One indication of the new birth that I’ve consistently observed in those who are born again is their desire to share the gospel with others. They want everyone to experience the same spiritual resurrection they’ve experienced. They want everyone to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and set free from their slavery to sin. They don’t want any of their family and friends to go to hell. They know Jesus warned that, apart from the new birth, no one will see or enter God’s kingdom (see John 3:1–16).
If you don’t possess a desire for others to be born again, that is an indication that you have not been born again yourself. How could anyone who genuinely believes in Jesus remain unconcerned about people all around them who are weighed down by their sin and guilt and are on the road to hell? If those people would only repent and believe in the Lord Jesus, they would be on the road to eternal life! But as Paul wrote, “How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14). That is what motivated Paul to preach the gospel.
The early Christians certainly possessed a concern for the lost. After the first persecution that arose in connection with the martyrdom of Stephen, Luke tells us that “they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.” He then says, “Those who had been scattered went about preaching the word”[20] (Acts 8:1, 4). God designed His kingdom to expand by the proclamation of the gospel. He equips apostles and evangelists with special gifts for effective evangelism to the masses, and He also equips ordinary believers with His love and the truth of His Word for effective evangelism to their family members, friends, and neighbors.
Like the first Christians, the early Anabaptists spread the gospel throughout their European towns and villages. One reason why they were persecuted to the point of being driven from their homes is that they were spreading the gospel. Their persecutors felt threatened by all the people who were leaving state churches to join the Anabaptist movement.
In contrast, Weaver and Zimmerman readily admit that Plain churches aren’t making an effort to proclaim the gospel to the lost, either locally, nationally, or internationally. They offer several reasons for this phenomenon, but they fail to mention what is likely the primary reason: only genuine believers share the gospel. Only God knows how many Plain people, as well as Plain leaders, are not genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, as indicated by their lack of concern for unbelievers. They may be religious ordnung keepers, but they have never been genuinely born again.
What is the Plain Gospel?
In the New Testament, the word “gospel” appears over one hundred times. It literally means “good news.” What is the gospel? What must people do to be saved?
I suspect that many Plain people would give a different answer to that question than Paul did when he was asked it by Philippian jailer. Paul’s good news was, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). How simple! How biblical! It harmonizes perfectly with John 3:16.
If there is any Plain gospel, it is something like this: “Say that you believe in Jesus when you are baptized as a teenager, and then vow to keep the ordnung. Renew that vow twice a year for the rest of your life. If you do well enough at keeping the ordnung, you have a hopeful chance of getting into heaven. But no one can be certain of heaven before they die, and anyone who says that he is certain [like Paul, or like all the Anabaptist martyrs whose stories are preserved in The Martyrs’ Mirror] is full of pride.”
Plain people hear that “gospel” all their lives. So it is no surprise that they don’t communicate it to people outside their own communities, or that Weaver and Zimmerman begin chapter 7 of Why Be Plain? with a criticism of non-Plain churches that, in their view, “over-emphasize” spreading the gospel:
The over-emphasis on missions and soul winning that came with the Great Awakening is splashed across almost all doctrinal and devotional books written by members of English churches (p. 132).
That sad statement certainly displays Weaver and Zimmerman’s disdain for missions, soul winning, and even the Great Awakening that swept tens of thousands of people into God’s kingdom and morally transformed the American colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. We certainly would never want to see that kind of “over-emphasis” ever again, would we?
Weaver and Zimmerman seem defensive on this point because, as they reveal, Plain church members sometimes ask Plain leaders, “Why aren’t the Plain People fulfilling the commandment of Christ to take the Gospel to all nations?” (p. 132). And that question can lead to Plain people leaving Plain churches to join churches that are involved in fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission.[21] Of course, the entire reason Weaver and Zimmerman wrote Why Be Plain? is to try to stop the exodus from Plain churches. So they provide a tragic answer to that question.
The Tragic Answer
Weaver and Zimmerman contend that Plain people—whom they earlier claimed “obey the Bible more literally than many other people” (p. 59) —aren’t called to obey Christ’s commandment to “Go ye therefore and teach all nations.” Perhaps other churches, they say, are called to obey the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18–20), but the Plain churches are not.
Then, even though it contradicts their statement that some churches may be called to obey the Great Commission, the authors next declare that Jesus’ Great Commission was given only to “the apostles and their generation,” and not to “the church down through the ages” (p. 133).
Yet Jesus’ very words in His Great Commission prove otherwise. He told His apostles to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations … teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” The Great Commission thus became one of the commandments the apostles taught their disciples to obey. It was a perpetual commandment for every generation, which makes perfect sense, since every new generation needs to hear the gospel and be discipled.
