Answering Rhetorical Questions

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Romans 10:14-15 NIV)

When the apostle Paul wrote these lines to the church at Rome, he was in all likelihood not awaiting answers to his questions before continuing. These were in fact rhetorical questions. The answers should have been obvious. However, this young church at the political center of the first century world needed to answer them for themselves.

How can they call on the one they have not believed in?

Well...... they can't.

How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?

Not going to happen.

How can they hear without someone preaching to them?

They can't.

How can they preach unless they are sent?

.... We'd better send "preachers".


As members of the 21st century church, JCBC, and the Force of Seventy, we must answer these same questions. We are part of the same plan they were. We've been given the same task - to tell the good news to those around us - to Go, make disciples, baptize, and teach. We must constantly be mindful that there are people who may not ever know the joy of belonging to Jesus Christ unless each of us is faithful to share with them.

I've been asking myself a few "rhetorical" questions lately. Maybe they'll help you too.

Do I know my next door neighbors? - their names? - their children's names?

Do I know anything about what's going on in their lives?

Am I too busy to spend time with a friend or neighbor who needs a listening ear?

Am I approachable to people at work that might need to know that there is a God that loves them?

Do I come across as the kind of person who would know such things?

Asking these questions is helpful as I strive to be the witness God has called me to be. Especially when I come to one for which the answer is "not so much".

When Isaiah saw God in the temple high and lifted up, he was asked a couple of questions that weren't merely rhetorical: "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

Today, God is asking us the same thing and not so rhetorically either. The real question is whether we’ll answer God as Isaiah did when he declared, “Here am I. Send me!"?