Doctrines (posted Friday, June 1 2007)

In an age of instant worldwide communication, the Good News of Jesus Christ is reaching further and faster than ever before. Modern believers may question if ancient peoples also received the knowledge of the salvation of God since they did not have these new technologies.

What does the Bible teach about the worldwide spread of the Gospel?

Who does God want to save?

The basic teaching of salvation is unlimited atonement: God desires all to be reconciled to Him. To this end, all sins of the world were paid for in Christ so that all have equal privilege to be saved.

- 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

- 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

- 1 Timothy 2:3-4 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

- 1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

How about someone in a tribe in the middle of Africa?

God must have provided some means by which all mankind could come to know him. There were very few if any written scriptures for most of human history, and in addition there exist many cultures of humans that are extremely isolated from the rest of the world. But a righteous and sovereign God who desired reconciliation must have found a way, and the scriptures tell us that He did.

- Ecclesiastes 3:10-11 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

- Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

- Acts 17:26-27 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

- Romans 1:18-20 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

These scriptures reflect what some theologians call "God consciousness", or that point when a person becomes able to understand the divine. A common example is the person who looks up at the night sky and wonders if someone made all those stars and everything out there. From this time forward, if that person desires to know God, then God is responsible to provide the message of His salvation to that person no matter what the obstacles.

What is the direct teaching?

In addition to the above discussions and God's obvious qualities, the Bible directly teaches that all men have been enlightened by God's work, and that the entire world has been evangelized and told of His mighty works a number of times.

- Exodus 9:16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.

- Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

- John 1:9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

- Acts 2:5-12 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs - we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

- Colossians 1:6b All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.

- Colossians 1:23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

- Revelation 5:9-10 And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

- Revelation 7:9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

Are there any extra-Biblical accounts?

One of the amazing provisions of modern technology has been the sciences of archaeology, language, and history. As we learn more and more about the past, we continue to see God's work in all places and times. Not only do these sciences prove the simple historical nature of the Bible, but give us specific examples of the outworking of God among men.

At the birth of Christianity, the Roman Empire was near its zenith of power. At its peak under the Antonine Caesars, Rome could be found as far north as Britain, east to Arabia, and south down the River Nile in Egypt. This does not include trade and other forms of cultural exchange through which Christian thought may have passed.

Pantaenus of Alexandria was a theologian and missionary in the late 2nd century. He traveled to India sometime around 190 AD and found a thriving Christian community based its doctrines on the Gospel of Matthew, which is said to have come to them from Bartholomew. In addition, the Syrian Malabar Nasrani people of south India were converted to Christianity sometime around 60 AD.

Justin Martyr, a Christian apologist of the 2nd century, mentioned Christian "Scythians" in his works. The Scythian tribes of this era were spread out from Persia in the west to China and Mongolia in the east, and religious ideas would be exchanged between them as simply as any other type of trade item.

In 781 AD, a monument called "The Nestorian Stele" was erected in the imperial capital city of China. It records the existence of a number of Christian communities in northern China and official state recognition by Emporer Tang Taizong in 635 AD, but there may have been a complete ecclesiastical structure there as early as 420 AD.

Conclusion

The only conclusion to reach from the scriptural and secular evidence is that God truly does desire every tribe and nation and tongue to come to Him, and that He has continued to provide this to the whole world over and over throughout human history. If God can provide the message of His truth to isolated peoples in far-flung locales, how much more can He provide for those of us fortunate enough to have had easy access to the Gospel?