The Royal Proclamation - Kerygma

By Martin Koestler

"Just what Message DID the Apostles proclaim for their King?"  This is the question that this book strives to answer in this book.

The author has spent fifty years studying this question.  For a long time he wanted to know what the apostles proclaimed first to people.  The Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament actually preserves some of the content of what the Apostles proclaimed in nine or ten (depending on what a person includes) examples.  Luke, the author of 'The Acts of the Apostles' has preserved these and intimates that none of them are an effort to present EVERYTHING that the apostle said on each occasion.  Rather, he seems to present salient features of each presentation.  Nonetheless, suspecting that the whole body of initial teaching might be found by examining these preserved messages, finding the constituent parts, and assembling these parts together, one might arrive at a fair approximation of what all was communicated to prospective disciples initially.  This book will take you through the process and culminates in an attempt to express the whole body of teaching that seemed to be heralded by the Apostles.  Not surprisingly, the result is what is essentially a summary of one of the four Gospels in the New Testament.

The author's hope and desire is that modern Christian disciples would return to proclaiming the same message that the early disciples proclaimed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Martin Koestler
• Release date: Feb 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201486693

Martin Koestler

Martin H. Koestler was born in the middle of the last century (1950).  The vast majority of his schooling was in Christian educational institutions.  He attended college at Concordia Teachers College (now Concordia University) at Seward, Nebraska, majoring in Music Education and received a Bachelor of Science in Education degree.  Later he graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, Illinois/Fort Wayne, Indiana with a Master of Divinity degree. He served as a pastor of local assemblies of Christians in Interlaken, New York, and in the following cities of Minnesota – Aurora, Hamburg, Wykoff, and Preston. He spent ten years in Jinan City, Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China as a worker/evangelist, working as a professor of English in two different universities. He has been a serious student of the Bible for over fifty years, taking as many Greek and Hebrew courses in the seminary as he possibly could and continuing his study in the biblical languages ever afterward, because he really wanted to be able to share with people what the Bible actually says.  He also has a keen interest in knowing what the patristic fathers had to say about the Bible.  These traits are evident in his books, videos, Bible studies, and messages. He and his wife Xiyan currently live in Rochester, Minnesota.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Introduction to the Kerygma

After Jesus was raised from among dead ones and before He ascended to Heaven, He commissioned His disciples:

15b "Having gone into all the Created Order, herald the Excellent Announcement to all the Creation.

16 The one having believed and having been baptized shall be saved.

Now, the one who has not believed shall be condemned." (Mark 16:15 NLET)

Please note that Jesus commanded His Disciples to "herald something.  The word ‘herald’ is an English verb which, like its Greek counterpart κηρύξατε (transliterated as ‘keruksate), can mean ‘to proclaim as a herald the message of a king to his people’.  Jesus pictures His Disciples as heralds who are to proclaim His royal and excellent announcement concerning His Kingdom to all of the people of the Earth.  And so, the first part of the title of this book is The Royal Proclamation."

The rest of the title of this book is an English transliteration of the Greek noun κήρυγμα –‘Kerygma’.  It is pronounced /kɛɹ ‘ig mə/.  A ‘kerygma’ is simply ‘the proclamation of a herald’.

The Greek noun κήρυγμα appears eight times in the New Testament – twice in the Gospels (Matthew 12:41 and Luke 11:32) and six times in the letters of Paul (Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 1:21, 2:4, 15:14; 2 Timothy 4:17; and Titus 1:3).  The references in the Gospels refer to the heralding that Jonah did for God to the people of Nineveh.  The remaining usages are in Paul’s letters and refer to either the act of heralding or to the content of the proclamation that is being heralded.

"Excellent Announcement".  That is my translation of the Greek word Εὐαγγέλιον.  It is a compound word in Greek, consisting of the prefix εὐ which implies greatness, abundance, or prosperity and αγγέλιον, which means an announcement, a message, tidings, or news.  The latter part of this Greek word can be transliterated as ‘angelion’ in which you easily recognize the word ‘angel’.  ‘angels’ were individuals, either heavenly or human, who announced such great royal proclamations.

The Greek word Εὐαγγέλιον is usually translated as ‘Gospel.’  I like to use the word ‘excellent’ to describe this announcement, because it not only indicates greatness but also can imply that this message ‘excels’ all other announcements in greatness.

