Who said preach the gospel and when necessary use words

We must never diminish the importance of deeds. But we must never think that people will be saved by merely seeing us do good deeds. Good deeds, social justice, and exemplary living — even striving to keep the Ten Commandments, which certainly should be one goal of Christian living — cannot replace the saving power of Jesus Christ. Your life, my life cannot save anyone. Teach them Christ and whatsoever He commanded.

That is our Great Commission. This is the Word of the Lord. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Das, R. Langham Global Library, Kennedy, D. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Ladd, George Eldon. A Theology of the New Testament. Edited by Donald Alfred. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, Montesano, Mark. Newbigin, Lesslie. One of the most well known traditions popularized by St. Francis is the live nativity. While we might see this as a creative and sentimental example, it was, in fact, a powerfully prophetic gesture. He brought into the heart of the church and the Scriptures the messy reality of the nature of the incarnation cow manure and all. He saw the story of Scripture to be something to be lived and experience, not merely commemorated.

So, while we can defend that preaching is central to Francis' example, we cannot do so without recognizing that he preached in ways that were intentionally disruptive to nominal faith, pointing instead to active participation in the Communion of Christ as His Body.

Francis never sought to elevate action over speaking in the task of bringing the Gospel, but neither did he believe that Gospel was only a message to be communicated.

Francis recognized that the Gospel was all consuming, the work of God to restore all of Creation unto Himself for His glory. He embraced the truth that the authority of the Gospel he proclaimed with his mouth was given authority by the nature and character of the life he led. And in the same way, he knew that, in spite of his own failings and that of other Christians , the proclaimed message of hope and love would find fertile soil in the hearts of others, and so that Gospel must be proclaimed.

The example of St. Francis of Assisi in these respects stand as a challenge to Christians today. In the face of our increasingly post-Christian context, we must resist the temptation to fight to sustain our place of power and privilege.

In truth, such a position has largely compromised our authority and credibility before a watching world.

He parted with all that he had and took a vow of poverty which provided a clear witness to the gospel he preached. Preaching was central to the ministry of Jesus. Preaching was clearly central in the Early Church too. And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

The early followers could not help but tell others of Jesus and what they had seen and heard, even when ordered by a court not to do so Acts Without words our good works and fine example will point towards ourselves rather than our Saviour. Literally, you can't read more than one chapter in Acts without seeing the harmony of gospel demonstration and gospel proclamation.

In Acts , Peter stands up " lifted up his voice " v. What results after that sermon is 3, people are convicted by the preached word and the Holy Spirit and they respond by repenting, believing, and being baptized v.

In Acts , Peter and John heal a lame man and, as a result, a crowd gathers and again Peter stands up and speaks at Solomon's Portico in the temple courts and preaches the gospel, which includes Peter calling them to repent. In Acts 4 Peter and John are arrested for preaching publicly. Immediately after being released they pray this prayer: "And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness v.

From that point, the text says they were filled with the Spirit and they continued to speak the word of God with boldness v. In Acts , the church has grown to thousands of people. The apostles are so busy that they need deacons to help care for people and do ministry. The first martyr in church history was Stephen. Why was he killed? Because he preached one of the most hard-hitting sermons in history Acts 7.

And we know from Acts that Stephen "preached the gospel" with his life, was a man of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. His demonstration equally matched his proclamation; and they killed him for it. Other Acts references: , , , , , , , , , and basically the rest of the book. Other New Testament references: 1 Thessalonians , 1 Peter , , Philippians , Ephesians , , 1 Timothy Another significant problem with subscribing to this quote is that it quickly lends itself to making excuses for not practicing personal evangelism.

The majority of Christians, who I know personally, who love this quote are people that are scared of sharing their faith with others and almost never even talk about their faith in general. Is this really what Jesus had in mind for his disciples when He rose from the grave and gave them His great commission? Matthew Live good lives but only talk about it when and if it comes up?!

I struggle to see how any person can exegetically come to that conclusion after reading the book of Acts not to mention any other New Testament letter.

The early church community frequented public spaces and went from home to home on a daily basis Acts sharing the gospel, proclaiming the Kingdom, and teaching about the resurrected Christ as those who were eyewitnesses. Speaking about Jesus and the Kingdom was literally all the disciples did everyday.

Granted, they were loving people, serving people, selling possessions, etc. The most concerning part of this quote are the words " if necessary ". If necessary?