Unlimited: A Pioneer for the Gospel
Dec 4, 2023 375
so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written: “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand” (Romans 15:20b–21).
Paul takes very literally and seriously his duty to preach the Gospel, not to those who already know Jesus, but to those who haven’t yet heard about him. Paul dedicated his life to fulfilling Scripture. He shows us this by quoting Isaiah 52:15 as the reason why he has decided to preach the Gospel where Christ isn’t yet known.
There is a sense in which it is good to build on someone else’s foundation. Paul himself, in urging the church in Corinth to work together wrote,
…the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow (1 Cor 3:5–7.)
Paul’s work was a pioneering ministry.
However, there is also a more important sense in which it is important that our foundation should never be anyone else’s but Christ:
…no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11.)
Paul’s work was a pioneering ministry. If Paul’s example had been followed, then the constant overlapping of evangelistic effort, caused by sectarianism, would have been avoided. Unlike the sectarian spirit, Paul emphasised the core and centrality of the Gospel, rather than points of difference.
Spiritual Application
On whose foundation are you building?
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