Being a Witness Rather than Doing Witnessing

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

There is an amazing silence in the New Testament regarding evangelism. The epistles list no commandments regarding evangelism or witnessing. The apostles teach no soul-winning courses. The silence is stunning! You would think the subject would be so paramount that it would be a constant theme. It is not because evangelism is unimportant that the New Testament is relatively quiet, nor is it because evangelism is solely the work of God.

The reason for the New Testament’s remarkable silence on evangelism is there was no need for it to be discussed. Evangelism was occurring. Jesus did not say in Acts 1:8 that His followers would do witnessing; He said they would be witnesses. Evangelism is natural to Spirit-filled Christians. That’s why the apostles never tried to lay down some technique, method, or command on how to do evangelism. It was completely unnecessary, and therefore probably never came to their minds. And it is very unlikely that it came to their minds to do evangelism the way we do it.

The early church knew what many today have forgotten—you are either a witness for the Lord Jesus or for something else. Your actions tell who you love the most. Your devotion testifies what is most important to you. It is either the Lord God, or it is something or someone else.