The Spirit Empowering Evangelism

A key Christian truth is that we are to proclaim the gospel. This often seems daunting, especially in today’s increasingly skeptical world. For me, looking at Scripture reveals an encouraging truth about the Spirit’s role in this. The following collection of passages explores this a little, starting with Jesus’ own teaching.

When Jesus sent out the 12, He told them not to worry about what to say when they were brought before leaders and Gentiles:

Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Matthew 10:17–20 (ESV)

Although Jesus was talking to His disciples, it seems this applies beyond that context based on the mention of persecution and Gentiles. In other words, it seems that the principle of being empowered by the Spirit for evangelism, including explicitly those at the ends of the Earth (Gentiles), is a general principle.

In fact, this very thing seems to be pictured at Pentecost. The believers were given the Holy Spirit, then began to speak in languages that the listeners recognized:

And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

Acts 2:8–11 (ESV)

They were speaking in foreign languages as a result of the Spirit’s influence, then Peter got up and gave a sermon that resulted with many being saved. Although the focus here is still on Jews, this clearly seems to be what Jesus described — the Spirit speaking effectively through the believers.

Believers seemed to understand that they needed the Spirit to continue this work as they prayed later on:

“And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Acts 4:29–31 (ESV)

They prayed for boldness to proclaim the truth, and God responded by not only granting them that, but also filling them with the Spirit. Given the picture at Pentecost and Jesus’ statement, it seems reasonable that they were empowered to speak effectively. The success of the early church would seem to confirm that. But this picture of Spirit empowerment for effective speaking is even clearer in Paul’s writings.

Paul’s request for prayer in Ephesians reflects the idea that we are empowered to speak effectively:

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Ephesians 6:18b–20 (ESV)

Not only asking for boldness, but specifically for words to be given him to speak the gospel, almost exactly what Jesus had said.

It’s interesting that this request comes right after describing our weapons of spiritual warfare, echoing his teaching in 2 Corinthians that our war is waged with spiritual tools, not according to the flesh. (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). Speaking according to the Spirit’s leading certainly falls in this category!

Of course, Paul had written to the Corinthians earlier that we hear truths from the Spirit and share them in words taught by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-13), echoing in yet another way Jesus’s words and the picture at Pentecost.

In a sense, Paul describes the practice of these principles as becoming whatever is needed to share the Gospel:

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

1 Corinthians 9:19–22 (ESV)

It seems this was essentially letting the Spirit empowering him to speak, and a review of his ministry in Acts supports that. But it also seems the case that Paul was not the only example. Consider various ways the Spirit led people in different contexts:

When Paul talked to intellectuals on Mars Hill, he spoke with Greek poetry. But when he addressed Jews in the synagogues, he argued from Scripture.

As noted above, when Peter preached to the devout Jews at Pentecost, he spoke from Scripture about Christ. But when he spoke to Cornelius, he spoke of current events that they both knew about.

When Jesus preached to crowds in rural Palestine, He used simple examples from their daily lives. But when He talked with the Samaritan woman, He spoke of her life, her beliefs, and from the world at hand.

Over and over throughout Scripture, the Holy Spirit led believers to share spiritual truths in ways that their listeners could understand. Not just the languages that they spoke, languages of their ears, but in the languages of their hearts. The listeners heard things they cared about, in ways they could relate to.

These examples provide a narrative description of the Spirit’s empowerment that parallel Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings and also the prophetic picture at Pentecost.

Now, it is commonly recognized in secular communication that we need to know our audience and craft the message appropriately. So in a sense this insight is nothing new, but I think there’s a difference with evangelism. In the natural world, we learn of the listener’s perspective by getting to know them, taking surveys, etc. Could it be that in God’s work we determine what to say by asking Him? It seems that is what’s taught in these passages.

In that case, we need to let the Spirit speak through us, but what does that mean? The fact that Paul requests prayer for this very thing implies that Jesus’ statement is not necessarily something that happens automatically. Instead, I think that we need to actively seek the Spirit about proclaiming the gospel and for myself, this involves focused prayer, a plan to walk through Scripture with an eye towards this principle, and applying what I learn to Whole Reality and Kelvin’s Clouds.