preaching_integrity_greidanus_april0413.doc
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GODS REPRESENTATIVES
Excerpt from The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text pp. 4-5
By: Sidney Greidanus
God sent representatives to proclaim His word. An apostle is one who is sent as the
fully certified representatives of another. The apostles represented God Himself as they
proclaimed His word. During His ministry, Jesus had sent out His disciples, charging them, Go
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And preach as you go, saying, the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. In this commissioning, Jesus made unmistakably clear that the disciples in
their preaching represented him and, ultimately, the Father: He who receives you receives me,
and he who receives me receives him who sent me (Matt. 10:5-7,40). After his resurrection
Jesus broadened the mandate: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. But here, too,
there was no question as to whom the disciples represented in their mission in the world: Lo, I
am with you always, to the close of the age (Matt 28:19-20).
That the apostles in their preaching represented God is clearly demonstrated by several
words the New Testament uses for preachers and preaching. The first word is keryx (herald) and
its derivatives. In New Testament times heralds proclaimed publicly the message that was given
to them by their master. It is important to note that the message did not originate with the
heralds but with their master. In delivering their masters message, therefore, heralds
represented their master.1
The same idea comes to expression in the word ambassador. In 2 Cor 5:20 Paul writesof himself and his fellow preachers: So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal
through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Ambassadors, of
course, do not speak for themselves nor act on their own behalf but speak and act on behalf of
their sender. So, says Paul, God himself is making his appeal through us because we, as
preachers, are sent by God and represent God; we plead with you on behalf of Christ because
we are ambassadors of Christ.
Gods Word
Accordingly, the apostles recognize that they speak on behalf of God and, in fact,
proclaim the very word of God. Just like the Old Testament prophets, Paul frequently calls his
1 See G. Friedrich, TDNT, III, 687-88. Cf. Furnish, Int17/1 (1963) 55. Stott elucidates six
biblical metaphors of the preacher and concludes: What is immediately notable about
these six pictures is their emphasis on the givenness of the message. Preachers are not to
invent it; it has been entrusted to them (Between Two Worlds, 135-137).
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messages the word of God or the word of the Lord. Perhaps the clearest passage in this
respect is Pauls statement to the Thessalonians: And we also thank God constantly for this,
that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accept it not as the word
of men but as what it really is, the word of God which is at work in you believers (1Thess. 2:13).
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