FAITHFULNESS: A PRESCRIPTION FOR THEOLOGY

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar 2006 by Blaising, Craig A

Before he ascended into heaven, the Lord Jesus commissioned his followers to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:16-20). In doing this, the Gospel of Matthew tells us, they were to teach the nations to obey all that he had commanded them. The setting, the meeting at the mountain, the appearance of the Lord who has all authority in heaven and on earth, ordering obedience to all of his commandments, must have recalled to their minds the meeting of God with Israel at the mountain of Sinai where commandments were given that they be his holy people (Exodus 19-20). Perhaps they also recalled the promise in Isaiah that the nations would come to the mountain of the Lord and that they would be taught his ways, so that they might walk in his paths (Isa 2:2-4).

Luke likewise tells us that, before his ascension, Jesus explained to his disciples the things concerning him in all the Scriptures, the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, that he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and that he sent them to proclaim from the Scriptures repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations (Luke 24:27, 44-48).

John tells us about the sending of the disciples in the context of the upper room discourse and the high priestly prayer. Jesus prayed for the sanctification of those from the nations who would believe in him through the word of his apostles (John 17:17-21), the very same apostles whom he commanded to abide in and keep his word (John 15:7-11) and to whom he promised to send the Holy Spirit not only to bring to their remembrance the words he spoke to them but also to guide them into all the truth, fulfilling Christ's intent to say many other things as the Holy Spirit declared to the disciples all that belongs to Christ, which is also all that belongs to the Father (John 14:15-17, 25-26; 15:26-27; 16:12-15).

The obligation in the commission in the three Gospels is clear. The role of the disciples of Jesus in the work of discipling the nations is subordinate. The nations will come to know Jesus, not his disciples, as Lord. They will be discipled in the words of the Lord, which include the words of his personal instruction, the words of the OT Scriptures, as he explained them, and the many other words that he would say by the sending of the Spirit of truth to his apostles. The words of his disciples serve in this task and are accountable to him in the accomplishment of it.

This is why Paul immediately stepped in, so to speak, into the situation at Corinth when he heard that the church was quarrelling about whom to follow (1 Cor 1:10-4:21). Paul reminded them that he had come to them as a servant of Christ (1 Cor 3:5-9; 4:1-4). Paul had proclaimed to them the cross of Christ, just as the Lord had commanded (1 Cor 1:17- 2:5), and as an apostle of Jesus Christ, he proclaimed the wisdom of the mystery of Christ given through the Holy Spirit, "things God has revealed to us through the Spirit," he said, for "we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit" (1 Cor 2:6-13).

Paul was a servant of Christ, a steward (oikonomos) of the mysteries of God, which did not belong to him, but were given to him, revealed by the Holy Spirit. And, he says, it is required (zeteitai), it is requested, or better, it is demanded, ordered, that stewards be found faithful (1 Cor 4:1-2). Ordered by whom? By Christ, the one of whom he is a servant. He, the Lord, demands, he orders faithfulness in the task of proclaiming, of teaching, of discipling the nations, in his words.

Brothers and sisters of the Evangelical Theological Society, our work as evangelical theologians and scholars of the Word finds its raison d'être in the Lord's commission to disciple the nations by proclaiming to them and teaching them his Word. We serve "Jesus Christ as Lord" in this task, "not ourselves" (to quote Paul again, 2 Cor 4:5). We teach students formally and informally. We write books and articles, commentaries and treatises, we review each others' works and the works of others not of our society, we speak publicly and privately, but we are under obligation in this work of words, and that obligation is to see that others are discipled in his Words.

Not everyone, of course, sees the task of theology and biblical scholarship in the same way.

At this conference, we have been addressing the theme of Christianity in the Early Centuries, and this is so important because how we construe early Christianity is directly related to how we perceive who we are and understand the nature of our task. My purpose in this address is to take us back to the beginning of the Christian mission as set forth in the Scripture, to the Lord's commission to the disciples, and to the mission understanding of the apostles, to clarify our task within the history of this mission. Those who are most popular today in setting forth alternative views of early Christianity do not do so out of a mere antiquarian interest. They do so for the purpose of prescribing rules for theological discourse today.