Teach It All
Posted by: forthrightmag <forthrightmag@...>
http://www.forthright.net
Going straight to the Cross
Don't whittle down the gospel to a little bit of
nothing.
Teach It All
by J. Randal Matheny
Ever since C. H. Dodd, in 1936, made a severe
separation between preaching (kerygma) the gospel
and Christian teaching (didache), people have
tried to whittle down what we should tell the non-
Christian about the church and Christian life.
Recently, as I prepared for Bible class, another
little note of interest surfaced. We're studying
the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit
in Galatians 5. As I neared the finish line on one
lesson, I consulted the Expositor's Bible
Commentary, where James Montgomery Boice offered a
perspective on the phrase in Galatians 5:21 about
the works of the flesh, "of which I forewarn you,
just as I have forewarned you, ..."
Boice remarks, "When Paul says that he warned the
Galatians of this previously (presumably when he
was among them), he reveals that his preaching was
never what one might call mere evangelism but that
it always contained a strong dose of the standard
of morality expected from Christians" (p. 497).
In the next paragraph, calvinist Boice offers the
old saw to wiggle out of a bind that "those who
keep living in the flesh give evidence that they
are not Abraham's seed and therefore will not
inherit salvation" (p. 497). But it's his first
affirmation above that especially interests me at
the moment.
As an intelligent interpreter of Scripture, Boice
is aware of the preaching/teaching dichotomy. And,
if we understand his point properly, he comes down
clearly that evangelistic preaching includes
teaching about morals.
From the start, he says, Paul preached about
repentance and the difference between right and
wrong. And most certainly he preached about God's
church, God's kingdom, God's mission.
It's simplistic to say, "Just preach Jesus, and
worry later about the rest." Our Lord always made
it clear the cost of following him. Changes,
repentance, commitment. And how can one repent
without knowing the wrong behavior which one
exhibits and the godly conduct demanded? Lists of
vices and virtues have fallen from modern use, but
not from ancient Testimony.
In an age when so-called Christians in
denominational churches demonstrate, according to
evangelical-friendly U.S. surveys, a conduct equal
to the world (and worse, in some cases), the need
to preach repentance from evil works and
commitment to godly conduct is greater than ever.
All preaching and teaching is necessarily
selective, according to the audience, the moment,
and the need. But as a general rule, we neglect
preaching the full meaning of repentance to the
peril of our hearers and ourselves as well.