The desire to expand the church through evangelism is not a new concept that began with the modern missions or evangelical movements. It is as old as the church itself. Much writing from the early church on the topic focuses on the dual aspects of responsibility and unity. They found great beauty in the miracle of a world-wide fellowship that brought together all nations, but they believed the good news entrusted to them had to be spread quickly before it was too late.

Responsibility

Justin Martyr (110-165) wrote about the Christian stewardship of the Gospel in an imagined dialogue between a Christian and a Jew. He believed a variety of roles had been reassigned from the traditional people of God to the newly forming followers of Jesus when he wrote:

For the prophetical gifts remain with us, even to the present time. Therefore you should understand that the gifts formerly among your nation have been transferred to us. 

For Christians to assume this weighty task from their Jewish predecessors also meant they assumed a massive responsibility. Justin goes on to talk about how there were many false prophets among his contemporary Christians just as there were in the days of pre-Jesus Judaism. To counter these toxic voices, he turns to the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel who ministered under similar circumstances. In Ezekiel 33:1-9, God explains His expectations for His prophet. Justin summarizes the message and then self-identifies all Christians with the responsibility:

“I have made you a watchman to the house of Judah. If the sinner sin, and you warn him not, he himself shall die in his sin; but his blood will I require at your hand. But if you warn him, you shall be innocent.” And on this account we are, through fear, very earnest in desiring to converse with men according to the Scriptures.[1]

Of course, Justin was only echoing the Apostle Paul’s own reference to the motivational prophetic text in Acts 18:6. In this passage, Paul is also confronting Jews who reject Jesus as Messiah:

And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” (ESV)

Paul understood the urgency of his task to spread the gospel of Christ. He also realized the difference between his role and that that of the Holy Spirit. He was the messenger, but he could not change individual hearts. However, this Scripture also echoed a second evangelism goal as Paul removes the limitations of finding converts only from within Judaism. It would not be long before the fruits of his evangelizing would unify people around the world under the name of Christ.

Unity

Irenaeus of Lyons (115-202) spent much of his ecclesiastical career arguing for right doctrine in the face of heresy. Yet, despite his repeated run-ins with false teaching, he never lost a sense of amazement at how Jesus could bring all types of people together. He captured this motivation to see a multi-cultural faith when he described the phenomenal spread of Christianity:

For, although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the tradition is one and the same. For the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world. But as the sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shines everywhere, and enlightens all men that are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth.[2]

Ezekiel, Paul, and Justin knew that the believer could not be held responsible for the the hearer’s acceptance or denial of the message, but they did bear the weight of a watchman. Irenaeus imagined the warmth of the shared sun as a likely metaphor of how all mankind could bask in the mercy of same Christ. The modern church can appreciate this same response that leaves us running to the corners of our communities and our globe in the name of the only one that can save.    

Cover Photo by Ihor Malytskyi on Unsplash

[1]Steven A. McKinion, ed., Life and Practice in the Early Church: A Documentary Reader (New York: New York University Press, 2001), 117.

[2]Irenaeus, Against Heresies in McKinion, 118-119.