“We Proclaimed To You The Gospel Of God”

by Chris Simmons

We know that when Paul was in the city of Thessalonica that he “reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and giving evidence” (Luke 17:2-3) concerning Jesus Christ. But the Holy Spirit revealed another word that indicates what Paul did with the gospel while in that city. Luke recorded Paul’s own words in Acts 17:3 where he said, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” When Paul, a short time later, wrote to the brethren in Thessalonica, he recounted his work among them, saying in I Thessalonians 2:9, “For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.” Paul’s stewardship of the gospel necessitated that he proclaim it, everywhere he went.

The Greek word used in I Thessalonians 2:9 is kerusso (2784) which Strong defines as “to herald (as a public crier).” Thayer likewise notes: “to proclaim after the manner of a herald.” Paul understood the need to be a herald or town crier when it came to making known the gospel. A town crier is one who was “employed … to make public announcements or proclamations” (dictionary.com). To proclaim the gospel is to simply make it known to a large public audience. We see the public nature of proclaiming in Jesus’ instructions to the twelve in Matthew 10:27, “What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.” The apostles were to be heralds of what Jesus Christ had taught them. This was the charge of the great commission in Mark 16:15-17, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.’” Paul, writing to the church in Colossae (Colossians 1:23), noted that is exactly what was done, “if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.”

More than just informational, proclaiming the gospel was also a call to act and respond. Zodhiates notes of the Greek word kerusso, that it meant to “… announce religious truth, the gospel with its attendant privileges and obligations.” Proclaiming the gospel not only means extending the blessings of being a child of God (Ephesians 1:3-12), but the duties and responsibilities of a Christian called through the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14). Ephesians chapters 4-6 focus on our duties and obligations before the Lord to “walk no longer” (4:17) as we used to but to “lay aside the old self” (4:22) and “put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (4:24).

This is true of the Hebrew word for “proclaim” used in the Old Testament. Moses said in Deuteronomy 32:1-3, “For I proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God!” The Hebrew word used here for “proclaim” is qara (7121) which Zodhiates defines as “to cry out, call aloud, roar … the basic meaning (is the) the enunciation of a specific … message. It is usually addressed to a specific recipient and intended to elicit a specific response.” When Moses proclaimed God and His will in the wilderness to God’s people, he did so with the intention of eliciting a specific response (their faith, trust, and obedience) from the Israelites. Preaching that is simply informational and doesn’t challenge the will of man to make changes isn’t meeting God’s expectations of what it means to proclaim.

The word “proclaiming” used in Acts 17:3 comes from a different Greek word, kataggello (2605) which according to Thayer means “to announce, to declare, to promulgate … publicly.” Zodhiates adds, “to declare plainly, openly or aloud.” A steward of God’s word will seek to make it widely known through the bold, clear, and plain language of the scripture. We need to trust the power of the gospel (Romans 1:16) and proclaim just that which the Holy Spirit revealed. Paul said in I Corinthians 2:1, “And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.” Early efforts to promulgate the gospel did not rely on, or require, highly educated men according to the world, but simply men who would proclaim God’s revelation to man in all its simplicity. It’s noted in Acts 4:1-2 that the Jewish leaders were “greatly disturbed because they (“uneducated and untrained men,” verse 13) were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” Paul again noted the call to action required in proclaiming the gospel in Colossians 1:28, “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.” Paul proclaimed what they needed to hear, not necessarily what they wanted to hear.

To proclaim the gospel is to include all that God has revealed to man. Jeremiah was instructed of the need to not leave anything out. Jeremiah 11:6, “And the Lord said to me, ‘Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, “Hear the words of this covenant and do them.”’” We’re not to change or alter the proclamation in any way (Galatians 1:8-9) or leave anything out. Our efforts to proclaim are to be more than sporadic but rather are to be part of our everyday life. David wrote in Psalms 96:2, “Sing to the Lord, bless His name; proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He also is to be feared above all gods.” The proclamation is for those who realize their great spiritual needs as prophesied in Isaiah 61:1-3, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.”

Could we also say, as we read in Psalms 40:9, “I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I will not restrain my lips”?