Revised: 2008 Aug 05

Jesus said, “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:14, KJV).

It is often suggested that since the gospel is now being preached in every part of the globe through personal evangelism, print media, radio, and television, etc., it follows that “the end” must be near. Some might qualify this suggestion by adding that we are just not sure how thoroughly God wants the gospel to cover the earth. Jesus did say, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15, KJV).

If we feel commissioned to take the gospel to the world before God can bring about “the end,” we must face a discouraging statistic. Missionaries tell us that 2.7 billion people have still not been reached with the gospel (Gospel For Asia). That’s more than the entire population of the earth at the time of Christ. So after almost 2,000 years, we’re actually farther behind today than when the apostles were first commissioned. Despite the modern communication and transportation tools at our disposal, the number of unreached just keeps on growing. However, although no resolution is in sight, many Christians expect the end to come very soon; probably within their lifetimes. The numbers would suggest that it’s actually moving farther away.

Christians have worked tirelessly for centuries trying to fulfill the “Great Commission” using the “infallible” Word of God as their primary teaching tool. What a paradox it is that one of the Bible’s principal authors, the apostle Paul, said the gospel had already been preached “throughout the whole world” in the first century:

…I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. (Rom. 1:8, NASB throughout unless otherwise noted.)

…surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have;

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,

And their words to the ends of the world.” (Rom. 10:18)

These declarations in Paul’s letter to the church at Rome were probably written about a.d. 57. He wrote in the same manner to the Colossians: “⁵…the gospel ⁶which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing…” (Col. 1:5b-6). Recall Christ’s command to preach the gospel to “every creature.” Paul answers: “…the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven” (Col. 1:23b, KJV). Jesus said to preach the gospel in all the world; Paul said it was done. Jesus said to preach the gospel to every creature; Paul said it was done. No matter what we might understand “the end” to be, it was clearly predicted to come immediately after the gospel had been preached “in all the world.” Since the gospel was preached in all the world by a.d. 57, the end must have followed soon after.

How do we explain this? How could the apostles have reached the whole world in less than 30 years from the time they were commissioned? They didn’t have radio or television, they usually walked, rode donkeys, or perhaps horses at best, and they didn’t even know about such places as the Americas. Where have we gone wrong on this issue? The answer is simple: we have misunderstood the Greek word oikoumene which has been translated “world” in many English versions of the Bible. When we use the word world, we might mean the whole planet earth, but Jesus, Paul and others in the first century meant something much less. If they were referring to the globe, then Paul’s claims are outrageous and ridiculous. To those in the first century, the world was not the globe we call planet earth, it was the Roman Empire. When Jesus spoke of the gospel going to the whole world, he was not speaking to the global perspective of people living almost 2,000 years into the future.

Notice this accusation brought against Paul and Silas when they preached in Thessalonica: “These men who have upset the world have come here also” (Acts 17:6b). Paul was accused again before Felix: “…we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world…” (Acts 24:5). It might be suggested that such accusations were exaggerated; however, they are consistent with Paul’s own claims. He freely admitted that he had preached “throughout the whole world.”

This manner of speaking was not new in the first century. Five centuries earlier, Daniel predicted the appearance of the Greco-Macedonian Empire saying it would “rule over all the earth” (Dan. 2:39). Nobody thinks the Greeks ruled the whole planet; Daniel was using hyperbole. Back in Genesis we read of a famine that covered “all the earth” (Gen. 41:57). This probably did not include the whole planet either, only the known world of that time.

Extra-biblical sources reflect the same limited world view. In the a.d. mid-sixties as Herod Agrippa II pleaded with the Jews to avoid a war with the Romans, he described the empire several times as covering the “habitable earth” (oikoumene) implying the rest of the earth was inconsequential. He said, “for all that are in the habitable earth are [under the] Romans,” and reasoned, “Now, when almost all people under the sun submit to the Roman arms, will you be the only people that make war against them?” (Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, 2.16.4.388, 380). The Paul Maier translation of Josephus says, “how could they expect to be successful now when the Romans ruled the world?” Agrippa spoke this way despite referring to “the Ethiopians,” “Arabia,” “India,” the people beyond the “Euphrates” and “the Parthians” in the same speech (Ibid., 2.16.4.385, 388f). The Roman general, Titus, referred to Rome’s domain in similar terms (Ibid., 3.10.2.473, 480). Josephus routinely used the term “habitable earth” when referring to the empire. Apparently, anywhere outside the Roman Empire was considered uninhabitable even though it was well understood that other areas were inhabited.

