The Role of the Bible in Evangelism, Pt 1

January 30, 2007 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
Site: http://ateamblog.com
About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009). Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (559)

This past Sunday I preached the fourth (and last) sermon in our church's series on Sola Scriptura. It was a bit of a rush job and I was rather nervous since I hadn't given a sermon in over 3 years, but I think some of you may find it interesting. You can find audio through our church's podcast or via this link. I'll be posting my notes (pretty much the full-text) in four parts over the course of the week.

Sola Scriptura: The
Bible & Missiology
January 28, 2007
Sermon- The Portico
Church in Orange, CA
10:30 am
Roger N Overton
Romans 1:16-20

Thesis: The Bible is essential to evangelism due to its
nature as special revelation. In evangelism, the Bible provides the content of
the Gospel and the foundation for means of presenting the Gospel. The Bible
most readily fulfills its role when Christians hold each other accountable to
it and study and mediate on it regularly.

Scripture Reading,
introduce liturgy.

Romans 1:16-20 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it
is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from
faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For
what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things
that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

Revelation in Romans

In thinking about the role of the Bible in evangelism, we
must first look to the nature of the Bible. What is it? Carl did an excellent
job in the first message of the series showing that the Bible is comprised of
God’s trustworthy words. I’d like to unpack that a bit further by looking to
Romans 1:16-20.

We might divide this passage into two parts which describe
two different groups of people. The first group is described as those who
believe according to the power of God. Paul, the author of Romans, says that in
the Gospel the “righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.” There
is some debate among interpreters as to what is meant by “from faith for
faith.” I will simply suggest here that it refers to the righteousness of God
being revealed as a gift to those who have faith, who believe in the promises
of God.

There is much to be treasured in these two verses, but I
would like to point you to one specific point. Some sort of revelation is being
described here, and that revelation is limited. Not everyone has faith, and so
not everyone receives this revelation.

Moving on to verse 18 we see another sort of revelation. In
this case, the wrath of God is being revealed to the unrighteous in the world.
But not just the wrath of God, it continues and claims that the things that can
be known about God have been revealed to the unrighteous and they have
suppressed this knowledge. Who are the people who have received this
revelation? Everyone, since everyone is born in unrighteousness and live out
ungodliness.

Special v. General
Revelation

So we see two sorts of revelation being described here: one
is limited and one is not. These are often referred to as Special revelation
and General or Natural revelation, respectively. Paul’s comment “so they are
without excuse” at the end of verse 20 shows that general revelation, which
everyone has access to, is enough to condemn us. However, the righteousness of
God is only revealed to a select few, so while all are naturally condemned, not
all are eventually saved.

Without special revelation, then, salvation is impossible.
The heathen who does not hear the good news of Jesus Christ has no chance for
being saved. He is justly condemned for being a sinner, as we all would be if
it were not for the saving gift of faith. Remarkably, some Christians claim
that people can be saved on the basis of general revelation. They claim that it
would be unfair of God to condemn those who have not had the opportunity to
respond to the claims of the Gospel, so, if they’re good enough, God will have
grace on them and save them anyway.

Apart from having to biblical justification for their view,
the Bible clearing teaches against this. First, in this passage of Romans, Paul
is clear that everyone is without excuse because everyone has enough basic
knowledge of God to know of their unrighteousness. And if we move further along
Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome,
we find it rather directly stated:

Romans 10:14-15 “But how are they to call on him in whom
they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have
never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are
they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the
feet of those who preach the good news!’”

Paul deductively shows the necessity of special revelation
by claiming that there is no other way for someone to believe in and call upon
the name of Christ and thus be saved. This Gospel, this special revelation, is
a gift of faith to God’s chosen children who are saved by faith. To claim otherwise,
to claim that some may be saved without special revelation, is to claim that
some might be saved on the basis of their good works. This path dead ends at
heresy and is a dangerous teaching in a world so desperately in need of the
grace of God that is revealed through the Gospel.

The Bible is
Necessary Special Revelation

Where does the Bible fit into the categories of Special and
General Revelation? It is Special revelation. Not everyone in the world has
access to it, innately knows what is discussed in it, nor do we naturally have
the ability to understand what is discussed in it. Indeed, it is only by
through the gift of the Holy Spirit that we understand anything spiritual found
in the book.

1 Corinthians 2:9-12 “As it is written, ‘What no eye has
seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for
those who love him’- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a
person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no
one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have
received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we
might understand the things freely given us by God.”

Because the Bible describes God and His work, the Spirit is
necessary for us to understand it. This separates the Bible from any other
book. With enough literary, philosophic, linguistic, and scientific study, we
can understand any book that man has ever written. But no amount of sole human
effort can bring understanding of God’s Word. The Bible is the only book
authored by God or by men “moved along by the Holy Spirit” as is claimed in 2
Peter 1:21. Thus, the Bible is Special Revelation.

Related posts:

1. The Role of the Bible in Evangelism, Pt 2
2. The Role of the Bible in Evangelism, Pt 3
3. The Role of the Bible in Evangelism, Pt 4
4. ETS 2007: How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What Can Be Done About It by J.P. Moreland
5. Book Review: Is the Bible Intolerant? By Amy Orr-Ewing
6. Are the Words of the Bible God's Words?

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