THE OBLIGATION TO PREACH THE GOSPEL
If there is one indisputable obligation for all who are Christians, it is to tell others about Jesus Christ. The scriptures give us many examples of this, and also make it a command. Because there is so little opposition to this teaching, we will show only a few verses that remind us of this responsibility.
We will begin with the story of Jonah. Jonah was commanded of God to go to the city of Nineveh and preach. He was to preach repentance. He did not want to do this for several reasons, but God commanded him to do this:
Jonah 3:2
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
Jesus gave His disciples the command to go preach the gospel:
Mark 16:15-16
And he said unto them,
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.Matthew 28:19-20
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.Luke in Acts 10 relates this story of Jesus and the need to preach the gospel again:
Acts 10:38-42
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
39And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: 40Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; 41Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. 42And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
In Acts 16 we see that God expects the gospel to be preached:
Acts 16:10
immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
In Romans, Paul asserts his desire to preach the gospel (and he also defines what the gospel is) to those who are in Rome:
Romans 1:15-17
So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.He also reveals that it is through the gospel that one learns how God makes man righteous ("for therein is the righteousness of god revealed").
Later Paul makes the obvious case that, unless we preach the gospel, none shall hear it:
Romans 10:14
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
In the first Corinthian epistle Paul says that God has called us to preach the gospel:
1 Cor. 1:17
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
Last we look at the verse that declares the woe upon us if we do not preach:
1 Cor. 9:16
For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea,
woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!And so we do that which we have been commanded:
2 Tim. 4:2-5
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.