Sharing the Gospel Without Threatening Hell or Judgment
The New Testament consistently portrays the sharing of the Gospel as a necessary and urgent task for believers [3, 4]. Paul states, "woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!" [3]. This proclamation is described as "good tidings of great joy" [5] and the "power of God to salvation" [5]. The content of this message centers on the "kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ" [1].
While the Gospel is fundamentally good news, the question of whether and how to incorporate warnings about hell and judgment in its presentation has been a point of discussion in Christian thought. Early Church Fathers, such as John Chrysostom, emphasized the pastoral benefit of fear concerning hell. Chrysostom argued that God's threatenings of hell fire demonstrate His care for humanity, preventing greater sin. He believed that if people did not fear destruction, they would be overthrown, citing the examples of Nineveh, Noah's generation, and Sodom [7, 10]. For Chrysostom, "Nothing is so profitable as to converse concerning hell. It renders our souls purer than any [10]."
However, the nature of fear itself is distinguished in theological discourse. John Calvin, for instance, differentiated between the fear of believers and the fear of the wicked. The wicked fear God due to His power for vengeance and the impending punishment, while believers dread offending God more than the punishment itself [9]. This suggests that while a certain kind of fear may be a starting point, the ultimate aim of the Gospel is to cultivate a relationship with God rooted in love and reverence rather than solely in terror of retribution.
The biblical mandate to share the Gospel is often presented without explicit instructions to begin with threats of hell. Paul preached the Gospel "without fear" [1] and urged Timothy not to be "ashamed of the testimony about our Lord" [2]. The Gospel itself "brings life and immortality to light" [5] and exhibits "the grace of God" [5]. John Gill, a Baptist/Reformed commentator, noted that ministers should deliver the Gospel "fully and faithfully, with great authority and power, and with much vehemence, zeal, and fervency" [6]. He also interpreted the call to "fear God" in Revelation 14:7 not as a "servile fear, or a fear of punishment, of wrath, hell, and damnation," but rather a reverent fear of the Lord [6].
The preaching of the Gospel is also understood as a means by which God's promises, realized in Christ, are made known [12]. It is a stewardship entrusted to ministers [8]. While persecution may arise from sharing the Gospel, believers are encouraged to continue spreading the message, even fleeing to other cities if necessary, not primarily for their own safety but "for the further spreading of the Gospel" [11]. The early church faced threats from various groups, but Cyprian argued that Christians should not yield to such threats, as Christ is greater than any adversary [13].
Sources
- Acts “Acts 28:31 (BBE) — Preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ without fear, and no orders were given that he was not to do so.”
- II Timothy “II Timothy 1:8 (LEB) — Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor me his prisoner, but suffer along with me for the gospel, according to the power of God,”
- King James Version “[KJV] 1 Corinthians 9:16 — For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”
- I Corinthians “I Corinthians 9:16 (LEB) — For if I proclaim the gospel, it is not to me a reason for boasting, for necessity is imposed on me. For woe is to me if I do not proclaim the gospel.”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Gospel, The — Is good tidings of great joy for all people -- Lu 2:10,11,31,32. Foretold -- Isa 41:27; 52:7; 61:1-3; Mr 1:15. Preached under the old testament -- Heb 4:2. Exhibits the grace of God -- Ac 14:3; 20:32. The knowledge of the glory of God is by -- 2Co 4:4,6. Life and immortality are brought to light by Jesus through -- 2Ti 1:10. Is the power of God to salvation -- Ro 1:16; 1Co 1:18; 1Th 1:5. Is glorious -- 2Co 4:4. Is everlasting -- 1Pe 1:25; Re 14:6. Preached by Christ -- Mt 4:23; Mr 1:14. Ministers have a stewardship to preach -- 1Co 9:17. Preached before”
- Revelation (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Revelation 14:7: Saying with a loud voice,.... These ministers shall lift up their voice like a trumpet, and cry aloud, and deliver out the Gospel fully and faithfully, with great authority and power, and with much vehemence, zeal, and fervency: fear God; or "the Lord", as some copies, the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions, read: not the antichristian beast and his followers, as men formerly had done; but God the Lord, and him not with a servile fear, or a fear of punishment, of wrath, hell, and damnation; nor with a distrust of his grace, love, power, and providence, much less ”
- CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians–Colossians–Thessalonians: listen to the threatenings of hell fire, that we may be benefited by the wholesome fear of it. For if God, intending to cast sinners into it, had not previously threatened them with it, many would have plunged into it. For, if with this terror agitat 462 ing our souls, some sin as readily as if there were no such thing in existence, what enormities should we not have committed, if it had not been declared and threatened? So that, as I have ever said, the threatenings of hell show the care of God for us no less than the promises o”
- 1 Corinthians (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Corinthians 9:16: For if I do this thing willingly,.... That is, not freely and without receiving anything for preaching, without seeking any temporal profits and advantages; nor in pure love to Christ, and the good of souls, without any fear of punishment, or hope of reward; but the apostle supposes a case which was not, and his sense is, that supposing no necessity had been laid upon him, or any injunction or command given him to preach the Gospel, but he had entered on it without any obligation upon him, then, says he, I have a reward; or should have one, or might expect on”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 57: and the fear of believers there is a wide difference. The wicked do not fear God from any unwillingness to offend him, provided they could do so with impunity; but knowing that he is armed with power for vengeance, they tremble in dismay on hearing of his anger. And they thus dread his anger, because they think it is impending over them, and they every moment expect it to fall upon their heads. But believers, as has been said, dread the offense even more than the punishment. They are not alarmed 493 by the fear of punishment, as if”
- CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians–Colossians–Thessalonians: so it is also in this case. If the Ninevites had not feared destruction, they would have been overthrown, but because they feared, they were not overthrown. If in the time of Noah they had feared the deluge, they would not have been drowned. And if the Sodomites had feared they would not have been consumed by fire. It is a great evil to despise a threat. He who despises threatening will soon experience its reality in the execution of it. Nothing is so profitable as to converse concerning hell. It renders our souls purer than any ”
- Matthew (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Matthew 10:22: But when they persecute you in this city,.... Or any city into which they went, and preached the Gospel; and would not suffer them to go on in their work, they were not to desist, but to go elsewhere, where they might hope for a better reception, and a longer continuance, and so of doing more good: flee ye into another; not so much for their own safety, though this, according to the circumstances of things, is lawful, but for the further spreading of the Gospel. The exhortation is not to take methods to avoid persecution, or to make an escape from it, but to perse”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 45: light through the Gospel,” ( 2 Tim. 1:10 ). Paul does not mean by these words that the Fathers were plunged in the darkness of death before the Son of God became incarnate; but he claims for the Gospel the honourable distinction of being a new and extraordinary kind of embassy, by which God fulfilled what he had promised, these promises being realised in the person of the Son. For though believers have at all times experienced the truth of Paul’s declaration, that “all the promises of God in him are yea and amen,” inasmuch as these”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 5: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian — TO CORNELIUS, CONCERNING FORTUNATUS AND FELICISSIMUS, OR AGAINST THE HERETICS. (part 2): fact now be Christians, if it is come to this, that we are to be afraid of the threats or the snares of outcasts. For both Gentiles and Jews threaten, and heretics and all those, of whose hearts and minds the devil has taken possession, daily attest their venomous madness with furious voice. We are not, therefore, to yield because they threaten; nor is the adversary and enemy on that account greater than Christ, because he claims for himself and assumes so ”