Chapter 39: The Minister's Commission to Preach Reconciliation to the World
Chapter 39:
The Minister's Commission to Preach Reconciliation to the World We now proceed to the next matter: the commission for the declaration of this doctrine of reconciliation with God in Christ, as stated in the latter part of verse 19: "And hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation."
The original Greek wording differs slightly from what you find in your English Bibles. The word "committed" is rendered as "put into us," so that the phrase reads literally, "And he hath put in us the word of reconciliation." However, because this direct translation might sound somewhat harsh in English, the translators have rendered it as, "And hath committed to us." The original expression conveys that it is essential for a minister of the Gospel to have the doctrine of reconciliation sink deeply into their own heart. In this way, when they speak to others, they speak from the heart and thus reach the hearts of their listeners. As the saying goes, "The word that comes from the heart goes to the heart."
Therefore, it is of great importance that a minister of the Gospel has the word of reconciliation and the mysteries of the Gospel deeply rooted in their heart. This enables them to speak to the people not merely from the tongue or head but from their heart, out of personal experience. In doing so, their ministry becomes more effective and reaches the hearts of those they speak to.
This expression is similar to what is written in Galatians 1:15-16:
"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me." Notice,
Paul does not say, "to reveal his Son to me," but "in me." Therefore,
it is fitting that a minister of the Gospel should be truly profitable when Jesus Christ is revealed in them.
This explains the phrase "hath committed unto us," meaning "put in us" the word of reconciliation. As if the Apostle were saying, "The Lord, who has been, from all eternity, plotting the great work of reconciling the world to himself through that great mystery of godliness in Christ, has appointed certain chosen messengers to carry this message to the world. These messengers are to reveal the glorious counsels of God's will concerning the children of men and to declare this great doctrine of reconciliation in Christ."
The work of reconciling the world unto himself in Christ is the very task that we, as ministers, are sent into the world to perform. We serve as the ambassadors of Christ, coming in his name to engage with the world about reconciliation with God, about establishing peace with God.
Thus, you have here the work of the ministers of the Gospel and the great responsibility entrusted to them: "He hath committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation." That is our work. Therefore, from this, we derive the central point of the text.
Doctrine: The ministry of reconciliation with God is committed to the ministers of God to preach to the world. The ministers of God have a commission from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to preach the doctrine of reconciliation to the people, as we read in the following words: "We are ambassadors of Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God."
The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are involved in the commission given to God's ministers when they come to preach in the name of
God, as stated in Nehemiah 9:20: "Thou gavest thy good spirit." It was the prophet who came to instruct them; it was the Spirit of God in the prophet who instructed them. Thus, the ministers of God have their commission from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to come to the people and reveal the great counsels of God. They are sent by the entire Trinity to the people, and here is their commission, made clear.
However, the commission comes more immediately from Christ (though the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all involved) because
Christ is the great Prophet of the Church. It is part of Christ's prophetic office to reveal the great counsel of God, his Father, in the mystery of our reconciliation to the people. Christ was first anointed, and then he, in turn, anoints other officers for this great work. In Isaiah 61, we find that the great Prophet is first anointed: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me." To what purpose? "To preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our
God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion; to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified."
This is essentially the same as the ministry of reconciliation, a more expansive expression of it. As you see here, this prophecy concerns
Christ, who is first anointed. Christ is appointed by God the Father and the Holy Spirit, for "the Spirit of God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me." There is the Holy Spirit involved, and God the Father appoints him. God the Father may be said to be the
appointer, and the Holy Spirit anoints Jesus Christ to be a preacher of the Gospel. Being the prime and chief Prophet of the Church,
Christ appoints others to exercise some aspect of his prophetic office, which is to preach the great doctrine of reconciliation: "hath committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation."
This is seen in the commission Christ gives in Mark 16:15-16: "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." He commands them to go and preach to every creature, declaring the doctrine of reconciliation by Christ.
Christ does not merely give them a commission; he also joins his own power to this commission and assures them that his power accompanies them. In Matthew 28:18, "And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." What follows in verse 19 is, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."
What a commission is this, and what a preamble to the commission!
