The ICC teaches that the world must be evangelised in one generation

One of the ICC’s Five Core Convictions is the “evangelization of the world in one generation”.

According to the ICC’s publication “Living in the book of Acts“, it argues:

The theological purpose of the book of Acts is outlined in the beginning by Luke in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts chronicles the early movement’s expansion to the ends of the earth: Acts 1-7 (Jerusalem-Judea) Acts 8 (Samaria) Acts 9-28 (ends of the earth/Gentiles). Luke’s interest is to show how a Jewish based community became a world-wide Gentile movement by the power of the Spirit. We are to evangelize the world in this generation. This doesn’t mean everyone will become a disciple, but that everyone needs the chance to become one by encountering God’s church and hearing the message. This was the command of Jesus to the eleven faithful disciples in Matthew 28:19, Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus commanded those eleven to get to all nations. How could they unless they do it before they die (their generation!).

In summary, the ICC believes that Jesus’ words in Acts 1:8 about being his witnesses “to the ends of the earth” was actually fulfilled at the conclusion of the book of Acts. Furthermore, Jesus’ famous Great Commission in Matthew 28 was actually fulfilled within the lifetime of the original apostles.

But how might that be since the gospel hadn’t made its way to, say, Indigenous Australians in the first century?

The ICC argues that it is because “all nations” and “ends of the earth” are actually relative terms. In the eyes of the first century apostles and disciples (like Luke), the world known to them have been reached with the gospel of Jesus.

Moreover, according to the ICC, this is precisely the belief of the Apostle Paul, as well as the Lord Jesus himself!

In Matthew 24:14 Jesus said, And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. “The end” in context (Matthew 24:1-2) refers to the destruction of the temple by the Roman general Titus that would occur in 70 AD. Jesus taught the world was going to be evangelized in their generation before the temple was destroyed. Luke uses Acts 1:8 to reiterate Jesus’ command and chronicles the church from its beginning in 29 AD, to accomplishing its motivating vision. Paul would later write around 61 AD from Rome under house arrest in the book of Colossians 1:23, This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. They accomplished the evangelization of the known world in their generation, and then in 70 AD the temple would be destroyed fulfilling Jesus’ words.

In other words, since Jesus predicted that the evangelisation of the whole world would precede the temple’s destruction in 70AD, then Jesus must have believed that it was achievable within one generation. Paul’s comment in Colossians 1:23 that the gospel “has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven” in 61AD is merely the icing on the cake.

The ICC argues that since Jesus expected the first century generation of Christians to evangelise “the whole world” before 70AD, it follows that this expectation should also apply to us today.

After Jesus’ commission to go into all nations he told the eleven faithful with their new baptized disciples to be teaching them to obey everything I have taught you. (Matthew 28:20) We are to teach every disciple in this generation to accomplish the mission to evangelize the world in our lifetime.

What does the Bible teach?

The ICC’s belief that the whole world had already been reached with the gospel by the first century Christians is indeed a very strange one. And yet, they have been able to formulate an argument for it with a few biblical references in support.

So is it biblical?

Has the “ends of the earth” been reached in Acts?

The ICC is correct to point out that the book of Acts does indeed have a clear structure which traces the movement of the gospel from Jerusalem to the rest of Judea (Acts 1-7), Samaria (Acts 8), and toward the ends of the earth (Acts 9-28).

But the main point of contention is this: Do the biblical authors actually believe that “the ends of the earth” (mentioned in Acts 1:8) has been reached with the gospel in their generation?

The word translated “ends” is the Greek word eschatos (ἔσχατος), which according to Strong’s Concordance means “last” or “extreme”. This is how we got the word “eschatology” – the study of the end times. By combining both eschatos and “earth” together, the literary meaning implies maximum geographical reach. The mention of geographical markers within the same sentence (ie. Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria) further confirms that geographical reach is in view.

So does the book of Acts end with the assumption that the gospel has reached the “ends of the earth” geographically? Hardly.

In fact, in the final chapter of Acts, Paul was actually in the very centre of the empire – Rome! Definitely NOT the ends of the earth. And he was still preaching boldly (Acts 28:31), suggesting that the job was far from over.

If it was really Luke’s intention to tell the reader that Acts 1:8 has been fulfilled, why does the book end in Rome rather than, say, Spain which is geographically farther to Jerusalem? Paul definitely knows about Spain. In Romans 15:24-28 Paul even says he has plans of going there, although there is no biblical evidence to show that he ever made it there.

Therefore, the book of Acts merely shows us that the gospel is on a trajectory towards the ends of the earth. It certainly doesn’t show us that the gospel has reached it in their generation.

Was the Great Commission fulfilled in one generation?

Based on Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19, the ICC argues:

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus commanded those eleven to get to all nations. How could they unless they do it before they die (their generation!)

This argument is flawed because it makes the interpretive assumption that Jesus intended it to be fulfilled by the eleven within their generation. How is this justified? There is no reason to believe that Jesus intended it to be done within a single generation. And there is even less reason to believe that the disciples felt that they’ve fulfilled it at the conclusion of the NT.

Using the same verse, it can equally be argued that Jesus simply wants to see the gospel reaching every nation before his future return – which may be in one generation, or a hundred generations. It simply doesn’t say!

Did the “end” already happen in 70AD?

Further to their argument above, the ICC also claims that Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:14 has been literally fulfilled by 70AD when the Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple.

Is it true? Well, both yes and no.

It is certainly true that by 70AD, the gospel has already made huge strides and churches have been planted throughout the Roman world. Moreover, the destruction of the temple has also signalled an “end” of sorts, based on Jesus’ prophetic words in Matthew 24.

Matthew 24 (which scholars often called “the Olivet Discourse”) is a much debated part of the NT because Jesus’ words are difficult to understand and has a variety of interpretations.

In this chapter, Jesus speaks about apocalyptic events befitting of the end-times (eg. sun darkening, stars falling from the sky, and the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven). And yet, under the same breath, he says, “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” (Matt 24:34)

Without getting into too much detail, my personal view is that Matthew 24 has multiple fulfilments.

There is a fulfilment for the first century believers culminating in the destruction of the Temple in 70AD. But that is not the only fulfilment. In the future, there will be a greater fulfilment upon the returning of Jesus (ie. the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven).

Therefore, it is both true and not entirely true that the “end” has already come. The apocalyptic-like events of 70AD merely acts to provide us a glimpse of God’s future judgement upon the world.

Conclusion

There is so much more that can be written on this topic, such as a critique of the Crown of Thorns project – the ICC’s blueprint to evangelise the world in one generation.

But for now, judging by our observations above, the core conviction that the ICC must win the nations within one generation is based on an interpretation of Scripture using unjustified premises.