EMQ » July–September 2022 » Volume 58 Issue 3

Reviewed by Brent H. Burdick, D. Min., Adjunct Professor of Missions, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Director of the Lausanne Global Classroom.

For most Christians, the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19–20) means participating in Christ’s command to “go”, “baptize”, “make disciples of all nations”, and “teaching to obey everything Jesus commanded”. The verses are usually understood to apply to an individual believer who feels called to give his or her life in service to the Lord through missionary work, resulting in the church being planted and expanded around the world as more and more disciples are made.

This interpretation has been the foundation and focus of the modern missions era. Spaulding outlines a much broader interpretation, however, seeing the Great Commission through the lens of the entire biblical narrative where mission work involves not just individuals or churches answering the call, but whole nations becoming obedient to the lordship of Christ.

Spaulding walks the reader through the verses and concepts which support how obedient nations are the focus of God’s redemptive plan in history. Though he agrees that the word nations comes from the Greek ethne, meaning ethnic groups, he stresses that when the bible uses nations the word typically is associated with a king and a kingdom. So, while acknowledging that many ethnic groups can be found in one nation and need the gospel, the association of the word with kings and kingdoms has broader and deeper connotations for God’s salvific purposes for humanity.

In this light, missions is seen as establishing God’s kingdom in multiple arenas of national life such as business and economics, all forms of media, arts and entertainment, education, creation, politics, religion, and family. As lordship to Christ is lived out in these areas by faithful disciples the result is obedient nations, the coming of the kingdom of God, and true shalom. Spaulding asserts that this is much more world-changing than a mere focus on planting churches and reaching unreached people groups, as important as that may be (262–263). To him, growth in the church and transformation of society is the result when nations become obedient to God.

The book is filled with many illustrations, personal examples, and historical insights to further explain the obedient nations paradigm. Spaulding also includes several charts and diagrams to help further explain the concept. His research quotes numerous Scripture passages and missiological books that are convincing. If I have any concerns, about the book, it feels a bit disjointed, with his examples jumping around in history, missiology, and theology such that readers might miss the overall thrust on obedient nations.

The other concern is that obedient nations thinking might be misconstrued with the seven-mountain mandate about which some have misgivings.[1] Spaulding does not quote the main authors of that theology but instead builds his case from Scripture and from well-known missiologists such as Chris Wright, and Andrew Walls. Ultimately, this book contains intriguing perspectives that suggest a rethinking and new applications of the Great Commission for more global and societal impact, rather than with limited effect.

For Further Reading

Pieter Bos, The Nations Called: A Theology of the Nations and Their Redemption (Kent, UK: Sovereign World, Ltd.), 2002.

Ed Silvoso, Transformation: Rediscovering God’s Instrument for Global Transformation (Bloomington, MN: Chosen Books), 2017

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[1] See “What is the seven mountain mandate, and is it biblical?” at GotQuestions.org, https://www.gotquestions.org/seven-mountain-mandate.html.

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EMQ, Volume 58, Issue 3. Copyright © 2022 by Missio Nexus. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from Missio Nexus. Email: EMQ@MissioNexus.org.