Is Preaching the Gospel Without Using Words Possible?

[tourist]

I believe that an effective display of the gospel can be found in the example one sets in their ordinary day to day lives because it shows their priorities and conduct in what they consider important in their humble service to the Lord. This would be an example of words in action and possibly something worth consideration and possibly emulate.

 

[pottersclay]

Yes...read the book of Ruth.
There were many that were compelled by kindness, love for the bretheren, doesn't scripture say give a answer for the joy that is found in you.
Jesus said they will know you are my sheep by your love,...not words you speak.
The last thing God needs is another mouth piece...,what he is looking for is doers of the word, a people who live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Words are cheap Jesus didn't say I've come to tell you I love you, he said I've come because I love you....selah.
If the ministry of Christ wasn't producing acts of love and just preaching it would be null and void.
We know you are sent by God because of what things you did......not by what things you say.

 

[NayborBear]

I believe Peter taught that to that Francis feller, er whoever "coined" the term, and attributed it to him.
1 Peter 3
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

To me? The updated version of this, is "Lead by example." But, always "be ready to give an answer." Meaning? Using words, when necessary, or asked.

I find this especially necessary, when "in the world." Such as at work. Yet, being not afraid, when asked.

In this "age" of instant gratification, we don't always know, nor, should be be actively in pursuit to know, in whom we've "planted a seed."

This even puts me in a quandry, in venues like this. Which is, for most intensive effects, a "house top of the world!"

To the point, that I ask myself (vanity speaking to me, I believe), "Am I doing enough?" Because I am not seeing with me own 2 eyeballs?

 

[SIMON55]

Yes, it is. I'll give you an example. I was once visiting an old church where I use to live, and a fellow said he was glad to see me there. He said if it weren't for me he wouldn't be a Christian. I never witnessed in words to the man. I was glad that he was able to see Christ in me and there by find redemption himself and his whole family with him. So don't underestimate the power of God working through you as you are obedient to his word.

Amen brother There is no doubt in the power of the word required to sustain a continued faith.....but...The true healing power of God and his Holy Spirit and his saving Grace are not bound by his word alone the scripture is not a box that we open and close to take it out and play with at our discretion .God lives everywhere and is confined to anything he moves anywhere and everywhere he chooses and he is all around us in his creation for those that have eyes to see and those who are blind to that have no excuse .....
( Romans 1:20 )
There are 7 billion unique miracles walking the face of the earth less very few repeats twins etc.....each of these are sent the spirit of life with their own seed from their creator awaiting its activation . Your friend was able to SEE.....their creator working as a walkin witness in your life that spoke the unheard testimony of faith that activates willingness to walk through the open door.
Praise God that your walk of faith could speak to his Glory.
Many christian Wrongly abuse the blessing of faith without seeing and blindly contradict the word they so insistently claim faith in.....and limit the power of the Holy Spirit to work according to his will by any means of senses his Glory he chooses. They say God you are limited to your word only and nobody can come to you unless we give you permission to by their hearing of your word.
DELUSIONAL
GOD.......is A LIVING GOD whose spirit is constantly moving through all of creation working miracle upon miracle shining light into the deepest darkest desperate and suffering places.
To those who blindly chant the repititious mantras of faith comes only by hearing I say you are a contradiction of your own word of faith you Ignore the very word you profess given by the very same person Paul whose altar you worship at and you reject what he wrote in Romans 1:20. and you darken your heart and deny the power of God hisself to work beyond the liimits of your blinded imagination and you seek to cut off the love of God and condemn the deaf and less fortunate .

Ears to hear and Eyes to See!
Not only ears......
GOD IS NOT A 1 LEGGED PIRATE...
GOD IS NOT A NAG WITH BLINDERS.....

GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!!!!
Even the prayers of the carnal suffering that have the faith of a mustard seed to grow!

Oh YE OF LITTLE FAITH....
TAKE OFF YOUR BLINDERS....
LAY DOWN YOUR SELECTIVE MANTRAS......

WALK IN FULL FAITH IN AN ALL POWERFUL GOD......
THAT IS NOT LIMITED BY YOUR CONTRADICTORY MANTRAS!!!!!

Praise his Glory and your faithful walk in him and thank you for your testimony brother!!!😀

 

[SIMON55]

Hi SIMON55, actually, everyone can read a little bit about more about St. Francis in the online periodical that I linked in the OP .. or again here: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/gstanton/what-st.-francis-of-assisi-didnt-actually-say

The author of that article shows us that St. Francis neither said nor wrote, "Preach the Gospel daily, use words if necessary", and he tells us how the life he led preaching the word of God boldly, day after day (and from town to town), is a direct rejection of the words of that quote (a quote that has been associated with him for years now, apparently falsely). And this all comes from a Roman Catholic magazine.

~Deut
p.s. - if you don't "spin doctor" that quote (like so many choose to do), and you just take the meaning of the words as written, "Preach the Gospel daily, use words if necessary", then you really have to wonder who might be behind such a saying, don't you? I mean, who would benefit the most from Christians attempting to, "preach the Gospel without using words"?

It's a great quote for those who are looking for a way to justify their silence and avoid the inevitable persecution that so often comes from talking about Jesus and the Gospel with non-Christians .. cf 2 Timothy 3:12.
.

And even so no spin doctoring intended in my posts .....although I did not have awareness of the ministry of Francis I was well aware of his compassion expressed by his prayer and had faith that he was of good spirit.....
But per scripture the true answer to your underlying supposition that all will grasp automatically to is God is not limited to the power of his word or contradictory faith mantras....he is ALIVE and working his miracles and mysteries in many ways the heard.....the seen....the answering of prayers of even the carnel.....the conversions of atheists the healing of the desperate and alone and the lost that he seeks out even to this day.....for he has not come for the righteous but for the lost and he reveals himself unto them and heals them and stands them upright even if they have to crawl before they can walk or cry before they can talk....
I do not accept the blinded hypocrosies of contradictory mantras that ignore the power of God and ignore other scriptures written by the same author.
I appreciate the clarification of Francis's background but your thread whether unpreferable or not will inevitably turn into a locust like display of assertion of a common singular common contradictory mantra which will render your background history irrelevant to the unpreventable onslaught of debate that will transpire.
I am a natural opponent of Catholicism by being Protestant but that is not to say there are not good Catholics or good an obedient Catholic servants.
But Catholicism is in fact a pagan blasphemy and also is of negative prophetic origin but all things work for the greater purposes of God even if many millions of saints are martyred and burnt at the stake for it....a thousand years of darkness black plague outlawed scripture and multiple wars and annilation of three tribes of persons and so many other horrific abominations can be attributed to the Church State power of the Justinian decree of the RCC which is the Dan.7 mixing of the Iron and Clay.
Daniel writes Catholicism is a Blasphemy which lives on until Kingdom Come and specifically the Little horn Beast.
So.....anyway I don't actually question the character of Francis.
But I question the limited faith of those who chant scripture contradictory mantras that limit God.
There is no doubt that continuing faith must include a love of the word.
But hearing is not the only sense or the only door that God opens....for the lost to make it through! 😀
Romans 1:20,21

 

[Locoponydirtman]

Amen brother There is no doubt in the power of the word required to sustain a continued faith.....but...The true healing power of God and his Holy Spirit and his saving Grace are not bound by his word alone the scripture is not a box that we open and close to take it out and play with at our discretion .God lives everywhere and is confined to anything he moves anywhere and everywhere he chooses and he is all around us in his creation for those that have eyes to see and those who are blind to that have no excuse .....
( Romans 1:20 )
There are 7 billion unique miracles walking the face of the earth less very few repeats twins etc.....each of these are sent the spirit of life with their own seed from their creator awaiting its activation . Your friend was able to SEE.....their creator working as a walkin witness in your life that spoke the unheard testimony of faith that activates willingness to walk through the open door.
Praise God that your walk of faith could speak to his Glory.
Many christian Wrongly abuse the blessing of faith without seeing and blindly contradict the word they so insistently claim faith in.....and limit the power of the Holy Spirit to work according to his will by any means of senses his Glory he chooses. They say God you are limited to your word only and nobody can come to you unless we give you permission to by their hearing of your word.
DELUSIONAL
GOD.......is A LIVING GOD whose spirit is constantly moving through all of creation working miracle upon miracle shining light into the deepest darkest desperate and suffering places.
To those who blindly chant the repititious mantras of faith comes only by hearing I say you are a contradiction of your own word of faith you Ignore the very word you profess given by the very same person Paul whose altar you worship at and you reject what he wrote in Romans 1:20. and you darken your heart and deny the power of God hisself to work beyond the liimits of your blinded imagination and you seek to cut off the love of God and condemn the deaf and less fortunate .

Ears to hear and Eyes to See!
Not only ears......
GOD IS NOT A 1 LEGGED PIRATE...
GOD IS NOT A NAG WITH BLINDERS.....

GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!!!!
Even the prayers of the carnal suffering that have the faith of a mustard seed to grow!

Oh YE OF LITTLE FAITH....
TAKE OFF YOUR BLINDERS....
LAY DOWN YOUR SELECTIVE MANTRAS......