Attempting to further buttress their claim, Weaver and Zimmerman then state that the supernatural works done by the apostles—such as casting out of demons, speaking in other tongues, and healing the sick—all ceased “once the Christian faith was established” (p. 133). With that claim, the authors not only reveal their ignorance of the many times in recorded church history when those same miracles were evident among genuine believers, but they also show their ignorance of what is happening today outside the Plain bubble in which they live.
Demons are still being cast out, the sick are still being healed, and Christians are still speaking supernaturally in other tongues all over the world in Bible-believing circles. Literally hundreds of millions of Christians around the world have experienced the miracle of speaking in a language they have never learned, a phenomenon that is mentioned many times in the New Testament (see Mark 16:27; Acts 2:2–4; 10:44–46; 19:1–7; 1 Cor. 12:10, 28–30; 13:1; 14:1–28).
I am one of those hundreds of millions of Christians who, like the apostle Paul, am thankful that I speak in other tongues as part of my daily prayer life (see 1 Cor. 14:18). Three times in my life, Japanese-speaking people who have been present when I was praying told me that I was speaking in Japanese, and they even told me what I said! Every time I was praising God, yet I don’t know a single word in Japanese. The early church’s miracles have not ceased.
Nothing in the New Testament would lead any honest reader to think that it was God’s intention that His supernatural gifts to the church would cease with the first apostles.
Grasping at Straws
Weaver and Zimmerman even claim that the healings and miracles God did through the original apostles began to cease near the end of Paul’s ministry, and to prove it, they cite two associates of Paul who Scripture says were sick: Epaphroditus and Trophimus. The authors fail to mention that Epaphroditus, who became ill because he “risked his life for the work of Christ” by traveling to bring an offering to Paul, was indeed healed (see Phil 2:25–30).
They also fail to mention that near the recorded end of Paul’s ministry, God was still working many miracles and healings through him. You can read about those miracles and healings in the final two chapters of the book of Acts.
Moreover, there is no biblical evidence that Paul or any of the early apostles could heal anyone anytime they wanted. “Gifts of healings,” which Paul listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8–11 along with eight other gifts of the Spirit, operate “as the Spirit wills” (1 Cor. 12:11; Heb. 2:4), not as people will. So the fact that Paul left Trophimus sick (2 Tim. 4:20) is no proof that God still wasn’t using Paul to heal others.
Additionally, the same Paul who saw Epaphroditus healed and who left Trophimus sick in Miletus wrote to the Corinthian believers, “For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world” (1 Cor. 11:30–32).
Therefore, sickness can be (though it is not always) an indication of God’s discipline. Paul likely wrote those words to the Corinthians when he was in Ephesus around 53–55 AD, during a time when Scripture tells us that “God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out” (Acts 19:11–12). While some Corinthians were suffering sickness under God’s loving discipline, God was doing extraordinary miracles of healing through Paul in Ephesus.
Not Everyone Is an Evangelist or Apostle
Of course, most believers are not called to be apostles or evangelists, so they are not supernaturally equipped to preach the gospel to the masses or establish churches. They are called, however, to keep and to teach others to obey Jesus’ commandments, as Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount:
Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:19, emphasis added).
Jesus also told His followers in that same sermon to “let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works” (Matt. 5:16). Amazingly, Weaver and Zimmerman use that commandment as a justification for not verbally proclaiming the gospel, as if sharing the gospel was not one of the “good works” Jesus had in mind. Paraphrasing a famous quotation that is often attributed to Roman Catholic friar St. Francis of Assisi, Weaver and Zimmerman write, “We should preach at all times, but only speak when necessary” (p. 135). That is like saying, “We should feed the hungry at all times, but only give them food when necessary.”
Weaver and Zimmerman point out that so much of what the apostles wrote in their letters to the New Testament churches centered around holy living, and that very little of what they wrote was about spreading the gospel:
Many churches today stress missions and telling others about Christ as one of the most important parts of being a Christian. Why is this emphasis not found in the letters written to the churches?
Could it be because the church’s form of evangelism is supposed to be their righteousness and godliness? (p. 134).
This is yet another exaggeration by Weaver and Zimmerman. Non-Plain, Bible-believing churches stress righteousness and godliness as well as evangelism. In fact, evangelism is a component of righteousness and godliness. Godly people love their neighbors as themselves, so they share the good news with them. And their holy lives give them a platform by which to share the gospel. Their transformed lives bear witness to the power of the gospel they proclaim.
