St. Francis of Assisi

Having thus a fond affection for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us.  1 Thessalonians 2:8 (NASB)

Our Own Lives – “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.”  St. Francis got it right.  This is just what Paul said to the Thessalonians.  “We imparted to you the good news along with our own lives.  You saw everything we wanted to say in action because you were witnesses to how we lived.”  The first principle of evangelism is not what we say but how we live.

Paul uses the Greek word psyche, sometimes translated “soul.”  But Paul means a lot more than intellectual knowledge or spiritual apprehension.  He means more than religious education or a code of conduct.  When Paul uses the Greek word psyche, he is trying to capture the Hebrew word nephesh.  The Greek concept of Man was the combination of body-mind-soul, but the Hebrew concept was a single, organic and spirit-filled unity.  Nephesh was all of me, all at once, my embodiment in the world.  That’s why the NASB does not translate this verse as “our very souls.”  That translation would be too Greek.  Paul is expressing a Hebrew idea.  He gives his life to this cause.

Sometimes we wonder why the power of the gospel seems to have such a small effect on the great number of people who claim allegiance to the Christ.  We read the writings of the Apostles.  We see amazing things happening.  We see incredible changes in those people in the first century, and we wonder what’s missing today.  Why did the early church have such a dramatic impact when we seem to do nothing more than add another building to the community every few years?  Perhaps the answer is right here, in this translated phrase.  Too often Christianity has become a Greek-based mental acknowledgement.  We assert that we believe the propositions, the doctrines of the Church.  We agree with the right cognitive conclusions.  But we haven’t embodied them.  They haven’t become our lives.  We have separated saying the gospel from living the gospel.

There’s a simple little test that you can apply to see where you are in all this.  Just ask yourself if anyone around you would know that you are a follower of the Messiah by just watching you.  Would they know that you love God and are obedient to His will without a single word?  Are you a walking sign post for righteousness?  Perhaps this little test gives us another reason why Torah observance becomes important.  God’s purpose is to make you into His billboards.  Of course, you won’t have big letters stamped across your forehead, but how you live should proclaim Him to the world.  That’s why Torah living is different.  If your behavior is the same as the best examples of decent, moral living by non-believers, how can you be a billboard of good news?  God’s plan does not adopt the world’s point of view.  Where we look just like the world, we have nothing further to say.

Topical Index:  evangelism, lives, Torah, psyche, nephesh, 1 Thessalonians 2:8