Haase_UZ_x007E_DTh (2).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

The affirmation of the unique Christ as the
hope and judgment of the world has its basis
in the very history of salvation. We would do
well to remember… that the eschatological
Christ is the very one who was announced by
the prophets, was born in Palestine, was
crucified under Pontius Pilate and rose again
on the third day… The person of Christ is
present throughout human history from
beginning to end” (Zokoue, in Nicholls,
1994:233-234).
God’s own cannot retreat from the inevitable challenges that come, no matter what
form they take. Our battles are primarily rooted in unseen realities and powers (cf., 2Co.
10:1-6; Eph. 6:10-20); but all are manifested in daily life. Missiologist David
Hesselgrave adds:
In a world of religious pluralism, evangelical
witness, preaching and teaching should
become increasingly dialogical -- answering
those questions and objection s raised by non-
Christian respondents rather than simply
answering questions of the evangelical’s own
devising. In the words of my colleague and
friend, Carl. F.H. Henry, ‘the only adequate
alternative to dialogue that deletes the
evangelical view is dialogue that expounds it.
The late twentieth century is no time to shrink
from that dialogue’ (Hesselgrave, 1978:238).
While not all Christians would call themselves, Evangelical, all Christians are
biblically mandated to share their faith, which to some degree makes them ‘evangelical.’
Aside from semantics, the point is God has already given believers all they need to be
effective witness in the world, whether the contextual challenge to the faith is another
religion, pluralism, relativism, or even postmodernity.
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University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa