Category Archives: New Testament Studies

John 20:21, A Call to Evangelize?

CHIASM, John 20:19-26

Explaining the Chiasm

This article is the third and final post concerning what many consider Scriptural calls to evangelism. CNN published an article by Ed Stetzer, a noted evangelical pastor, who asserted that three verses in Scripture–Matthew 28:19, Acts 1:8 and John 20:21–supported the view that Jesus commanded His disciples to evangelize, specifically to invite people to church. We previously explored the context, word meaning and literary structures of Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8, concluding that neither were calls for all Christians  to evangelize or invite others to Sunday services. We now arrive at John 20:21 which includes the phrase: “As the Father has sent me, I also send you.”  Our goal here is the same as before–based on the context, word meaning and literary structure of the passage, is this a call to evangelize?

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