WALK IN FULL FAITH IN AN ALL POWERFUL GOD......
THAT IS NOT LIMITED BY YOUR CONTRADICTORY MANTRAS!!!!!

Praise his Glory and your faithful walk in him and thank you for your testimony brother!!!😀 View attachment 195822

I love your zeal.

 

[Adstar]

One of the most beloved Christian quotes of all time has been credited to St. Francis of Assisi. It goes like this,

........“Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary”​

Can we really lead someone to Christ by simply acting like a Christian is supposed to act, or are words necessary?

The Apostle Paul weighed in on this matter, yes .. e.g. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8; Romans 10:17, as did the Lord, John the Baptist, the other Apostles at various times.

So, are the words of this quote wise, or are they folly (or something even worse perhaps)

What do you think, and why?

Thanks!

~Deut
p.s. - here's a very interesting article concerning this quote that you may find a little surprising. I know I did when I first read it. Click here to read it: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/gstanton/what-st.-francis-of-assisi-didnt-actually-say
.

We can attract people and spark their curiosity by striving to be good Christians.. But i do not believe a person can know the Gospel without it being told to them with Words..

 

[Lanolin]

Saint Francis was an italian catholic monk so he might have taken a vow of silence.
Back in his time catholicism had a big stronghold on christianity. He was a non confromist/radicalthough and broke away from it, as far as I know, he also cared for the animals.

These days many christians seem uncaring about creation, sadly.

 

[Locoponydirtman]

I see many preach, but few who live. Our lives speak louder than our words. In fact many who reject the gospel do it on account of actions rather than words. They sight bad behavior not sound doctrine contrary to their desires. Time and Time again I have witnessed to pagans who say they love the principles and the ideas and the teachings but find that it is powerless because the behavior they see from those who proclaim. They call it dissonance, that words contradict actions. Once my father in law who was a pagan said to me and my wife that her and I are the only ones he sees living our beliefs. He said we are the only ones that he knows, who honors our faith as far as the pagans do theirs. He respected us for our life that we lived not the words we said. Because he did he listened to what we had to say. Many conversations with his daughter I believe converted him. I did not get to know. He made some hopeful statements to my wife and was shortly there after killed on a motorcycle. I never got to speak to him again.
The testimony of our lives matter.

 

[Lanolin]

Saint Giles is another saint who loved creation theres a story about him how he saved deer from being hunted.

Saint francis preached to the birds.

GOd created this earth for us to live in, he gave us plants and animals to look after. He didnt create it so we could destroy it.

 

[Locoponydirtman]

I have made many error as a Christian and have made many messes out of many things. My most regretted sins are the times when I ruined my testimony with deeds acts of anger and carelessness. I know once you act out in a sinful way recovery is near impossible. My regret is that I failed to live it so many times and that so many lost opportunities to reach out and exemplify Christ, yet I acted out in flesh.

 

[TheDivineWatermark]

Just as supplement to my previous post... a quote from commentary on 1 Corinthians 15:

[quoting]

"[re: 1Cor15] From this chapter we learn that some members of the Corinthian church said “there is no resurrection of the dead” ((1Corinthians 15:12). The denial of this fundamental doctrine of the faith brought forth this blessed portion of the Epistle concerning resurrection and the coming of the Lord.

"The first thing mentioned in opening up this subject is the gospel which Paul had preached to the Corinthians, which they had received and wherein they stood. This is the order: The preaching of the Gospel, the good news, its reception by faith, followed by the standing in salvation and the enjoyment of it. By this Gospel is salvation as it is so fully revealed in the Epistle to the Romans. The Apostle Paul had delivered unto them, which he himself had received from the Lord (Galatians 1:11-19). The three great facts according to the Scriptures (the Old Testament Scriptures) are: (1) Christ died for our sins. The death of Christ, the cross and the mighty work accomplished there, is the great foundation. The entire Old Testament revealed in many ways this fundamental fact without which there would be and could be no redemption. (2.) He was buried. He expired as to the body on the cross. The death of Christ was real and not a deception. And His burial also has a meaning in the Gospel (Romans 6:4). And the third great fact of the gospel, “He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” This is the great truth of this chapter, a truth, if denied, must result in the complete collapse of the gospel. And His resurrection had been foretold by Himself as well as by the Scriptures. (See Genesis 22:4 and Hebrews 11:17-19; Psalm 16:1-11). This great truth, the enemy has always hated. The lying inventions of the Jews are well known to every reader of the Gospel (Matthew 28:11-15). In Corinth this truth was being denied, and in our own days those who deny the physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus are ever on the increase in the professing church. They occupy leading pulpits and are prominent in institutions of learning."

