The Apostolic Gospel: Monotheism

As previously mentioned, the mood of the apostolic gospel as recorded in the Book of Acts consists of the Creator's goodness in calling sinful humans to gracious reconciliation with himself. Implicit throughout these presentations of good news are two fundamental presuppositions. The first is that there is one and only one almighty creator. The second is that humanity is morally accountable to God and is universally and individually sinful. Monotheism will be addressed below.

It is interesting to note that in the two instances recorded in Acts where monotheism is explicitly raised, it is simply proclaimed and not philosophically debated. The first of these is recorded in Acts 14:8-18, when Paul sought to dissuade the people of Lystra from offering sacrifices to Barnabas and himself because they had presumed them to be Zeus and Hermes due to a miraculous healing performed by Paul. Paul took the same approach when he spoke to the Areopagus in Athens, having been summoned there by a number of philosophers who wished a formal inquiry into the message Paul had been publicly proclaiming concerning Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 17:16-34). Once again Paul simply proclaims monotheism. There is no record of his having entered into a philosophical debate regarding this presuppositional truth to the gospel.

All of the other explicit presentations of the gospel recorded in Acts merely presume the reality of monotheism. This is most likely due to the collective knowledge base of the various recipients involved. I have identified ten such instances, all of which involved either Jews, who of course would have been raised in a monotheistic ethos, or Gentiles who were closely associated with Jews, either by way of geographic residence or by association with a local synagogue. Consequently, there was no need to directly address the issue of monotheism to these recipients.

Since the majority of the Roman empire's inhabitants were polytheistic, and often syncretistic, it is reasonable to assume that much of the apostolic preaching conducted throughout the first century, but not recorded in Acts, did involve explicit proclamation of the truth of monotheism. This would have been a necessary backdrop to the communication of the core content of the gospel, which centers on Jesus. However, as I will argue later on, the record of the apostolic preaching makes clear that the apostles never deviated from the core content, but remained focused on communicating it to any and all audiences. Thus, monotheism was explicitly raised for the specific purpose of facilitating the recipients' understanding of the gospel.

This then provides us with a helpful lesson for contemporary communication of the gospel, which is elucidated by the following list of pertinent points.

1. It is necessary to identify the core content of the gospel.
2. It is necessary to assess the religious worldview and knowledge base of the intended recipients.
3. It is necessary to discern the intended recipients' ability to understand the core content of the gospel in light of their religious worldview and knowledge base.
4. If necessary, presuppositional truths relevant to the gospel and necessary for it to be understood must be included in the proclamation to the intended recipients.

Next to be considered will be the second fundamental presupposition to the good news; namely, that humanity is morally accountable to God and is universally and individually sinful.