by George W. Peters

Reviewed by Ed Hansen

Put on your thinking cap, get out your dictionary, take off your watch, and open up this fine book for a thorough examination of the Word of God on the subject of Christian missions. If you’re like me, you will have to look up more than a few words in that dictionary while reading A Biblical Theology of Missions by former Dallas Theological Seminary professor George W. Peters—but I hope you won’t shy away from it for that reason. Rather, let it be a challenge to you to deepen your commitment to understanding and pursuing your calling as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Carefully exploring the Scriptures, the author challenges faulty views of missions and the Christian life. He explores the relationship between missionary theology and the biblical teachings on the Person of Jesus Christ, the nature of God, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The book defines true Christianity and true Christian missions, and gives us in-depth analyses of the biblical roles of the Word, the Spirit and the church in mission work.

True Christianity

“I make no apology for accepting the Bible uncritically and authoritatively. …For several years I listened carefully and studiously to the philosophical and critical approaches to the Bible. I found the theories wanting, for they presented themselves to me as neither revelational, historical nor rational. They lacked historical evidences and authoritative criteria. They built neither my faith nor my life. They were subjective, uncritical speculations. They did not nurture missions’ motivation or create missionary dynamic. The theories failed to captivate my heart or dynamize my volition. Thus I abide with the Bible as my guide, directive and authority.”

Building a strong case against the universalist, liberal, ecumenical, and other unscriptural perversions of Christianity, George Peters brings to light true Christianity and the true foundation of Christian mission work, which he finds rooted in the very character and purpose of God, who “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” He sees the call to radical discipleship and the mandate for missions throughout the Word of God, rather than merely in a few commands given to the apostles. He also shows that missions is inseparable from true Christianity:

“Missions is not an optional enterprise; it is the life-flow of the church. …Dogmatically I assert that no man can hold seriously to the Biblical concept of God…and not…take drastic action.”

True Mission Work and Social Action

In differentiating between true mission work (preaching the gospel and planting churches) and the “social gospel” (helping people with physical or social needs) the author states:

“I do not find anywhere in the Bible that (social action) comes under the biblical category of missions. It is man’s assignment as man and is to be fulfilled on the human level. It is not implied in the Great Commission of our Lord to His disciples, nor do any of the spiritual gifts (charismata) as presented in the Scriptures relate to it. …The world needs a bold prophetic church speaking out in a ringing tone the great principles of [the gospel].”

He acknowledges man’s responsibility for the practical needs of those around him as God-given. However, he sees this as an individual responsibility, as opposed to the corporate mandate of the church, which is to build the spiritual kingdom of God.

The Word and the Spirit in Missions

Regarding the place of the Word and the Spirit in missions, Dr. Peters writes of:

“the mystic-realistic relationship which exists between the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. This we must firmly grasp. On the one hand, it will save us from a vague and subjective mysticism, and on the other hand, from a dry and lifeless orthodoxy which rests upon the letter without the life inherent in the Word.

“The Christian life…can only be lived in absolute reliance on the Holy Spirit. Unless the lessons are learned early, the Christian life becomes beset with frustrations and numbness; apathy sets in, or people become conditioned to an abnormal and subnormal Christian life. This is the tragedy of countless believers who do not even expect to live up to the Biblical ideals.”

The author’s assertion is that the Bible authoritatively guides us in all matters of missionary enterprise, while the Spirit gives life and specific application to what the Word reveals. Thus the verse is fulfilled which says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

The Church in Missions

George Peters sees the church as indispensable in mission work, and focuses on God’s design for the church with its spiritual gifts and callings and on the biblical relationship between sending churches, missionaries and the churches they plant. He addresses the importance of missionaries building relationships across the culture gap that exists in most mission fields:

“Much weakness in evangelical mission work and mission churches is due to the fact that the missionaries have not been able or willing to make such cultural adaptation, social integration, psychological penetration, and spiritual identification as to make spiritual fellowship deep, lasting, contagious and vital. Somehow the wall of separation [is] not broken down.”

At the same time he stresses the importance of not compromising the gospel of Jesus Christ in the name of cultural sensitivity, and strongly rejects modern ideas of synthesis (combining Christianity with pagan religions in the name of missions).

“Lest I be misunderstood, let it also be said that wherever Christ enters a culture, it will not remain undisturbed. … Christ will leave no relationship and culture unaffected. … He makes all things new. …[The gospel] makes and molds culture while at the same time judging culture.”

The author also specifies that it is not the culture of the sending church or the missionary that is to be exported, but rather the all-changing gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Summary

J.F. Shepherd, former Education Secretary of the Christian & Missionary Alliance Church, recommends A Biblical Theology of Missions in the foreword:

“This is an important book. It touches on all the issues fundamental to missions in our time. Probably no specifically missionary book has ever undertaken as profound and comprehensive a treatment of the subject as this one. …It unifies and integrates the whole range of theological themes in and around the idea of missions. …The text is illustrated and supported with an immense amount of Scripture correlated in an impressive way. …The elements of his Mennonite heritage and those of his Dallas Theological Seminary loyalties show through at certain points and sometimes combine in interesting and helpful ways.”

There is a danger in our day of ease, entertainment and shallow thinking that we can be led astray from the true “faith which was once delivered to the saints.” Over the years I have met many professing Christians who had a rather strange accumulation of ideas about the Christian faith. Many of their ideas were not biblical, and some of their beliefs didn’t even fit together. Having listened indiscriminately to a wide variety of “Christian” Bible teachers, musicians, and authors, and failing to think deeply regarding those things they heard, they ended up subscribing to a hodge-podge of conflicting thoughts strung together like a necklace on a thin thread of sentimentality. May God deliver us from such shallowness and confusion. Oh, how we need to join the Bereans of the early church who “searched the Scriptures daily” to see for themselves whether the teaching of the apostles was true. A Biblical Theology of Missions can help us increase our missions understanding and passion.

We will conclude with George Peters’ closing challenge:

“The church that makes God’s business her business will soon discover that God is in her midst to make her concerns His business. Indeed, they ‘went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following’ (Mk 16:20). Such may be our experience today. But we must ‘go forth.’”