Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Book Review: Mission in the Old Testament

Missions is not a New Testament concept or venture. The Apostle Paul did not think that what he was doing by taking the gospel to the gentiles was an idea that originated with him after his conversion. Paul knew that taking the God's Good News to the Nations was God's plan revealed in scripture all the way back in Genesis when God called Abraham out of his homeland to go to a country he didn't know anything about.

Kaiser thoroughly documents the theology of cross-cultural missions all the way through the Old Testament. It's not a modern movement. It's God's plan from the beginning.

Kaiser helps us step back and look at the big picture. The fifth chapter was my favorite. Kaiser demonstrates the missionary heart of God as He calls Jonah to bring a message of repentance to Nineveh. "Should I not be concerned about that great city?" God asks Jonah.

The glossary is quite a useful tool with some great vocabulary words. Impress your friends at parties by knowing words like "Centrifugal" and "Centripetal."

Centrifugal - "Outward-moving." This is the word used to describe the active work of Old Testament believers to aggressively take the message of the Good News about the coming Man of Promise to the Gentile world around them.

Centripetal - "Inward-moving." A term used to describe the more passive attitude many think they observe in the Old Testament obligation to witness to Gentiles. Instead, the burden rested on the unreached to take the initiative to become converts to the faith according to this view. ---p. 83

Technorati tags: , ,

No comments: