Biblical Foundation for

Missions
1
st
Semester 2012-2013
Caloocan Bachelor Extension Course,
AHCS
Professor Dr. Sei-joon Lee


What is Missions?
Yanghwajin Foreigners' Cemetery
Designated in
1890 as a site for
foreign
missionaries by
King Gojong after
the death of
Presbyterian
minister John
Heron in July
1890
Medical Missionarys Epitaph

If I had a thousand lives to give, Korea should
have them all.

(Ruby Kendrick/ Jan 28 1883 Aug 15 1908)
Definition of Mission
So far there have been three Mission
Impossible movies. . .
When NASA sends a shuttle to dock with the
international space station, that trip is called a
mission.
(Continued)
Definition of Mission
The word is especially prominent in the
business world because a corporation often
draws up a mission statement as a way
of articulating the most fundamental
purpose for which the corporation exists.
(Continued)
Examples of Mission Statement
Googles mission is to organize the worlds
information and make it universally accessible
and useful. (Google)
Yahoo!s mission is to be the most essential
global Internet service for consumers and
businesses (Yahoo)
Examples of Mission Statement
We will devote our human resources and
technology to create superior products and
services, thereby contributing to a better
global society (Samsung)
LG Electronics pursues its 21st century vision
of becoming a true global digital leader who
can make its customers worldwide happy
through its innovative digital products and
services. (LG)
Examples of Mission Statement
Apple is committed to bringing the best
personal computing experience to students,
educators, creative professionals and
consumers around the world through its
innovative hardware, software and Internet
offerings. (Apple)
Microsofts mission is to enable people and
businesses throughout the world to realize
their full potential. (Microsoft)
Examples of Mission Statement
G.M. is a multinational corporation engaged in
socially responsible operations, worldwide. It is
dedicated to provide products and services of
such quality that our customers will receive
superior value while our employees and
business partners will share in our success and
our stock-holders will receive a sustained
superior return on their investment. (GM)
Definition of Mission
Although most of these uses of the word
seem to have little to do with the Christian
Church, each in fact describes a small
portion of what the word can mean for
Christian mission. (Charles Van Engen)

Definition of Mission
There does not exist, nor has there ever
existed, only one definition of the mission of
the Church; nor [one interpretation] as to what
are the biblical foundations of that mission.
(Continued)
Definition of Mission
If, like David Bosch, we define mission as
missio Dei [the mission of God], we can say
that this signifies the revelation of God as the
One who loves the world God has created,
who is concerned for this world, and who has
formed the Church to be a subject called to
participate in the historical project of
establishing the kingdom of God. . .
(Continued)
Definition of Mission
Our understanding of this missio Dei has been
subjected to many interpretations down
through history. . .
Each definition and all understandings of the
biblical bases of that mission are tentative and
are subject to new evaluation and change.
Each generation must define mission anew.
(Rooy)

Definition of Mission
Martin Kahler stated somewhat prophetically,
Mission is the mother of theology in 1908.
The root of the words mission and
missionary is the Latin verb mitto (I send).
The same concept of the Greek is the verb
apostello which has the idea of being sent.
And from it comes the word for apostle
(apostolos), which means sent one or
emissary.
(Continued)
Definition of Mission
Gailyn Van Rheenen says mission is the work
of God. Any understanding excluding God
and perceiving mission as some type of human
endeavor is, therefore, erroneous. Mission is
also rooted in Gods desire to reconcile sinful
humanity to himself.
Definition of Mission
As God worked in Egypt to bear the Israelites
on eagles wings and bring them to himself
(Exodus 19:4), he continues to work through
human ambassadors to reconcile sinful
humanity to himself (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