"I have received all power both in heaven and on earth." Then he instructs them, "Go and teach all nations," as if Christ were saying,
"You are about to undertake the greatest work that any creature has ever engaged in within this world." Certainly, the ministry of reconciliation, next to the work of redemption that Christ himself was involved in, is the greatest task any creature in this world has undertaken. Regardless of what the world thinks of it, no angel in heaven has ever been employed in a greater work than this.
Therefore, being of such great importance, Christ makes this preface:
"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth; go ye
therefore." As if Christ were saying, "Be it known to you now that the power given to me by the Father shall go with you; therefore, be encouraged." Yet, they might well have asked, "Who is sufficient for such great things?"
But be not discouraged, says Christ; my power shall go with you to assist, comfort, and encourage you. It shall accompany you to make your ministry profitable to those who belong to my election. It shall be with you to defend you from all adversaries. The world will be enraged against you when you preach this doctrine, but my power will defend you from them all, strengthen you against all oppositions, and enable you to endure whatever may come upon you.
Further, says Christ, "I am with you always, even to the end of the world." One might think it would be sufficient for Christ to say, "I am with you to the end of the world," but there is something more in his words: "I am with you always, even to the end of the world," meaning that he will not merely be with them without wholly abandoning them, but that there will not be a single moment until the end of the world when he is not present with them. He will not only overshadow them and send his presence, but he will be with them every moment, every day, with every sermon they preach. Even though those ministers who were with him physically died over 1,500 years ago, Christ says he will be with them to the end of the world— that is, with those who would succeed them in the ministry of reconciliation.
This is the commission given to them. When they come to any house, they are to begin by saying, "Peace be to you," meaning the peace of God in Christ. This doctrine of reconciliation is something that must be understood through preaching. We can read very little of it; we can scarcely discern a single letter from the book of creation. We
cannot come to understand it through any knowledge of our own, nor can the natural world teach it to us. However, through creation, we can understand that God continues to show mercy to the just as well as the unjust, and the abundance of mercy we see in this world declares, with a loud voice, that there is a possibility for humanity to be reconciled to God. It signifies that there is mercy for mankind, echoing a message throughout all creation that humanity is in a better state than the devils. Certainly, if God had no intention of showing mercy to mankind, he would not continue to bestow so many mercies as he does.
While creation cannot show us Christ, it may reveal that God has a way of showing mercy to the children of men. This might be partly what is meant in Romans 10:18, where the Apostle says, "But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world." If you compare this text with Psalm 19, you will find it somewhat different: "Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." The "line" refers to the great message of God's grace, written in creation as if it were in a line of text.
In Psalm 19, it clearly speaks of the works of God in creation: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament shows his handiwork." Creation has a loud voice calling us to repentance. And there can be no call to repentance without it being, in essence, a voice of the Gospel. The Apostle plainly says in Romans 2:4 that the patience of God calls us to repentance. Whatever leads to repentance has something of the Gospel in it. The patience and goodness of God call us to repentance, even if we never hear the ministry of the Gospel.
The creature (creation itself) provides evidence, and this voice is applied to the Gospel in Romans 10. Unless you understand it this way, you might wonder how the Gospel's sound could have reached the utmost parts of the earth in the Apostle's time, considering many places remain undiscovered even today. Nevertheless, there is a kind of Gospel sound that echoes throughout the earth, telling us through creation that there is some way for God to be pacified towards sinful men, even though we might not know the specifics.
The devils have no such display of God's work, bounty, patience, or goodness toward them, indicating that God has no intention of reconciling with them. Though they are not yet fully experiencing the torment they will face, they are said to be "reserved unto the great day in chains of darkness." Meanwhile, wicked and ungodly people are preserved by the bounty and patience of God. They are drawn by the cords of God's bounty and mercy, unlike the devils and the damned who are kept in chains of darkness. Hence, from the bounty of God seen in creation, we can infer that God has some means of showing mercy to mankind.
However, it is impossible to understand from any work of creation that God would send the Second Person of the Trinity to take on human nature, to die, to suffer for humanity's sins, and to offer satisfaction to divine justice. We cannot deduce that we must be brought into this covenant or that Christ would become the head of this second covenant, with us as members of his body. The mysteries of the Gospel are not revealed by creation.
Therefore, as the Apostle says in Ephesians 3:8, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." The riches of Christ are unsearchable—meaning they are beyond