups to worship Him.

The prophet Isaiah in such verses as 11:6-9, 42:6, and 49:6, and the minor prophets in

passages such as Joel 2:28 and 3:11-12, Amos 9:11-12, Habakkuk 2:14, Micah 4:1-4 Jonah’s

witness to Nineveh, Zephaniah 3:8, 20 are all examples of God’s care for - and also ultimately

judgment over - all the earth.0

The New Testament continues to portray the missional thinking of God with even more

straight forward and frequent descriptions. Now with a clear understanding of God’s salvation

through Jesus Christ, all four gospel writers present in lucid language God’s desire for a

restoration of the nations into relationship with Him. Key passages here are Matthew 24:14 and

28:16-20, with parallel passages in Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:36-49, and John 20:19-21.0

Obviously, one of the most quoted and cited New Testament verses is a major verse of missional

impact: John 3:16. Without God so loving the world, there would be no reason for missionary

activity. Likewise, Acts and the epistles offer many insights into both missionary “technique” as

used by the apostles and, in particular, Paul, and impact of the message.

0
. Ibid., 32-33.
0
. Ibid., 34-36.
0
. Ibid., 42-43.
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MISSION THEOLOGY IN RELATIONSHIP TO BROADER THEOLOGY

As Elwell writes, the foundations for missiology, or the formal academic study of

mission, are its biblical and theological roots. However, this “does not reduce missiology to a

subset of theology. Rather, it merely shows the necessity of theological foundations for the

discipline.”0 Moreau, Corwin and McGee agree with Elwell and see mission theology not as a

subset to the broad theological spectrum, but rather see it as the “core for all theological

studies”.0

MISSION IN ITS THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT

Despite the clear mandate within God’s Word, the separation of the body of Christ into

many denominations over the centuries has placed a barrier on the endeavor of bringing God’s

creation back into union with the One who created them. One of the objections to Calvinisim,

e.g., is that it “negates any missionary or evangelistic impulse”0 due to its inherent concept of

pre-election. Theologians such as Karl Barth wrote more than eight thousand pages to form his

systematic theology, yet he devoted only four and one-half pages to the topic of foreign

missions.0 At first glance, this seems to underserve the demand of Jesus in Matthew 28:19 to “Go

therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the

Son and of the Holy Spirit”.0 Yet, it becomes clear when studying Barth that he viewed missions

through exactly the lens of this passage of Scripture: “One thing is required of the disciples.

0
. Walter A. Elwell, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, second ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 1984, 2001), 780.
0
. Moreau, Corwin, and McGee, Introducing World Missions, 75.
0
. Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, second ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1998), 934.
0
. Waldron Scott, Bong Rin Ro, and World Evangelical Fellowship. Theological Commission, Karl Barth's
Theology of Mission, electronic ed. , Logos Library System; Outreach and Identity (Seoul: World Evangelical
Fellowship Theological Commission, 2000).
0
. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, vol. 2000 of 28 (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Mt.
28:19.
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They must matheteuein [make disciples].… What is added in the participle clauses is not a

second or a third thing alongside the first, but its elaboration.0”

Wright, as an Old Testament scholar and unlike other scholars writing on the topic of

mission, writes that not only does the New Testament contain a lot of mission oriented writings,

but so does the Old; as a matter of fact, he says, it is “not just that the Bible contains a number of

texts which happen to provide a rationale for missionary endeavor but that the whole Bible is

itself a ‘missional’ phenomenon.”0 He demonstrates this through a triangulated depiction of the

conceptual framework of Paul’s sermon in Antioch to a Jewish audience in the synagogue,

anchored on God, Israel and their land, in contrast to another of Paul’s sermons to a Greek

audience in Athens, which overlays and expands the original framework with a broader one of

God, humanity and the earth. Likewise the context of the mission expands from the Israelites’

understanding to a much wider sweep of relationships encompassing all nations on the earth, as

depicted within New Testament revelation.0

KEY THEMES OF MISSION THEOLOGY

While Moreau, Corwin and McGee identify various themes in mission theology, such as

– on the traditional side - the kingdom of God, Jesus Christ, the glory (or worship) of God, and

the Great Commission, or – on the contemporary side – contextualization, liberation, and missio

Dei, they state that Evangelicals have focused on the concern God has for the entire world,

human estrangement from Him, and the ensuing desire for reconciliation.0

0
. Scott, Bong Rin Ro, and World Evangelical Fellowship. Theological Commission, Karl Barth's Theology
of Mission.
0
. Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible's Grand Narrative (Downers Grove,
IL: IVP Academic, 2006), 22.
0
. Ibid., 394-95.
0
. Moreau, Corwin, and McGee, Introducing World Missions, 77.
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IMPACT ON GOD’S PEOPLE

Regardless of how ultimately mission themes are understood, the primary mandate needs

to remain the spreading of the Good News to those who have not heard and to make disciples of

them. For missionaries, this means that they need to not only know the Scriptures, but also need

to understand “the human context of missionary work, including the social, historical, and

religious settings”0 of where they will be working. Elwell proposes that this requires deep

insights into social sciences, including anthropology, communication, economics, education,

history, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology.0

For pastors and church leaders, this requires a prioritization of mission topics within their

broad scheme of evangelistic strategy in their local church. It cannot be a topic on the “back

burner”, but needs to be an integral part of local, national and global engagement.

For lay people, participation can still be fully achieved within the entire spectrum ranging

from dedicated prayer for missionaries, being on missionary support teams, going on short-term

mission trips all the way to providing funding for others to go – and maybe ultimately going

themselves, as God leads.

CONCLUSION

Mission theology, or rather mission thinking, as has been shown, has to be at the core of

our life as people of God. As such, one of the key elements of understanding within the body of

Christ needs to be the clear mission of God to bring His creation back into fellowship with Him.

If within Christian communities the focus is on just the believer’s personal relationship with

God, we fall short of the greater plan He has for each of His children to be a part of His broad-

reaching missionary approach, spanning both time and geographic space. In order to promote a

0
. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 780.
0
. Ibid.
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healthy understanding of this, church leaders need to incorporate biblical teaching on this

missionary theme within God’s character, ultimately desiring to bring His people back into the

Father’s house. Only then can we expect believers to fully grasp that while God absolutely does

not need their assistance, their participation can serve as not just a blessing to them, but a

blessing to every human being from every tribe and every nation whom He desires to be

reconciled to Him again.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. Second ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1998.

Grudem, Wayne A. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids,

Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 1994.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Vol. 2000 of 28. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society,
2001.

Scott, Waldron, Bong Rin Ro, and World Evangelical Fellowship. Theological Commission.
Karl Barth's Theology of Mission. Electronic ed. , Logos Library System; Outreach and
Identity. Seoul: World Evangelical Fellowship Theological Commission, 2000.