Introduction
Missio Dei is God’s metanarrative in respect to humanity. This mission is God’s activity in his undertaking to bring about salvation to a lost creation and to seize it from the clutches of evil. Such was accomplished through the Father sending his Son. After the resurrection, the Son then sent the Holy Spirit to equip those whom he has sent into the world to preach the good news of salvation. This is a cooperation between Missio Dei and Missio Ecclesiae. God desires that all of humanity be saved and by his grace, he uses the Church to assist that process in the goal of a new creation. This essay examines the trajectory of God’s mission as it develops through the canonical narrative.
Protoevangelion
“In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth ... and God saw that is was good” (Genesis 1:1-31). It wasn’t long however before creation was fractured by the fall of humanity and would begin its protracted groan (Romans 8:22). Amidst this curse of creation however, God issues a promise to humanity, the gracious protoevangelion . The first instance of Missio Dei is revealed in the seed of the woman who would overcome evil by crushing the serpent’s head . Through Abraham’s seed, a human deliver would come, the embodiment of the seed.
Articulation Of Missio Dei
Various imagery, narratives and characters are used to describe God’s mission through salvation-history. The seed of the protoevangelion would need to die, in order to produce many seeds (John 12:24). The Missio Dei required sacrifice, hence the death of the Son of Man was necessary for the salvation of many. Othe ...