A Missio Dei Immersion Resource

for pastors and congregations:
A THEOLOGICAL BASIS FOR THE GREAT SENDING IN JOHN’S GOSPEL

INTRODUCTION

Missio Dei – Is this nothing more than another new and popular term focused on missions?

Apostolic Church – Is this term void of meaning today, nothing more than cold space between thick old sanctuary walls?

Or are Missio Dei (God’s Sending) and apostolic (sending) foundational and scriptural understandings meant to reflect a heart transformation toward a mission-based attitude and Gospel-centered movement? We should expect this very mission-based attitude and Gospel-centered movement as the Christian Church and her members are sent by Christ, who was sent by the Father into the world, and who together with the Father sent the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, Missio Dei is the great sending act of God! And Apostolic is the sent/sending! The Biblical paradigm for “mission” or “missional” is Missio Dei in Latin, which we can translate to God’s Sending. The Biblical root word is ἀποστέλλω (apŏstĕllō), from which we derive the terms apostle, apostolate, and apostolic. God’s Sending is Gospel and the core Biblical message.

God’s powerful Word is loaded with astounding mission passages that focus on the verb “to send.” We see the sending of God motif at work in: 

• John 3:16-17

• John 17:3,18

• John 20:21-23

• Matthew 10:1

• Luke 4:18-19, 43-44

• Luke 9:1-3

• Luke 10:1

These texts, together with all the supporting “send” passages in Scripture, provide a sequential, foundational, and Gospel dynamic of the Missio Dei.

It is tempting to superficially reference favorite passages such as Matthew 28:16-20 or Acts 1:8 when we are thinking about the sending act of God. While these are supporting passages for the Missio Dei, they are far from the whole story as God intends. For a deep heart-transformative understanding of what it is to be missional or apostolic, it is important to reflect on the sending-foundational passages above, without using “the great commission” or “mission” lightly.

While this brief chapter primarily focuses on the words of John 17:18 and 20:21-23, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the Book of Acts, as well as a few passages in the Epistles, also illustrate the sending motif of God at work.

THE MISSIO DEI IS GOD’S DYNAMIC SENDING

To fully understand the meaning of Missio Dei, it is important to know that the etymology of “mission” is “send.” A Latin translation is “missio,” or “mitto.” Greek translations are ἀποστέλλω (apŏstĕllō), πέμπω (pĕmpō), and ἀφίημι (aphiēmi). Matthew and Luke use ἐκβάλλω (ĕkballō) (see Matthew 9:38 and Luke 10:1-3). In the LXX (Septuagint) we see the term ἀποστέλλω (apŏstĕllō) for the Hebrew חַלָׁש (shalach). Regardless of the language, the central focus is the same: the heart of the dynamic mission is the sending of Christ, the sending of the Holy Spirit and of Christ’s sending the church.

Therefore, it is helpful for laity and clergy alike to nurture a deep appreciation of the sending motif. One way to do this is to recognize the meanings of the key Biblical sending (missio) Greek words themselves. It is also important to take into account some Hebrew words: 

ἀποστέλλω (apŏstĕllō) – is an official or authoritative sending, an act of sending out (properly on a mission), whether literal or figurative. This word can also use send: 

• as a departure (off, away, forth, out)

• as a dispatch (on service)

• to send with a commission

Note the root for the word apostle, from apŏstĕllō – a delegate, a messenger, one sent on a mission, an official representative; an apostle (or, more specifically, an ambassador of the Gospel). An apostle is officially a com-missioner of Christ, a messenger, one who is sent. (See John 17:3, 18; 20:21-23; Luke 4:18-19.) The Hebrew חַלָׁש – shalach is found in Genesis 3:23, 45:7-8; Exodus 3:10-15; Leviticus 16:10; Isaiah 6:8, 18:1-2, 48:16, and 61:1-2; and Jeremiah 1:4-10. See also John 9:7 (Siloam).

πέμπω (pĕmpō) – to send or dispatch (from the subject view or point of departure)

ἀφίημι (aphiemi) – to send forth

in various applications: cry, forgive, forsake, lay aside, leave, let (alone, be, go, have), omit, put (or send) away, remit, suffer, yield; pardon (figurative): deliverance, forgiveness, liberty, dismissal, remission (or “forgive” – see Matthew 9:5-6; 26:28; John 20:23); leave (see Matthew 4:20,22; 19:27,29; John 4:28; Leviticus 16:10; Luke 4:18-19 and Isaiah. 61:1), such as sending away sin! ἐκβάλλω (ĕkballō) – to send away (forth, out); to eject (literal or figurative), or to exit. A good example of this word at work meaning to send out is in Matthew 9:38, when Christ longs for the sending of laborers into his harvest. An example of the word connoting an exit would be the exit velocity of a baseball; so should our “exit velocity” be of the Church, from the Church into the harvest field.

The word can also mean:

• to thrust or hurl

• to bring forth

• to cast (put forth, cast out, drive out, expel)

• to leave

• to pluck (pull or take out)

חַלָׁש (shalach) – to send (away, forth, out, or on an official mission, as in envoys or authorized representatives).

The word can also mean: 

• to leave (let depart, let loose)

• to free (release)

Derivatives include such terms as “weapon,” “missile,” and “outstretching.”