Persuasion and the gospel

What about persuasion and the gospel? Should Christians seek to persuade unbelievers?

In a previous post I talked about how it is becoming fashionable with some Christians to not actively “proselytize” unbelievers. In one example Fr. Longenecker claimed that proselytism inferred some sort of coercion involving force. These people say it is preferable to evangelize. Is there really any difference? I offered the example where Pope Francis did not try to convert the atheist, Scalfari. The pope had told Scalfari that proselytism was “solemn nonsense.” But we are left to ask why he did not then try to evangelize the atheist. The question often plagues me.

There is a growing postmodern Christian culture which “resists the notion of absolutes.” If there are no absolutes there is no rush to get the gospel out to the unsaved. The church is losing its voice. What a tragedy!

I found the following excerpt of an essay by Colin S. Smith helpful. It was taken from the book Telling The Truth – Evangelizing Postmoderns, edited by D. A. Carson. Read what he writes about evangelism:

“Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11, emphasis added). The word persuade is very significant. Conversion is not a set of religious feelings. A person becomes a Christian when he or she is persuaded of the truth of the gospel and on that basis confesses Jesus Christ as Lord (Rom. 10:9). The book of Acts is full of this kind of vocabulary:

“He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews.” (Acts 9:29)
“As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures.” (Acts 17:2)
“Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.” (Acts 18:4)
“Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 19:8)
“So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.” (Acts 18:11)
“Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 28:31)
“From morning till evening he explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets.” (Acts 28:23)

Paul is not suggesting that we can argue people into the kingdom, but he is quite clear that nobody comes into the kingdom without being convinced of the truth about Jesus Christ.

This is why a faithful ambassador must be committed to teaching the Bible. There are many ways in which we can draw a crowd, but if we are to evangelize, we must put the truth of the gospel into words so that people will understand what God is saying to them. If that does not happen, evangelism has not taken place.