Executive Brief:
Chapter 10 focuses on the Great Commission. If the Great Commission is truly the single most important mandate given by Christ to His church, then it follows that it would be helpful to know what it is and what it means. The goal of this rather extensive chapter seeks to flesh out the biblical mandate of Christ's Great Commission mandate.
I have gone about seeking to understand the Great Commission in several ways in this chapter. After some preliminary points, I seek to flesh out each of the five Great Commission passages. I discuss and have charts and graphs discussing the interrelationship of the Great Commission passages. I look at other commands to evangelize in the Bible, of which there are quite a few. Then we look at OT sequels to the Great Commission passages.
Toward the end of the chapter, I discuss distractions or other commands that appear to compete with the Great Commission for preeminence in the local church. It is my wish that this chapter will help keep the Christian, pastor, and church on focus in fulfilling the Great Commission.
With this in mind, I began to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of four categories of evangelism programs: initiative evangelism methodologies, relational or lifestyle evangelism methodologies, servant evangelism methodologies, and special event methodologies. Whereas there can be huge methodological arguments and significant discussions and disagreements on these methodologies, a discussion of strengths and weaknesses ought not be ignored. It is for this reason that I have kept this chapter for the very end of the book. Without the conceptual framework of the earlier portions of the book, a discussion of methodologies is so animated so as to be almost fruitless.
Outline:
- What’s So Great about the Great Commission? (p. 728)
- Preliminary Issues in the Study of the Great Commission (p. 732)
- In the Great Commission, the Christian is Commanded to Evangelize (p. 747)
- The Extent of the Great Commission Is All Inclusive (p. 780)
- Prophecies on the Fulfillment of the Great Commission (p. 781)
- Other Commissionings in the Bible (p. 783)
- The Search for OT Sequels to the NT Great Commission Passages (p. 788)
- Other Commands to “Go” in the Bible (p. 799)
- Examples of Obedience to the Great Commission (p. 801)
- Results of Obedience (p. 802)
- Obedience to the Great Commission Relates to Other Aspects of Following Christ (p. 803)
- Additions to the Great Commission and/or “Preach the Gospel and …” (p. 804)
- More Competing Priorities to the Great Commission (p. 816)
Appendixes:
- Moving the Great Commission off Center (p. 821)
- Evangelism as a Means to an End or as a End in Itself (p. 822)
- Frequency and Duration of Witness (p. 824)
- Mordecai Ham on Preaching the Gospel and the Prohibition Era (i.e. Socio-Political Involvement) (p. 825)
- Historical Fallacies and the Great Commission (p. 826)
- Is It Possible to Study the Great Commission Hermeneutic in Patristic Era? (p. 835)
- The Second Council of Orange, Evangelism, and the Great Commission (p. 836)