The Early Church Fathers referred to the empire as “the whole world” too many times to mention. They further claimed the Church had been “dispersed throughout the whole world, even to the ends of the earth” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.10.1). Clement claimed Paul had preached “both in the east and west…having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west” (1Clem. 5). Irenaeus wrote, “the new covenant…has gone forth over the whole earth” (Irenaeus, 4.33.4) and described early persecution as a “movement of the whole earth against the Church” (Ibid., 4.33.13). Eusebius continually used world to refer to something much less than the entire globe (Eusebius, The Church History, 1.3, 4; 3.1; 4.18; 5.21). He said Christ “has filled the entire world with his Christians” (Ibid., 1.3).

First-century Judea was ruled by Rome. To Rome’s subjects, there was simply nowhere else of any consequence. Their world was the Roman Empire, and as far as Paul was concerned, the gospel had been preached to that world by a.d. 57.

More evidence

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (Luke 2:1, KJV)

Augustus didn’t rule the globe, he ruled the Roman Empire. However, Luke, the author of Acts, considered the Roman Empire to be “the world.” The NASB renders “all the world” “the inhabited earth.” The NLT translators have gone all the way: “At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire.” Of course, the literal translation is not “Roman Empire”; however, the translators acknowledge that first-century readers understood oikoumene this way and have attempted to clearly transmit that understanding to us. Here is another difference between the KJV and NLT:

And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. (Acts 11:28, KJV)

One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings and predicted by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) (Acts 11:28, NLT)

Some commentators, such as John F. MacArthur, are inconsistent when interpreting references to “the world.” MacArthur acknowledges that Luke 2:1 refers to the Roman Empire: “He ordered ‘all the inhabited earth’ (i.e., the world of the Roman Empire) to be counted” (The MacArthur Study Bible [NASB], [Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006], Luke 2:1). However, he interprets Matt. 24:14 quite differently: “the message ultimately penetrates every part of the globe” (Ibid., Matt. 24:14). In both cases, the Greek is oikoumene. MacArthur can afford to expound Luke 2:1 correctly because that verse is not a threat to his expectation of a future Second Coming of Christ. However, if he were to interpret oikoumene as Roman Empire in Matt. 24:14, he would be forced to concede that the Great Commission was fulfilled in the first century and would then be compelled to painfully reconsider his entire futuristic eschatological paradigm. Incidentally, John Nelson Darby — definitely a futurist and widely considered the father of dispensationalism — translated oikoumene in verse 14 as “the whole habitable earth.”

It is imperative that we understand what Jesus and his apostles really meant when they used oikoumene if we expect to understand what they were predicting. The preaching of the gospel “throughout the whole world” was supposed to be fulfilled within one generation of Christ’s earthly ministry (Matt. 24:14, 34), and we should not be surprised to discover that it was. There is no need to require a modern fulfillment. None of the foregoing precludes sharing the message of salvation in our day; it’s just that our day is not what Jesus was referring to. Evidently, when he said, “throughout the whole world,” rather than meaning the whole planet, he simply meant as opposed to just the Holy Land, i.e., no longer would the knowledge of salvation be limited to Israelites as he had specified in Matt. 10:5f. The preaching of the gospel to Gentile nations and the resulting conversions served as a “testimony” that the New Covenant had come into effect. It was not necessary to cover the globe to demonstrate this. The Jews were given a 40-year period of grace to hear that testimony and respond. Many did (Acts 21:20), but most did not: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved” (Rom. 9:27b).

So the end came. The spring of a.d. 67 marked the beginning of a 3½-year period of tribulation unlike anything the Jews had ever known. Roman armies invaded Palestine from the north and began burning town after town, either killing the inhabitants or selling them into slavery. Finally, in the summer of a.d. 70, Jewish animal sacrifices ceased and the Temple was completely destroyed. The “last days” came to an end. Obtaining forgiveness through Old Covenant observance has been impossible ever since. That was “the end” Jesus was talking about in Matt. 24:14.

Should Christians “witness” today?

