Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Whole People
Book Review • Metzger, Will. Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Whole People. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002. 267 pp. $12.95.
Read time: 9 min
Background and Context
The first edition of Will Metzger’s training manual for personal evangelism was published in 1981. The third and last edition of Tell the Truth: The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Whole People was released in 2002, revised and expanded to include a study guide and helpful appendices providing material for further study. As a campus minister at the University of Delaware since 1965, Metzger writes with uncommon depth of witnessing experience, reflective of his numerous opportunities to share the gospel one-on-one in a great variety of domestic and international settings. His transparent and straightforward approach is ‘fitting’ as he serves among university students, who presumably carry hard-hitting questions and deep skepticism and who have active radars for religious phoniness. Not only has he labored as a campus minister, but he also has served as a church pastor.
Endorsements
Before reading the book or even perusing its table of contents, one may notice that the work is highly acclaimed by a number of contemporary evangelical theologians, such as John Piper, J. I. Packer, John MacArthur, and Timothy Beougher, among others. As many modern evangelistic schemes and methods are characterized by shallow gospel presentations, weak-kneed theology, and man-centered appeals, the very fact that conservative theologians so applaud this book, is in and of itself a testimony to its theological rigor, thoughtful articulation, and thoroughly biblical conclusions.
Thesis and Structure
Metzger’s thesis seems to be that proper evangelistic methodology flows from proper theology. “A scriptural doctrine of evangelism should be the controlling element in any practice of evangelism” (19). Throughout the book, then, he gives instruction in both; in the cause-effect relationship that he declares the two to have. It is safe to say that the entire book is theological, though not incessantly so. In each chapter, the theological underpinnings of personal evangelism are outlined in an accessible and frequently illustrated manner. Interestingly enough, the four parts that divide the book—1) “The Whole Gospel,” 2) “To the Whole Person,” 3) “Wholly by Grace,” and 4) “Offered by Whole People,” respectively—very well represent a skillful integration of the four aspects of evangelism that some other books on the topic treat largely in isolation.
Comparative Analysis with Other Works
In The Whole Gospel: Revisiting Our Message to the World, for example, Norton Herbst and Gabe Lyons deal predominantly with the gospel presentation itself (or gospel packaging), as they argue that the gospel should be repackaged especially for our contemporary, post-Christian, and post-modern culture.[1] Likewise, Mark Dever writes with an eye focused on the gospel's content more than any other part of the topic (though it covers related issues) in The Gospel and Personal Evangelism.[2] Another observation is that whereas D. James Kennedy’s helpful work, Evangelism Explosion, focuses more on the short and long-term strategies of evangelism, Metzger engagingly brings together a methodological game plan that is riddled with Bible: biblical texts, exegesis, and narrative accounts.[3]
Doctrinal Foundation and Calvinist Influence
The reader may have questions concerning gospel content, pitfalls, biblical doctrine as it relates to evangelism, such as God’s sovereignty and rightful motivations (e.g., guilt vs. gratitude vs. hope) are all treated in a helpful, though non-comprehensive, way. It is readily apparent upon examination that the view of God, anthropology, soteriology, and practical theology that he sets forth are “Calvinist” in nature. However, they are not mentioned as such.
Coaching for Personal Witnessing
Additionally, the book is designed to coach individuals in personal witnessing. In his own words, the work of evangelism is “won by one” (20). In his introduction, Metzger begins by relating to the reader his own witnessing struggles as a young Christian. He points out the two common extremes: “relational evangelism,” which tends to be all relationship and little evangelism, and direct and rather non-relational evangelism, which tends to relate to individuals as numbers, projects, or mere “souls” and not as whole people (15).
A Calvinistic Foundation for Evangelism
In reading and considering this book, its decidedly Calvinistic underpinnings offer the reader a fresh take on a subject that is often dominated by a man-centered message and man-centered methods. The work has many strengths, which include clearly defining terms (24-25), helpful charts (e.g., 36-7, 54), being aware of contemporary doctrinal views and movements (125), establishing the ultimacy of worship over evangelism (151), and the very insightful suggestions for how to initiate and execute gospel conversations (e.g., the “Come Home” method of sharing the gospel in Appendix B, 234-41). This being said, I will focus chiefly on the idea of how Metzger builds off of a Calvinist foundation in articulating the nature of our work as ambassadors of God.
