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Bible Question: Are evangelism and witnessing the same? Are they not "subsets"
of the Great Commission?
Bible Answer: The Great Commission is found in Matthew 28:19-20.
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Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the age. (NASB) Matthew 28:19-20 |
Make Disciples. Here our Lord Jesus Christ calls us "to go." The Greek word order
is remarkable because Jesus emphasizes the act of "going." He
wants us to go! Where does He want us to go? He wants us to go
to our neighbor next door, our fellow worker, our barber, and
our friend, for example. We are to go! And in our going, we are
to make disciples in all the nations. The making of disciples
starts with "evangelism," includes baptism and ends with "teaching
them."
Evangelism and Witnessing. Evangelism is a subset or a part of the Great Commission. It is
a broad term that includes verbal witnessing as well as life style
witnessing. In recent years some have encouraged us to do "Life
Style Evangelism." Some have forgotten that we are a witness -
all the time! The only question is, "What kind of witness are
we?" The concept is to win others to Jesus not just by our words,
but also by our conduct (Col. 4:5). Jesus made a strong statement
about the effect of a Christian's walk on others - a real Christian
walk.
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By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love for one another. (NASB) John 13:35 |
Verbal witnessing refers to telling others about Jesus. This is
a subset of evangelism. A person witnesses to others when they
tell others about Jesus's death, resurrection and ascension back
to heaven. We call it the good news. Here are the key points in
the good news.
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For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas,
then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred
brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some
have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the
apostles; (NASB) 1 Corinthians 15:3-7
And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received
Him out of their sight. (NASB) Acts 1:9
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