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Evangelii Nuntiandi, Chapter V
The Addressees of Evangelization
No. 49: Directed to All Men
This number relates the fact that the apostles were called to bring evangelization to all the world and that the apostles and the early Church did just that. The classic scriptural quotation of the call of the apostles to universal evangelization are the words in St. Mark’s gospel: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation” (Mk 16:15), which is quoted in this number.
There are other texts in the New Testament that speak of the call to universal evangelization. The first one that comes to mind is the parallel text to Mark’s in the gospel of St. Matthew: “Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on earth; go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:18f).
There are the words that Ananias said to Paul when he came to him after his conversion: “Before all men you are to be his witness to what you have seen and heard” (Acts 22:15).
Then there are the texts that speak of Gentiles and Greeks being taken into the Church. In the introduction to his letter to the Romans, Paul says among other things: “Through him we have been favored with apostleship, that we may spread his name and bring to obedient faith all the Gentiles” (Rm 1:5).
Peter, at the First Council of Jerusalem, stated: “Brothers, you know well enough that from the early days God selected me from your number to be the one from whose lips the Gentiles would hear the message of the gospel and believe” (Acts 15:7).
In Acts 9:31 it says, “Meanwhile throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria the church was at peace.” Samaria was a Gentile city. The Jews did not consider the Samaritans to be Jews; they were Gentiles. Yet they were accepted into the church from the very beginning.
St. Peter went to the house of Cornelius the centurion and baptized the whole household (Acts 10:1, 10:45-48). When Peter explained the incident to the church in Jerusalem, they glorified God, saying: “God has granted life giving repentance even to the Gentiles” (Acts 11:18).
No. 49 also says that persecution contributed to the spread of the faith in ever wider circles beyond Israel. An example of this was Antioch. Some Christians there, driven from Jerusalem by the persecution after the death of Stephen, began to speak to the Greeks. There were conversions and
they were accepted into the Church (Acts 11:19-21).
When Paul and Barnabas went to Antioch in Pisidia, they preached first of all to the Jews in the synagogue, but when some of them contradicted them and would not hear the Good News, they turned to the Gentiles, saying: “The word of God has to be declared to you first of all; but since you reject it and thus convict yourselves as unworthy of everlasting life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For thus were we instructed by the Lord: ‘I have made you a light to the nations, a means of salvation to the ends of the earth’ ” (Acts 13:46-47, Is 49:6).
Mary, fill our hearts with holy zeal to carry the gospel to the ends of the world. Amen.
The Addressees of Evangelization
No. 49: Directed to All Men
This number relates the fact that the apostles were called to bring evangelization to all the world and that the apostles and the early Church did just that. The classic scriptural quotation of the call of the apostles to universal evangelization are the words in St. Mark’s gospel: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to all creation” (Mk 16:15), which is quoted in this number.
There are other texts in the New Testament that speak of the call to universal evangelization. The first one that comes to mind is the parallel text to Mark’s in the gospel of St. Matthew: “Full authority has been given to me both in heaven and on earth; go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:18f).
There are the words that Ananias said to Paul when he came to him after his conversion: “Before all men you are to be his witness to what you have seen and heard” (Acts 22:15).
Then there are the texts that speak of Gentiles and Greeks being taken into the Church. In the introduction to his letter to the Romans, Paul says among other things: “Through him we have been favored with apostleship, that we may spread his name and bring to obedient faith all the Gentiles” (Rm 1:5).
Peter, at the First Council of Jerusalem, stated: “Brothers, you know well enough that from the early days God selected me from your number to be the one from whose lips the Gentiles would hear the message of the gospel and believe” (Acts 15:7).
In Acts 9:31 it says, “Meanwhile throughout all Judea, Galilee and Samaria the church was at peace.” Samaria was a Gentile city. The Jews did not consider the Samaritans to be Jews; they were Gentiles. Yet they were accepted into the church from the very beginning.
St. Peter went to the house of Cornelius the centurion and baptized the whole household (Acts 10:1, 10:45-48). When Peter explained the incident to the church in Jerusalem, they glorified God, saying: “God has granted life giving repentance even to the Gentiles” (Acts 11:18).
No. 49 also says that persecution contributed to the spread of the faith in ever wider circles beyond Israel. An example of this was Antioch. Some Christians there, driven from Jerusalem by the persecution after the death of Stephen, began to speak to the Greeks. There were conversions and
they were accepted into the Church (Acts 11:19-21).
When Paul and Barnabas went to Antioch in Pisidia, they preached first of all to the Jews in the synagogue, but when some of them contradicted them and would not hear the Good News, they turned to the Gentiles, saying: “The word of God has to be declared to you first of all; but since you reject it and thus convict yourselves as unworthy of everlasting life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For thus were we instructed by the Lord: ‘I have made you a light to the nations, a means of salvation to the ends of the earth’ ” (Acts 13:46-47, Is 49:6).
Mary, fill our hearts with holy zeal to carry the gospel to the ends of the world. Amen.