Exodus 19:4 'You yourselves have seen what I
did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles'
wings and brought you to myself.
(Continued)
2 Corinthians 5:18-20
All this is from God, who reconciled us to
himself through Christ and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation:19 that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not
counting men's sins against them. And he has
committed to us the message of
reconciliation.20 We are therefore Christ's
ambassadors, as though God were making his
appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's
behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Definition of Mission
God, who initiated his mission through
prophets, priests, and judges during Old
Testament times and later through Jesus Christ,
continues to initiate his mission through his
people today.
Mission, therefore, is the work of God in
reconciling sinful humankind to himself.
(Gailyn Van Rheenen)
Mission and Missions
Mission is the theological anchor of missions
and missions is the practical implementation
of the mission of God.
Missions without mission is empty-like a body
without its spirit. (Rheenen)
Mission and Missions
We have to distinguish between mission
(singular) and missions (plural).
The first refers primarily to the missio Dei
(Gods mission), that is, Gods self-world, the
nature and activity of God, which embraces
both the Church and the world, and in which
the Church is privileged to participate.
(Continued)
Mission and Missions
Missio Dei enunciates the good news that
God is a God-for-people.
Missions (the missions ecclesiae: the
missionary ventures of the Church), refer to
particular forms, related to specific times,
places, or needs, of participation in the missio
Dei. (David J. Bosch)


Mission in the Old Testament
Mission in the Old Testament
Genesis 1:1 set forth the most basic of all
truths in the Christian worldviews.
(Roger S. Greenway)
Mission in the Old Testament
Roger S. Greenway
Theism: Genesis begins by affirming that God
exists and that he existed before the world
began. God alone is eternal, and material
things are temporal. The belief that there is no
god is completely denied.
(Continued)
Mission in the Old Testament
Roger S. Greenway
Biblical monotheism: People worship many
different gods and goddesses in our world, but
the Bible reveals the person and nature of the
one true God and Creator of all things.
[Baal, Ashtoreth, Asherah]
(Continued)
Mission in the Old Testament
Roger S. Greenway
Exclusivism: The one God demands exclusive
worship and obedience. No other gods and no
other worship are permitted (Exodus 20:3-4).
Moses said that the gods of the nations are
not gods but demons and should not be
worshipped in any form (Deuteronomy 32:16-
18).
Deuteronomy 32:16-18
16 They made him jealous with their foreign
gods and angered him with their detestable
idols.
17 They sacrificed to demons, which are not
God--gods they had not known, gods that
recently appeared, gods your fathers did not
fear.
18 You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth.
Mission in the Old Testament
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
The word sending lexically links the Old
Testament with the New Testament.
Mission points to a central action: the act of
being sent with a compassion to carry out the
will of a superior.
It is God who commissions and God who
sends.
(Continued)
Mission in the Old Testament
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
The Hebrew word to send, salah, is found
over eight hundred times and over two
hundred times God is the subject of this verb
in the Old Testament.
The most important feature of the divine
sending of anyone on a mission is the will of
the One who sent the emissary.
(Continued)
Mission in the Old Testament
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
While the Lord sends a variety of agents to
accomplish all sorts of purposes, the most
frequent association with Gods sending is the
office of prophet.
Moses and his brother Aaron top this list.
Repeatedly Moses is described as sent by the
Lord (Exodus 3:10-15; Deuteronomy 34:11; 1
Samuel 12:8; Psalm 105:26).
(Continued)
Exodus 3:10-15
So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to
bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."11
But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I
should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites
out of Egypt?"12 And God said, "I will be with
you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I
who have sent you: When you have brought
the people out of Egypt, you will worship God
on this mountain."
Exodus 3:10-15
13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the
Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your
fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me,
'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell
them?"14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM.
This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I
AM has sent me to you.'"15 God also said to
Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the
God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent
me to you.' This is my name forever, the name
by which I am to be remembered from
generation to generation.

Deuteronomy 34:11
who did all those miraculous signs and
wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt--
to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his
whole land.
1 Samuel 12:8
"After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the
LORD for help, and the LORD sent Moses and
Aaron, who brought your forefathers out of
Egypt and settled them in this place.
Psalm 105:26
He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron, whom
he had chosen.
Mission in the Old Testament
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
Just as God sends his word (Isaiah 55:11) and
it accomplishes that for which it was sent, so
God sent a whole line of prophets who
would accomplish what God had intended
(Isaiah 6:8; Jeremiah 1:7; Ezekiel 3:5-6).
Isaiah 55:11
so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty, but will
accomplish what I desire and achieve the
purpose for which I sent it.
Isaiah 6:8
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
"Whom shall I send? And who will go for
us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
Jeremiah 1:7
But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am
only a child.' You must go to everyone I send
you to and say whatever I command you.
Ezekiel 3:5-6
5 You are not being sent to a people of
obscure speech and difficult language, but to
the house of Israel--
6 not to many peoples of obscure speech and
difficult language, whose words you cannot
understand. Surely if I had sent you to them,
they would have listened to you.
Mission in the Old Testament
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
In fact, what distinguished the true prophet
from the false, probably more than anything
else, was the fact that God had not sent the
false prophets (Jeremiah 14:14, 15; 23:21; 28:15;
Ezekiel 13:6).
(Continued)
Jeremiah 14:14-15
Then the LORD said to me, "The prophets are
prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent
them or appointed them or spoken to them.
They are prophesying to you false visions,
divinations, idolatries and the delusions of
their own minds.15 Therefore, this is what the
LORD says about the prophets who are
prophesying in my name: I did not send them,
yet they are saying, 'No sword or famine will
touch this land.' Those same prophets will
perish by sword and famine.
Jeremiah 23:21
I did not send these prophets, yet they have
run with their message; I did not speak to
them, yet they have prophesied.
Jeremiah 28:15
Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah
the prophet, "Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has
not sent you, yet you have persuaded this
nation to trust in lies.
Ezekiel 13:6
Their visions are false and their divinations a
lie. They say, "The LORD declares," when the
LORD has not sent them; yet they expect their
words to be fulfilled.
Mission in the Old Testament
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
Over and over again, God sent his prophets
throughout the history of Israel (2 Kings 17:13;
Jeremiah 7:25; 25:4; 26:5; 29:19; Zechariah 7:12).
2 Kings 17:13
The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all
his prophets and seers: "Turn from your evil
ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in
accordance with the entire Law that I
commanded your fathers to obey and that I
delivered to you through my servants the
prophets."
Jeremiah 7:25; 25:4
From the time your forefathers left Egypt until
now, day after day, again and again I sent you
my servants the prophets.

And though the LORD has sent all his
servants the prophets to you again and again,
you have not listened or paid any attention.
Jeremiah 26:5; 29:19
and if you do not listen to the words of my
servants the prophets, whom I have sent to
you again and again (though you have not
listened),

For they have not listened to my words,"
declares the LORD, "words that I sent to them
again and again by my servants the prophets.
And you exiles have not listened either,"
declares the LORD.
Zechariah 7:12
They made their hearts as hard as flint and
would not listen to the law or to the words
that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit
through the earlier prophets. So the LORD
Almighty was very angry.
Mission in the Old Testament
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
The eighth-century prophet Isaiah, between his
discussions of the first advent of Messiah in
chapters 7-12 and the second advent of
Messiah in chapters 24-27, addressed chapters
13-23 to ten foreign nations.
Jeremiah chapters 46-52, Ezekiel chapters 25-
32, and Amos chapters 1 and 2 deal with
Gentile nations.
Finally, Israel became the Assyrian exile in 721
B.C. and Judah the Babylonian exile in 586 B.C.
Mission in the Old Testament
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
Genesis 12:1-3 is the first Great Commission
mandate of the Bible.
Abram was promised three blessings: (1) that
he would be a great nation, (2) that God
would personally bless him, and (3) that his
name would be great.
(Continued)
Mission in the Old Testament
Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
God in the Old Testament had the missionary
intentions to make disciples of all nations
through Isaiahs Great Commission passage
as follows:
Isaiah 49:6
He [the Lord] says: It is too small a thing for
you to be my servant to restore the tribes of
Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation to the ends of
the earth.
The Transition in Missions Emphasis
The World of
the Nations
Go
and
Tell
New
Test.
Church