Sharing the gospel is often referred to as witnessing for Jesus. However, as we have seen from Scripture, the command to take the gospel to the world as a “witness” was fulfilled in the first century. We certainly should continue to share the message of salvation; however, no one alive today can claim to be a witness. Since none of us lived in the first century, what could we claim to have witnessed? Some might suggest we are witnesses to what Jesus has done in our lives. However, it would probably come as a surprise to most Christians to discover that the New Testament does not use witness this way. Jesus sent witnesses to preach the gospel throughout the ancient Roman Empire. That assignment does not apply to us. His witnesses were true eyewitnesses of “many convincing proofs” which they had “seen and heard” (Acts 1:3; 22:15; 1John 4:14). Using the correct definition of witness proves that the Great Commission was fulfilled in the first century because all the witnesses are gone. Most Christians assume, however, that the gospel could not possibly have reached the whole world during the first century, so they believe that the Great Commission is still being fulfilled today and that we are witnesses. This idea requires a corrupt definition of the word witness not supported anywhere in Scripture. Christ’s first-century servants witnessed one especially significant event:

⁴⁶…He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:46-48)

This was a vital component of the gospel going forth from Jerusalem: eyewitness accounts of Christ’s resurrection. No Christian alive today can claim to have witnessed Jesus rising from the dead. The only true witnesses were first-century eyewitnesses:

²¹“Therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us— ²²beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us—one of these must become witness with us of His resurrection.” (Acts 1:21f)

This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. (Acts 2:32)

¹⁴…you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, ¹⁵but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. (Acts 3:14f)

³⁹“We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. ⁴⁰God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, ⁴¹not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. ⁴²And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead.” (Acts 10:39-42)

³⁰…God raised Him from the dead; ³¹and for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now His witnesses to the people. (Acts 13:30f)

…I [Peter] exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ (1Pet. 5:1)

No one alive today witnessed any of this. What good is a witness who never witnessed anything? We might even go so far as to suggest that anyone claiming to be a witness today is breaking one of the Ten Commandments (bearing false witness). The courtroom testimony of a person today claiming to have witnessed something which took place almost 2,000 years ago would be thrown out and the “witness” charged with perjury. The true witnesses “ate and drank” with Jesus.

Most Christians consider it their duty to give their testimony. But a testimony is something provided by a witness. So again, what have these people witnessed? New Testament witnesses were always eyewitnesses to Christ’s ministry and resurrection. We are absolutely not Christ’s witnesses!

Some will ask, “Is it really all that important to make this distinction?” The answer is an emphatic yes. The common misuse of witness and testimony seriously diminishes our appreciation of the apostles’ special status and unique assignment. Those “holy apostles” (Eph. 3:5) are the very foundation of the church: “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Eph. 2:20; Heb. 12:22f; Rev. 21:14). Given that they were Christ’s true witnesses and the foundation of the church, we certainly do not have the right to question their teachings or accept any other gospel (Gal. 1:8f, 12). However, the careless assumption that we are all witnesses just as they were can lead to a significantly modified gospel. The apostles clearly proclaimed as a major component of their gospel that the Second Coming would occur within their lifetimes. However, countless modern theologians, believing that they are witnesses too, and therefore, practically equal to the apostles, consider their opinions on the timing of the Second Coming to be just as valid and even better than the testimony of those “holy” first-century witnesses trained by Jesus. Believing that we are Christ’s witnesses tends to bring the apostles down to our level making it much easier to entertain the notion that they were a little confused when they predicted a first-century return of Christ. We need to realize that the apostles were in a class by themselves. They were “holy apostles” inspired by the Holy Spirit regarding “what is to come” (John 16:13). Their message was accompanied by “signs and wonders” (Acts 14:3; 2Cor. 12:12). Our modern preachers are simply “out of their league” when they second guess the apostles by suggesting they “didn’t get it.” Actually, it’s the modern preachers who don’t get it. Today we find ourselves in the absurd situation where the testimony of eyewitnesses to first-century events is rejected, but the useless word of theologians born almost 2,000 years later is accepted. What kind of a “kangaroo court” is this? If Christians were properly instructed regarding the apostles’ exalted status as holy witnesses, they might be willing to actually believe inspired apostolic testimony. That would clear the way to understanding that the Second Coming is over. However, it’s doubtful any such an epiphany is about to occur because currently, the blind are leading the blind. Preachers and commentators actually place themselves above Christ’s apostles when they presumptuously reject inspired apostolic predictions of a first-century Second Coming, and then, must redefine simple words such as witness to accommodate their erroneous futuristic paradigm. This deceptive practice has become commonplace in the field of eschatology. Some other commonly distorted words are generation (Matt. 24:34), soon (Rev. 1:1; 22:6), near (Rev. 1:3) and imminent (not in the Bible, but continually misused by well-known futurist commentators).

To summarize, it’s all right to preach the gospel. It’s even acceptable to have the goal of taking it to the globe. However, the globe is not what Jesus was talking about in Matt. 24:14.