“You Must Earn the Right to Share the Gospel” – WHAT?
It is almost a fact that most Christians now believe that the right to share the gospel must be earned. Therefore most Christians think of evangelism as starting friendships where the aim is to cultivate trust to the point where a conversation about the gospel would be natural and comfortbale. Is this a Biblical way to think about evangelism? NO.
This belief comes from J.I. Packer’s book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (1961). This book is a foundational document on evangelism, divine sovereignty, and human responsibility. Besides this one belief it produces, the book is great. On page 90 Packer says the following:
The right to talk intimately with another person about the Lord Jesus Christ has to be earned, and you earn it by convincing him that you are his friend, and that you really care about him…we must be justified in choosing to talk to them about Christ and in speaking to them about their own spiritual needs…
I know that many who may read this will instantly think that I’m the one who is wrong to say Packer is wrong here, but hear me out. This line of thinking that we must ‘earn’ the right to share the gospel, and be ‘justified’ in bringing up the gospel with people makes one error. It makes the error of being more cultural then Biblical. Do you see Jesus or any of the apostles earning the right to share the gospel in the Bible? Did Philip earn the right to intrude on the Egyptian eunuchs reading time to ask him “What are you reading?” (Acts 8) Did Stephen earn the right to share with the people before they stoned him? (Acts 7) Did Paul earn the right to preach to those cities?
The answer to this question, from the Bible, is always no. Everyone who shared the gospel was more concerned with getting the message of Jesus out than the person’s feelings about being offended by the gospel. If the Jesus or the apostles were concerned with ‘earning’ the right to share the gospel before they shared, I think the growth of the Church would have been drastically different! This is where I think Packer, and the many who agree with him on this issue, have uncritically accepted a cultural rule over the Bible.
I am not saying that friendships are not a great way to share the gospel, they are and should be used and sought after diligently! I am not saying that we ought to just go out banging people in the head with our Bibles, screaming at them to repent. I am not saying that evangelism should be done without love, it ought to! I am saying that I think Packer is wrong to say that sharing the gospel with someone has to be earned. It does not. Would it be loving to let a blind man keep walking toward to edge of a cliff? No, it wouldn’t. No one in their right mind would ever think upon seeing this, “I cannot go up and tell him he’s going in the wrong direction, I don’t want to intrude on his choices, and besides, we don’t even know each other, how could I tell him to change the path he has chosen to walk on?” That is absurd to the highest degree, and just like that, today too many Christians view evangelism in the same manner. “We cannot just go up to people and say their wrong, and that they should repent and turn to Jesus, that would be foolish and offensive!”
We must see that Jesus never earned the right to share Himself with others, and the apostles never earned the right to share the gospel. Christians must take up the gospel, as it is, and share it with those around them, in love. We know their end is hell if they do not repent, and that should move us to share with them and plead with them, IN LOVE, to turn to Jesus while there is still time. May we never withhold sharing the gospel because we think we have not earned the right to do so! No messenger of a king bearing the king’s message ever waited to earn his right to share the word from his king. He shared it, because that was his duty! So too, all Christians are ambassadors for Christ, and it is our joy to share the gospel with as many as we can. If Christ has given us approval to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations, we need not earn another’s approval to share the gospel, the message of our king.
This is one place where J.I. Packer has uncritically accepted part of his own culture as Biblical. Have you done the same?
This isn’t the first time I’ve disagreed with J.I. Packer, he signed that “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” document. I agree with you, Adam.
Travis,
Yeah, ECT and this quote in the blog above are the only two places I have ever disagreed with Packer. I am very grateful for him and all he has done for the Church; but he proves, AS WE ALL DO, that we are all children of our times. Thanks for your comment Travis!
Adam
Adam,
Thanks for a well written article. If I may, I’d like to take another look at Packer’s comment and your response from a slightly different angle.
I think you are correct that it is not Biblical to say one has to ear the right to share the Gospel. With all my passion, I can and should share my faith with anyone who will listen. The question is, “Will they listen?”
Perhaps what Packer should have said is that we should earn the opportunity to be heard. The model of becoming a friend first, and sharing faith second is based on a modern sociological understanding that we, as humans in a busy world, tend to filter out much of the “noise” around us. As such, we listen to what we’re interested in and connected to. When a friend speaks, we’re more apt to give our attention to what is said then when a stranger speaks because we have a pre-existing connection with our friends.
However, becoming a friend is not the only way to “earn” this opportunity to be heard. Christ earned the right by (1) performing miracles, (2) asking questions that indicated He knew the deepest secrets of the person to whom He was speaking, (3) challenging the status quo thus making the listener consider His point, etc. Often, His reputation alone granted Him the platform to be heard.
Again, I agree that Packer’s comment is not accurate, but it does serve as a reminder that the listener must be willing to listen, or else our words will fall on deaf ears.
Rich