But Weaver and Zimmerman believe that their only real obligation is to quietly live holy lives before the watching world:
When Christ told us to let our lights shine before men, He did not even mention words or telling others about Him. He specifically said our works will turn people to glorifying God (Matt. 5:16). A light, after all, does not make a lot of noise about its presence. It just shines and shows the way quietly. Not by their words, but by the love, peace, and unity they have among themselves (John 17:23) (pp. 135–136).
So our good works, which Jesus described as shining lights, have nothing to do with our words? Isn’t telling the truth part of letting our light shine? What about letting “no unwholesome word proceed from our mouths, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear” (Eph. 4:29)? What about avoiding cursing, swearing, filthy speech and course jesting (Eph. 5:4)? It seems that the “silent light” analogy of Weaver and Zimmerman might be a bit of Scripture twisting. And is not sharing the transforming, saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ a “good work”?
In fact, both Peter and Paul did highlight the importance of sharing the gospel verbally. First, here are Paul’s words:
Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person (Col. 4:5–6).
And here are Peter’s:
But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame (1 Pet. 3:15–16).
Those two passages describe responsibilities of ordinary believers, and they were written by two men who were both specially called and equipped by God to journey to distant places in order to proclaim the gospel and make disciples. Jesus builds His church through obedient ordinary believers as well as obedient apostles and evangelists.
Why is God not calling and equipping any Plain apostles or evangelists to take the gospel to where it has not yet been heard? Could it be because Plain churches are promoting a “different gospel,” one that requires adherence to an archaic, enforced dress code, an abandonment of certain technologies, and the purchase of a horse and buggy?
Appealing to Justin Martyr
In yet another desperate attempt to justify their idea that Christians should only “let their lights shine” via their “good works” rather than take any initiative to proclaim the gospel, Weaver and Zimmerman quote Justin Martyr, one of the early Christian writers. Justin penned his famous First Apology around AD 156, about 123 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus and about 56 years after the death of the apostle John. Weaver and Zimmerman write:
The following is what he [Justin Martyr] wrote about the church’s successful form of evangelism: “Some of them were won to Christianity by the righteousness they observed in the life of their Christian neighbors. Others were won by the extraordinary restraint Christian travelers displayed when they were cheated. Still others were attracted by the honesty of the Christians with whom they transacted business.[22]
And that is how the Plain People believe people should be turned to Christ (p. 135).
All this is quite misleading. Justin Martyr’s First Apology was specifically addressed to “the Emperor Antoninus Pius, and to his adopted sons, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, the philosophers. Also to the venerable Senate, and to all the people of Rome.” In other words, writing the Apology was part of Justin’s effort to proclaim the gospel to every Roman of his day!
Weaver and Zimmerman also skip over these words from Justin in his First Apology:
[God] is free from all impurity, and we [all believers] worship and adore him, and the Son who came forth from him and taught us these things … and the prophetic Spirit. We [all believers] know them in reason and truth. And we [all believers] freely share the things we [all believers] have been taught with all who wish to learn. …
We [all believers] consider it important to teach these things to all people. In fact, the teachings of the Logos, because he is Divine, would have already touched most of mankind, if it were not for the wicked demons. …
David predicted the mighty word of Jesus that his apostles, going forth from Jerusalem, preached everywhere. Even though death is decreed against those who teach about Jesus, or even confess the name of Christ, we [all believers] still embrace his name and teach about him everywhere (emphasis added).[23]
Clearly, Justin Martyr’s view regarding assertive evangelism was quite different from what Weaver and Zimmerman want us to think. The early Christians verbally proclaimed the gospel upon a platform of holy, righteous lives, resulting in genuine conversions to Christianity. Compare that with the Plain practice of “just letting our lights shine by our good works” and then answering an occasional question from those who are curious about Plain attire. If that is how Plain People believe people should be “turned to Christ,” how is their belief working? How many outsiders are turning to Christ from observing the lives of Plain people?
[20] According to a note in the margin of the NASB, an alternate translation of this passage is, “those who had been scattered went about bringing the good news of the word.” So they were not necessarily engaged in public preaching to crowds, but were sharing the gospel individually.
[21] The “horrible” phenomenon of Plain people leaving Plain churches to join soul-winning churches is the topic of Dan and Steve’s imaginary conversation at the beginning of chapter 7.
[22] This quotation is from page 83 of We Don’t Speak Great Things—We Live Them!, a modern English rendition of Justin Martyr’s First Apology, by Scroll Publishing (1989).
[23] This quotation is from pages 96, 98 and 122 of the same title.