--Gaebelein, Commentary on 1 Corinthians 15 [source: Bible Hub]

[end quoting; bold and underline mine]

 

[SIMON55]

The Bible is crystal clear that the Gospel is a PROCLAMATION OF GOOD NEWS. Therefore words are absolutely necessary. Our actions simply reflect that the Gospel has impacted our lives.

So the impact in your life doesnt flow over like a springwell and impact other lives.....?....me thinks you could be denying the lord the credit to his Glory by which he has enabled you to effect others....if in faith you are broadcasting seeds widely then undoubtedly there are seed that took root out there that you are unawares of and effects of your observed walk that you aren't considering whereby you impacted others.
Your vineyard and fruit is most likely much larger than you might ever know.
People can observe even from a distance.😀

 

[Nehemiah6]

So the impact in your life doesnt flow over like a springwell and impact other lives.....?

That was neither suggested nor implied.

 

[dcontroversal]

Salvation is not the same experience for everyone in the beginning.....
Obviously continued salvation is highly dependent on the development of a love for the word.
But , do you deny the power of prayer and the power of the name?
If you received a healing a baptism and an adoption as a carnal believer who didn't attend church had read the word as a kid 15 yrs previous but never attended church and wasn't reading the word during nine months of prayer prior to the healing.
Would you deny being saved by the healing that came by prayer???😀

Salvation is a once for all act with present continuing results.....It is all Christ, his power, his promises, his faith, his work.....eternal/everlasting mean exactly that....it is not temporal based upon what we do or don't do....and no matter the "experience" there is only one way to be saved, by grace through faith and that faith comes by hearing the word of God

 

[dcontroversal]

Salvation is a once for all act with present continuing results.....It is all Christ, his power, his promises, his faith, his work.....eternal/everlasting mean exactly that....it is not temporal based upon what we do or don't do....and no matter the "experience" there is only one way to be saved, by grace through faith and that faith comes by hearing the word of God

Those who red x the above...are not led of God.....and it speaks volumes to who leads you....!!

 

[Didymous]

I believe that an effective display of the gospel can be found in the example one sets in their ordinary day to day lives because it shows their priorities and conduct in what they consider important in their humble service to the Lord. This would be an example of words in action and possibly something worth consideration and possibly emulate.

I can see what you espoused as being effective in drawing someone to ask what it is that you have. Without them hearing what you have, however, they couldn't believe in Jesus and be saved.

 

[Deuteronomy]

And even so no spin doctoring intended in my posts...

Hi SIMON55, I was referring to the many others who look at the words of that little quote and read a completely different meaning into it. You haven't done this, but I can see why you thought my "p.s." in that post was referring to you. Very sorry about the confusion.

~Deut

 

[tourist]

I can see what you espoused as being effective in drawing someone to ask what it is that you have. Without them hearing what you have, however, they couldn't believe in Jesus and be saved.

Yet, you can, by just observing nature and the sky come to the conclusion that there is a God and that God is love. Yes, verbal actions play in important part in witnessing for Jesus and the plan of salvation. You have to be ready, in or out of season to answer sincere spiritual questions about who God is and what God is about.

 

[SIMON55]

Hi SIMON55, I was referring to the many others who look at the words of that little quote and read a completely different meaning into it. You haven't done this, but I can see why you thought my "p.s." in that post was referring to you. Very sorry about the confusion.

~Deut

Nah.....I wasn't offended I didn't do your well supplied background 411 like I should have....to put me on proper thread focus....but like I said my very limited exposure to Francis was beneficial to me at a needed time so that prevented me from rushing to hang or condemn him.
Later after the interpretations of prophetic prophecy of Daniel and Rev. were revealed to did I definitely was hardcore Protestant and fully opposed to Catholocism. But like I said also in another post there are some super nice God loving Catholic people and even priests doing service out there I listen to love inspirations by Catholic on the radio when I can't get other I just switch it when the deceptive propoganda starts.....lol.....and I kind of figured there was some kind of catch.....but I am definitely protestant and definitely protest there observance and interpretation a thousand years of darkness under their prophesied Church State was enough......Christ does away with the Church State on the Cross but then gives it back to the RCC through Constantine and Justinian still trying to figure why he gave them 1260 yrs but that's second guessing Gods purposes....so....you know...
Who am I right......
Anyhow you didn't need to apologize....none called for any confusion was of my own accord....lol....Im just not confused about who the little horn beast is for sure I have read and read it.....no matter how you slice or dice it ,it comes up RCC....lol😀
Praise God good thread !!!
Informative!