The Art of Persuasion

I just came back from the Men's Group, which we have on Wednesday mornings. We shared about the importance of watching what comes out of our mouths and controlling our speech. This got me to thinking about rhetoric, which by definition, is the art of persuasion.

A lot of times we, as Christians, think about speech in terms of the negative uses. We try to be careful about not using foul language and not saying things out of anger.

But we also have to emphasize the positive uses of speech. By the power of God's spoken Word, He created the world and everything in it. By the power of God's Word, He calls us to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Just a hundred years ago, children were taught in schools not just to retain knowledge and to memorize facts, but also how to persuade and convince people of a certain truth. Rhetoric was a foundational part of the school curriculum. How much more important is this for believers!

We have been given God's Word to convince and to persuade people of the truth of God and His mighty works as pertaining to His eternal plan of redemption. Of course, this flows out of the power and the conviction which is given to us by the Holy Spirit. We cannot rely upon our oratorical skills. Only the Holy Spirit can regenerate the spiritually dead hearts of sinners and make them come alive to the good news of Jesus' life, death, burial, and resurrection. But how important it is to keep in mind that we study Scripture and read Christian books, not just for the sake of learning for the sake of knowledge, but so that we can convince people of the truth of God's Word.

I am reminded of several pertinent Scripture verses, especially in 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 1:6-7 says, "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

2 Timothy 4:1-4 says, "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but have itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

T'itus 1:9 says, "He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it."

Hebrews 4:12-13 says, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."

Isaiah 55:10-11 says, "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it."

Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 says, "And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."