Contrasting Modern Evangelistic Methods
It is safe to say that the average, modern book on “sharing your faith” tends toward a view of God that sports borderline “Openness Theology,” a view of man that is semi- or fully Pelagian, and a view of salvation that is based on the freedom of the human will. Even in Calvinistic quarters, when it comes to evangelism, such an emphasis can be placed on pressuring a person to repent and decide to trust Jesus. This could make one wonder if even some Calvinists don’t understand the sovereignty of God aright. Sadly, such a mindset seems to make the eternal foreknowledge, election, and predestination of a covenant people to salvation to be utterly dependant upon, conditioned upon, and contingent upon either or both the fallible efforts of man the evangelist or man the sinner for accomplishment. This could be overstated, so I will be careful here. Metzger rather wants to “recover the theological content of the gospel because only as [our] view of God’s active grace in salvation is changed can [we] find the confidence, joy, and gratitude to undergird a new evangelistic lifestyle” (15). He seems to advocate that confessing as dogma God’s eternal and unchangeable decree, yet not evangelizing in a manner consistent with this confession, would serve a believer little, especially when it comes to evangelism:
Throughout this book I will lay a theological foundation: the whole gospel…wholly by grace. The platform on which we can build a life of evangelism will be God’s sovereignty. We shall see the skillful interweaving of each person of the Trinity working in harmony in salvation. The Father has planned salvation. Christ has accomplished it. The Spirit will inevitably apply it. Therefore no seat will be empty at the banquet table in the kingdom” (22).[4]
Human Participation in Divine Work
This is not to say that God’s decrees do not come to pass by means of human evangelism and human trust (by the power of the Spirit). But saying that salvation is contingent upon (in an ultimate sense) human evangelism and human faith is distinct from saying that God has chosen to use the gospel by mean of humans to bring to faith other humans that they may be saved. The former puts God at the mercy of man, and the latter puts man at the mercy of God. The rightful order should be obvious. Metzger, more than most other writers I’ve read on the subject, speaks to this stance. And the results, evangelistically, are liberating. He lists a number of practical effects of trusting that (though God is not dependant upon us) God chooses to use us in the work of redemption:
Grace-centered evangelists have a big view of God’s role in salvation. Therefore, they:
● pray for God’s will to be done, since his purposes are best
● are bold and less fearful of others
● are quietly confident, for God has promised to use them
● are humble, for they know God is taking the lead
● are filled with love, for it is God’s love that motivates them
● speak to the conscience, knowing it is our point of contact
● are expectant, for God’s purposes will come to pass
● are patient, trusting in God’s timing to bring new life
● are persistent, realizing that conversion is a process
● are honest, not hiding any of the hard parts of the gospel
● emphasize the truth, not just subjective experiences
● lift up Jesus, knowing he will draw people to himself
● use the law of God to expose people’s inability to save themselves
● wait for the Holy Spirit to give assurance of salvation (200-1).
Such remarks reveal a genuine confidence in the consensus of Scripture: that salvation is truly of the Lord. We are commanded to be evangelistically active[5], and likewise, “the Bible contains numerous verses indicating the activity of the human will in becoming a Christian” (143), but God is in control, and he will accomplish his purposes.[6] I greatly appreciate Metzger’s perspective that evangelism is our human privilege to participate in God’s work.
Conclusion
Tell the Truth is one of the most accessible, engaging, balanced, and scriptural books on evangelism that I have read to date. The overall effect it may have on its readers is a heightened confidence in the unthwartable, eternal purposes of God, a clarification of the gospel, and a honing of one’s skills in seeing and seizing opportunities to deliver the whole gospel, wholly by the grace of God, to the whole person, from a heart wholly given over to God in a lifestyle of worship. For it is “a passion for worship [that] sustains a passion for evangelism” (158). The book is highly readable and highly recommendable to anyone wanting to catch a vision for God’s glory in salvation, his unadulterated gospel, and the privilege of being called to communicate “the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ” to our neighbors and the nations alike.[7] ❖
References
[1] Norton Herbst, and Gabe Lyons, The Whole Gospel: Revisiting Our Message to the World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010).
[2] Mark Dever, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007).
[3] D. James Kennedy, Evangelism Explosion, 4th Ed. (Carol Stream: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1996).
[4] The phrase, “The whole gospel...wholly by grace” is as Metzger wrote it. The “...” is his.
[5] 2 Timothy 4:2, 5
[6] Ephesians 1:11
[7] Ephesians 3:8
