Nine Verbs NOT used for Evangelism in the New Testament [with charts]

Next month a group of students and two faculty members will be leaving Midwestern Seminary in Kansas City to head to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Part of the cacophony of activities in New Orleans is a wide spectrum of evangelistic ministries. These ministries range from people holding up “Need Prayer” signs to others that say “You Are Going to Hell!” Those who hold those signs generally speak to those who pass by in a way that is concomitant to the signs they hold.

In order to ground our thoughts about what is appropriate in evangelism and what is not, it would do us well to glean wisdom from the Word of God in this area.

In gathering and listing 142 verbs and 19 nouns used to describe evangelism in the New Testament, I had the idea of gathering communicatory verbs that were not used for evangelism. So, over the past ten or so years I have been gathering the non-utilized verbs, which provide a type of photonegative for what evangelism is not meant to be. Among the 68 communicatory verbs and 7 nouns that are not used for evangelism, I have chosen nine verbs that speak to what evangelism is not.

1. Stirring up a Crowd/Starting a Riot

While there are quite a number of riots started in the New Testament, they are never started by Christ or his disciples. Riots were always started by antagonists of the gospel. It is interesting to note that Paul in his defense actually disavowed ever having provoked a riot:

“And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city.” (Acts 24:12)

Yet, this was exactly the technique of Paul’s antagonists, who had provoked a riot against Paul:

“Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him.” (Acts 21:27)

2. Cursing

Cursing is defined as “An appeal or prayer for evil or misfortune to befall someone or something” (http://www.thefreedictionary.com). Although the word is used in the New Testament on several occasions, it is never used in the context of evangelism. Biblical evangelism does not include expounding curses on other people. Rather our speech should “always be with grace, seasoned with salt” (Col 4:6).

3. Threatening

While it is easy to respond in kind if we are reviled, we are taught in the Bible that we should not menace others who may be rejecting Jesus. Ours is to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matt 5:44). Further, Jesus gave the example of not threatening others, even when he was in the midst of unjust suffering:

“Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.” (1 Pet 2:23)

It is a dangerous thing when our evangelism descends to be nothing more that menacing tones of threatening.

4. Reproaching or Insulting

Another word never used in an evangelistic context is that of reproaching or insulting another person. Paul admitted that the gospel that he was proclaiming did bring him reproaches and insults:

“For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe” (1 Tim 4:10).

So while Paul was suffering reproach, he was not reproaching others. This verb in the Greek (oneidizo, to reproach) is found 9 or 10 times in the New Testament, depending on the version of the Greek being used. None of these 9 or 10 uses describes how Jesus or one of His followers was evangelizing.

5. Speaking Evil of

Another similar verb is the Greek verb kakologeo, which means to speak evil of someone else. This verb is found 4 times in the New Testament. For example, it is used in the Book of Acts to describe the behavior that led Paul to “shake the dust off of his feet.” When some in the synagogue at Ephesus spoke evil of Paul, he left and met elsewhere:

“But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.” (Acts 19:9)

Again, here is another verb that is not used for evangelism, but rather its usage relates to antagonists of the gospel.

6. Speaking Against

This verb appears to be using pyrrhonic logic in evangelism. That is, tearing down everything the other person is saying. In the Greek it is the verb antilego, or to speak against or to contradict. This verb is also found 9 times in the New Testament, and it is never in the context of evangelism. One use relates to the response of the Jews to the receptivity of the Gentiles in Antioch:

“But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.” (Acts 13:45)

7. Deceiving

Deception is not to be used in evangelism at any time and under any circumstances. Satan is the father of lies, and God can only speak the truth. As followers of Christ, therefore, it behooves us never to lie when we are evangelizing. The verb for lying (5 NT uses) and leading astray (40 NT uses) are never used in a context of godly evangelism. Rather these verbs are used of the evangelism of false teachers who intentionally or unintentionally deceive others with their message:

“For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.” (Rom 16:18)

8. Arguing or Debating

Another interesting set of verbs not used for evangelism relates to arguing and debating. Again, debate was the method or style of the antagonists of the gospel, but it is never used of Jesus or the disciples:

“But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen.” (Acts 6:9)

For example, the Greek verb suzeteo (10 NT uses, meaning to argue, debate, discuss, question) is never used for evangelism. It does not appear that Christ has sent us out to debate others. Rather he was sent us to lovingly proclaim the Good News to those who are receptive.

9. Debating or Dialoguing

Similarly to debating is the concept of dialoguing. Each party in a discussion sharing their point of view, and seeking to find a middle ground, as it were. The Greek verb sumballo (6 NT uses, meaning to debate, confer) is not used in an evangelistic context. Interestingly it is used of those that Paul was seeking to reach prior to the Mars Hill disrupted sermon:

“Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, ‘What does this babbler want to say?’ Others said, ‘He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,’ because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.” (Act 17:18)

The first highlighted term, “encountered” is the English translation of the verb sumballo. The philosophers were debating or dialoguing with Paul. Meaning, however, Paul “preached to them.” The verb for “preach” is the verb “evangelize” in the Greek. Whereas the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers were batting ideas back and forth to Paul, Paul held his ground and was evangelizing Jesus and His resurrection.

So here are nine examples of the 68 verbs in the New Testament that do not describe evangelism. They are, as it were, the photonegative of what true evangelism ought to be. So it is interesting that while the Bible has a lot to say about evangelism, it even speaks by what it does not say about evangelism.

May our speech always give grace and be seasoned with salt!

As far as defining evangelism positively, 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 provides a clear context for understanding the Greek verb evangelize:

“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” (1 Cor 15:1-2)

In these verses, Paul used the verb “evangelize” twice, translated here through use of the word “preach.” Paul used evangelize in relation to the proclamation of the gospel that resulted in the saving faith of the hearer. So then, building from this Pauline usage, evangelizing is the proclamation of the gospel to lost persons with the goal that they receive it and be saved.

Can you think of other verbs or comments on the New Testament terminology for evangelism?

[Comments above based on the two charts below, taken from charts in an unpublished update of my Evangelizology notes, for other related charts see http://www.evangelismunlimited.com/charts.php]