We Proclaim Him
Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is a person. Christianity collapses when Jesus Christ is not only central, but everything. Like a cornerstone, whatever pertains to Christianity is positioned in precise alignment to the person and work of Jesus Christ. For from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things (Rom 11:36).
A preacher may find his text from the Bible speaks of the Holy Spirit, but this is the Spirit of Christ. He may observe sin, but he does not preach sin without the Savior. He may be preaching on the creation of all things, but it is Christ who is the Creator. Christ is all and in all (Col 3:11).
Paul wrote to the Colossians, “We proclaim Him (Col 1:28).” Proclamation is the heralding of a message through the oratorical style known as preaching. “We preach Christ (1 Cor 1:23),” is another way of saying the same thing. These are glad tidings of Him and His salvation (Ps 96:2).
One may inquire whether Jesus preached Himself. Matthew claimed Jesus was, “proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom (Mt 4:23).” So, in one sense Jesus preached that which pertains to Him because He is the King of the kingdom He proclaimed. He did not testify to Himself (Jn 5:31), but He was certainly bearing witness to the truth about Himself (Jn 8:58; 10:30; 14:6).
Jesus impacted others, positively, and they proclaimed Him. The healed demoniac (Mk 5:20) and the healed deaf mute both proclaimed Him (Mk 7:36). The healed leper in Mark 1:44–45 was so effective in proclaiming Jesus’ healing power over his leprosy that the responding throng drove Jesus into the rural areas. Here we see everyday people, like the woman of Samaria (Jn 4), willing to make His name known to others.
Some prophesies anticipating Jesus Messiah, foretold of his preaching ministry. Isaiah has Jesus speaking some seven hundred years before His first advent, “He has sent Me to proclaim the release of the captives (Is 61:1; Lk 4:18),” and elsewhere the prophet declared, “He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles (Is 42:1; Mt 12:18).” The Messiah would be a prophet, but even more than just a prophet.
In Luke 8:1, two words are used to describe Jesus’ ministry: proclaim (Gk. kerusson) and preach (Gk. evangelizomenos). Elsewhere, katagello is used when the verb is, “to proclaim.” The subject of Jesus’ preaching and proclamation was, again, the kingdom of God. When He sent His disciples out to minister, it was also to proclaim the kingdom of God (Lk 9:2, 60).
Jesus prophesied about the future message to be preached to all nations when He taught His Olivet Discourse (Mt 24:47). The call for repentance, in His name, would be issued for the forgiveness of sins. Paul did this on his first missionary journey (Acts 13:38). God’s intention has always been for His name to be proclaimed throughout the whole world (Rom 9:17). He is calling all men everywhere to repentance (Acts 17:30). Whereas during His earthly ministry, the focus was on the kingdom, during the apostolic era, the focus was placed on the King, with lesser mention of the kingdom (Acts 8:12; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 31).
Jesus and the resurrection was proclaimed by Peter (Acts 4:2) and Paul (Acts 17:18). Philip proclaimed Christ at Samaria (Acts 8:5). Paul proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues (Acts 9:20; 13:5; 17:3), and the word of the Lord (Acts 15:4; 17:13), and the way of salvation (Acts 16:17), and the gospel (1 Cor 9:14), and the Lord’s death (1 Cor 11:26), and the gospel of God (1 Thess 2:9). John proclaimed what he had seen and heard (1 Jn 1:3). The person and work of Jesus Christ was the subject of apostolic preaching.
Paul proclaimed the testimony of God in the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:1); therefore, his proclamation was bold (Eph 6:20). Jesus Christ is proclaimed to all creation (Col 1:23), to all the nations (1 Tim 3:16). It was for this purpose God set apart His chosen race, to proclaim the excellencies of Him (1 Pet 2:9). For John, this included the proclamation of eternal life (1 Jn 1:2). Men may proclaim Christ with wrong motives, but this did not bother Paul, so long as Christ was preached (Phil 1:17–18).
What then should we do? Clearly, this biblical motif is set before us to follow Jesus and His apostles in proclaiming the King and His kingdom. This was done in synagogues and on street corners, then, and it should be done this way now. Just as the Spirit was sent to empower the early church’s proclamation of Christ, so the Spirit is with us, today.
The message to proclaim to all nations is Him. All that He is and all that He has done is the content of our public proclamation from the rooftop. You and I must be bold to declare these things to the world. If we are to be found faithful, we must admonish all people. We must be vigilant to stay with the ancient text with its message. In every generation, there is the temptation to dilute the message or to be silent in the public square.
Acts of the Apostles is a book of action. The church was scattered by persecution, but everywhere the Christians were located, the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread by the preaching of the Word. May God raise up fearless proclaimers of Him in our generation, and may we be found faithful to be these people.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
April 22, 2021
