and that this is part of the way in which the Philippians are to shine in the
darkness (O’Brien 1995, 118–19; Fee 1995). But the thrust of the whole
passage (Phil. 2:12–18) has to do with perseverance, not mission; Paul will
be able to boast on the day of Christ to the extent that they “work out
[their] salvation with fear and trembling” (2:12), holding firm to the gospel
until the end (Bowers 1991, 100). In Colossians 4:5–6, a stronger case can
be made for evangelistic discourse of some kind. Here, part of the wise
behaviour that Christians are to cultivate with respect to outsiders is a gra-
ciousness of speech, “so that you may know how you ought to answer
everyone.” But even if it be conceded that discourse with outsiders natu-
rally would involve issues of faith, it is striking to note the responsive
nature of such speech by Christians. The issue has to do with how to reply
to the questions of outsiders (v. 6: apokrinesthai), not how to take evangel-
istic initiative. In neither case, then, do we have even an implicit injunc-
tion to evangelize.
Nor is it the case, as James Ware (1992) has argued, that active evan-
gelization on the part of the Thessalonians is assumed in Paul’s statement
in 1 Thessalonians 1:8, “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from
you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in
God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it.” It is
highly unlikely that the clause, “the word of the Lord has sounded forth
from you,” implies that “the Thessalonians had not only received the gospel
message, but were themselves active in communicating it” (Ware 1992,
127; cf. Bowers 1991, 97–99). A series of considerations tell against this
conclusion: (1) In 1 Thessalonians 1:7, the Macedonians and Achaians who
have heard what has “sounded forth” are believersalready and thus not
potential converts at all. (2) If 1 Thessalonians 1:8 refers to secondary evan-
gelization, then the Thessalonians would need to have sent out missionar-
ies of their own not only to Macedonia and Achaia but to “every
place”—hardly a plausible scenario! (3) The clause in question in 1 Thes-
salonians 1:8a, i.e., “the word of the Lord has sounded forth,” stands in par-
allel with “your faith in God has become known” in 1 Thessalonians 1:8b;
the parallelism implies that, in each case, what is being spread abroad is the
news of the Thessalonians’ new faith, not the faith itself. (4) The content
of what was “sounded forth” is articulated clearly in 1 Thessalonians 1:9,
namely, “how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God.”
Again, what has spread outwards from Thessalonica is the report of a suc-
cessful mission there, not a program of secondary evangelization. Thus it
is quite unlikely that 1 Thessalonians 1:5–8 provides evidence for such a
practice.
“The Field God Has Assigned” 119