Semănătorul (The Sower)
September 2023, Volume 4, Number 1
THE CENTRIFUGAL AND CENTRIPETAL FORCE OF MISSION: EXEGETICAL INSIGHTS ON THE GOSPELS
OVIDIU HANC
ABSRTACT
The role of the Holy Spirit in Mission is twofold: centripetal and centrifugal. The centripetal role reflects the attractive force that the Holy Spirit performs by bringing people into the Kingdom, while the centrifugal force reflects the outward move in which the Holy Spirit empowers the believers to expand the Kingdom of God by taking the Gospel to all men. The Great Commission is simultaneously a call to mission in the sense of fulfilling the centrifugal mandate of bringing Christ to non-believers, and a centripetal mandate of drawing non-believers to Christ. This paper exegetes some key passages in order to highlight this twofold theological and missional aspect.
KEY WORDS: The Great Commission, Kingdom of God, Centripetal and Centrifugal, missio Dei.