The Bible refers to this heralded message in many ways.  Of course, it is often called ‘the Excellent Announcement’ (or, ‘Gospel’).  But, it is also called:

›  "the Word of God" (in Acts 4:31 and many other places),

›  "the Faith" (in Acts 6:6 and many other places),

›  "the Word of the Lord" (in Acts 8:25 and in many other places),

›  "the Way" (Acts 9:2),

›  "the Lord Jesus" (Acts 11:20),

›  "the Teaching of the Lord" (Acts 13:12),

›  "the Word of the Grace that is His" (Acts 14:3, 20:32),

›  "the Word" (Acts 14:25),

›  "the Way of the Lord" (Acts 18:25),

›  "the Way of God" (Acts 18:26),

›  "the Things of the Kingdom of God" (Acts 19:8),

›  "the Word of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:10),

›  "the Excellent Announcement of the Grace of God" (Acts 20:24),

›  "the Kingdom of God" (Acts 20:25, 28:23, and 28:31).

These are just the expressions for the Kerygma that are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.  There may be more in this book; and, certainly, there are more in the other books of the New Testament.

Did you notice that this Excellent Announcement, this Kergyma, is sometimes identified as ‘the Faith’ in the New Testament?  In Luke 18:8 Jesus asks a pensive question about ‘the Faith’: "However, before the Son of the Man comes, shall He find the[1] Faith upon the Earth?"

Often translators choose not to translate the definite article in the noun phrase ‘the Faith’, as though this is referring to a subjective ‘faith’ that people have toward God and His word.  However, the definite article suggests that Jesus is referring to some particular and well-known objective faith.  This translator presumes that He is referring, at least, to ‘the Kerygma’ – that is, to ‘THE Royal Proclamation.’

If so, Jesus is really asking, Before the end of this Age, will there still be disciples who are proclaiming the original Kerygma on the Earth; or will their proclamations be lacking some components, will it be augmented with extraneous stuff, and/or will it be in some way perverted?  In my estimation, as the Lord’s coming draws ever nearer, every contemporary believer should be asking himself or herself, Am I and the Christians with me still heralding the original Kerygma?

Now, in order to be faithful to our Lord and the Kergyma that He has left for us in the New Testament, the question that this booklet strives to answer is: Just what is the CONTENT of this ‘Excellent Announcement’?  The author of this booklet has studied and pondered what the Bible says about this question for about fifty years!  I earnestly want the Lord Jesus to find the Faith being taught and believed by His followers, when He returns – especially by me!

The New Testament gives us several terse indications as to the core of this Kerygma.

For example, as Luke describes how Philip heralded the Excellent Announcement to an Ethiopian, he writes in summary fashion:

"Now, the Philip, having opened his mouth and having begun from the Writing – namely, this one[2], made the Excellent Announcement, the Jesus, to him." (Acts 8:35)

So, with two words – "the Jesus – Luke summarizes the content of the Kerygma that Philip proclaimed to the Ethiopian.  He heralded the Jesus to him.  Here the name Jesus" is preceded by the definite article the in Greek.  At that time there were many men who were named ‘Jesus’.  However, this ‘Jesus’ was no ordinary ‘Jesus’; this Jesus is THE Jesus – that is, ‘THE well-known Jesus.

The name Jesus itself was and is utterly appropriate for this awesome person.  The name means ‘God saves’.  Jesus actually is God; and, truly, He saves.  Before His birth, an angel told His step-father Joseph, "You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save the People that are His from their failures" (Matthew 1:26).  Beginning merely with Jesus’ name, the Excellent Announcement begins to unfold!

Another example.  In Paul’s first letter to the disciples in Corinth he declares:

"we herald (Greek – κηρύσσομεν) ‘an anointed one having been crucified’ (1 Corinthians 1:23). 

‘an anointed one having been crucified’.  These six words in English translate just two words in Greek - χριστὸν ἐσταυρωμένον, but these two words are a brilliant and inspired summary of the Kerygma.  Think about it.  Just ask a few questions about these two Greek words:

›  What does it mean to be an ‘anointed one’?

›  Who is this ‘anointed one’?

›  What is crucifixion?

›  How did Jesus come to be crucified?

›  Why was Jesus crucified?

›  Was His death the end of Him?

›  If not, what followed?

By asking such simple questions, do you see what happens?  The details of the Kerygma begin to naturally unfold!

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy he presents the heart of "the Word":

"An Anointed One, Jesus, came into the world to save those who morally fail!" (1 Timothy 1:15).

Again, by asking a few pertinent questions about these simple words, one can spin out the Kerygma.

Toward the end of his first letter to the disciples in Corinth, Paul himself spins out some of these very details which are implicit in the former three examples.  Consider what Paul wrote