Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: What's changed in the second edition?

The passage of time – almost twenty years – since the first edition and other factors made it necessary, even desirable, to revise and update this volume and to issue this second edition. While there are several excellent monographs on mission available, this survey of the biblical theology of mission has served as a convenient framework for those who are practitioners in the field as well as for students of mission in the Bible. I trust that this new effort, building on the initial treatment, will serve a new generation of church planters and students of mission well, to the glory of God, whose mission we have had the high privilege to join.

I am very grateful to Desi Alexander for his willingness to contribute the chapter on mission in the Old Testament. This is an entirely fresh chapter, which, I believe, fittingly sets the stage for the outburst of missionary activity following the ‘Great Commission’ of the risen Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the new messianic community at Pentecost. Desi’s biblical-theological work has produced several distinguished contributions, and I am grateful that he has chosen to contribute to the present effort by tackling this challenging yet (I believe) rewarding assignment.

In view of significant contributions by scholars such as E. J. Schnabel, C. J. H. Wright and N. T. Wright, not to mention my collaborator and others, it seemed appropriate to strengthen and emphasize in the second edition more than in the first the way in which the Bible presents a continuing narrative of the story of God’s mission – ranging from the story of Israel to the story of Jesus and that of the early Christians. At the same time, it seemed important to provide a robust historical and chronological backbone to the unfolding of the early Christian mission.

With regard to the latter, I have chosen to eliminate the separate chapters on Paul and on the general letters – an amorphous category – and instead to incorporate the contributions of these individuals and writings in conjunction with the Gospel with which they have the closest and most natural canonical and historical affinity: James and Hebrews withMatthew; 1–2 Peter and Jude with Mark; Paul’s letters with Luke; and 1–3 John and the Apocalypse with John. 

Within the framework of Acts, Paul’s letters are discussed in conjunction with the occasion at which Paul planted a given church, in view of the fact that these letters take their point of departure from that point and constitute part of an ongoing relationship between Paul and a particular church: Philippians at Acts 16; 1–2 Thessalonians at Acts 17; 1–2 Corinthians at Acts 18, followed by Romans (a church Paul did not plant, written in Corinth); Ephesians at Acts 19 – 20; and Colossians (as well as Philemon), another church Paul did not plant, as well as Titus and 1–2 Timothy, following Acts 28. In this way Paul’s mission is integrated with the early Christian mission narrated in the book of Acts (with Luke’s Gospel as a prequel).

I believe incorporating Paul’s writings within the Luke–Acts framework constitutes a significant improvement over the first edition, as, notwithstanding Paul’s stature as leader of the early Christian mission, he should not be viewed in isolation but as part of the larger close-knit network of the early Christian movement. Also, while the chapter on Paul in the first edition essentially used Romans as a template, the second edition includes treatments of all of Paul’s letters within the ministry context in which they were first written. This capitalizes on the important insight that Paul was not an ivory-tower theologian – a theoretician – but a missionary, a practitioner of mission, who articulated his theology in a missional context.

John’s writings were gathered in a separate chapter on Johannine Christianity, containing discussions of John’s Gospel, letters and the Apocalypse. This, too, I believe, is an improvement over the first edition, where John’s Gospel was discussed in a separate chapter while John’s letters were included in a chapter on the general letters and the Apocalypse in a chapter by itself. The chapter on the second-temple period, finally, was moved from its original location following the chapter on the Old Testament to an appendix so as not to interrupt the flow of the presentation of the biblical storyline and theology of mission.

Doubtless reviewers will suggest further improvements; I am fully aware that this is a work in progress. I would like to express my gratitude to a number of people and groups who have been instrumental in the production of this volume, in particular Philip Duce and Inter-Varsity Press for their kind commissioning of this second edition and D. A. Carson, the series editor, who, apart from his scholarly and editorial expertise, also has a very strong lifelong commitment not only to write about but to engage personally in global mission. I am also exceedingly grateful to the copy editor, Eldo Barkhuizen, for his painstaking and stellar work.

I would also like to express my appreciation to the trustees and administration of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for their encouragement and support. Thanks are also due to several students for their help in updating scholarly references: Jimmy Roh (Gospels, Acts, and Paul), Mark Baker (Paul) and Dave Phillips (Revelation). Above all, I am deeply grateful for my wife of over thirty years, Margaret Elizabeth, for her strong and committed partnership, not only in marriage, but also in mission. As we have expressed in our books God’s Design for Man and Woman and Equipping for Life, we view marriage and family not as selfserving enterprises but as vehicles for witness and mission. I could not imagine a better partner on this journey.

Finally, I am deeply grateful to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for seeking and saving me and calling me into his service almost forty years ago. I will never regret following his call, and I love him more today than I ever have. As I move closer to the fulfilment of my earthly calling, I am also increasingly mindful of Jesus’ words to his first followers, ‘I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33). Even so: ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’ (Rev. 22:20).

The second edition of Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Mission is one of our August 2020 Releases. You can order your copy, digitally or physically, now! If you can't wait till then, you might like to check out some of the books on mission that we've published since 2001...