Old
Test.
Israel

Come
and
See
Centripetal Missions Centrifugal Missions


The Gospel in the Garden
The Gospel in the Garden
Mission did not begin with Jesus.
That is why the study of mission theology
should begin with the Old Testament.
Why not begin with Jesus Christ, who is the
focal point of church and mission?
The Gospel in the Garden
Jesus Christ is central in the Bible.
It is He who gives the Old Testament its
perspective.
Jesus Christ is to be understood against the
background of the Old Testament.
Jesus Christ himself recognized the authority
of the Old Testament.
The Gospel in the Garden
No student of missions can long escape the
necessity of examining the Old Testament
antecedents to the Christian mission. (De
Ridder)
The Gospel in the Garden
The Old Testament reveals God acting in
human history.
Old Testament history is revelatory.
The Gospel in the Garden
History is one of the basic categories of
biblical revelation.
Revelation does not merely throw light on
history, it also gives rise to it (Kasper)
The Gospel in the Garden
Gods self-disclosure is for mans salvation.
The Christian mission which begins in the
New Testament has its roots in the Old
Testament, where, long before the incarnation
of Jesus Christ, God was at work.
God is involved with man from the very
beginning of history.
The Gospel in the Garden
From the Old Testament encounter, several
missionary themes are derived: God, creation,
man, redemption, the nations.
God and the Gods
He is holy, righteous, powerful, jealous . . . he
is One.
Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one
LORD (Deuteronomy 6:4).
The Old Testament is a missionary book
because Jehovah is a missionary God. (Kane)
God and the Gods
Yahweh is the God of Israel.
The other peoples also had gods.
The Bible primarily sets forth Israels God, who
is claimed to be God not only of Israel but
also of the whole earth. (Genesis 18:25;
Psalms 22:27-28; 47:8; 67:4-5; 72:19; 86:9;
Jeremiah 10:6-7; Daniel 2:47)
God and the Gods
Genesis 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a
thing--to kill the righteous with the wicked,
treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far
be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the
earth do right?"
Psalm 47:8 God reigns over the nations; God
is seated on his holy throne.
Psalm 72:19 Praise be to his glorious name
forever; may the whole earth be filled with his
glory. Amen and Amen.
God and the Gods
Jeremiah 10:6-7 No one is like you, O LORD;
you are great, and your name is mighty in
power.7 Who should not revere you, O King of
the nations? This is your due. Among all the
wise men of the nations and in all their
kingdoms, there is no one like you.
Daniel 2:47 The king said to Daniel, "Surely
your God is the God of gods and the Lord of
kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you
were able to reveal this mystery."
God and the Gods
The God of the Bible is set in contrast to the
gods of the nations (Exodus 9:14; 12:12; 15:11;
18:11; Deuteronomy 3:24; 4:33-35; Psalms 96:5).
Exodus 9:14
or this time I will send the full force of my
plagues against you and against your officials
and your people, so you may know that there
is no one like me in all the earth.

Exodus 15:10 But you blew with your breath,
and the sea covered them. They sank like lead
in the mighty waters.
Deuteronomy 3:24
"O Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show
to your servant your greatness and your strong
hand. For what god is there in heaven or on
earth who can do the deeds and mighty works
you do?

Psalms 96:5 For all the gods of the nations are
idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
God and the Gods
Yahweh is in conflict with all other deities, as
is reflected in the first commandment: You
shall have no other gods before me (Exodus
20:3).
God and the Gods
What is the Old Testament stance toward
other religions and other gods?
Are they real, alternate sources of revelation?
Are the non-Christian religions to be regarded
as legitimate vehicles of salvation?