Gospel preached to all nations

[Guest]

Chris,

Thanks for you answer, and the comment on Luke 2:1. I did reference this verse earlier in our discussion and my friend has not yet made any objections to the limited meaning of "the world". However, he did object to reading v30 as "all the tribes of the land will mourn" ... but thats another issue, and I don't want to get this thread going to far off topic.

Sometimes, getting real technical about the tenses in the Greek language causes us to miss the forest for the trees

Our presuppositions have a lot to do with what our view of the "forest" is. I can see how a futurist presupposition could be reinforced by Matthew 24:14. But, of course, this requires utilizing either of the following premises: 1) The entire planet was meant by "the world", or 2) The geographic extent of the Roman empire was not evangelized by 70 AD.

Paidion

Thanks for the explanation. Given your description of tenses I understand the answer to be that Jesus words in Matthew 24:14 are compatible with an initiated and ongoing action that is not yet complete. If so, it is not even necessary to rely on the view that "the world" is limited in extent to the Roman empire, because the process of the gospel spreading throughout the world was already underway.

Peter

[Guest]

It seems that it might be more productive to ask which "end" Matthew has in mind here than to investigate what he means by "all the world". If the "end" is the end of the Temple and Temple cult, then we can deduce hyperbole. If the "end" is the end of the world (or at least a future Tribulation), then we might see the phrase "all the world" as more concretely literal.

Since I think its demonstrable that the rest of Matthew 24:1-26 is about the "end of the Temple", I lean toward the first interpretation.

Either way, however, I think there is some good logic to the notion that the gospel will indeed be preached throughout all the world before the final return of Christ. It just seems right and a natural outgrowth of the millenial Church age. I'm just not sure that this verse proves it.