The term 'soul winning' is strictly an Old Testament phrase which finds all of its application in the New Testament era.

Table of Contents

Old Testament Soul Winning 1

The OT Source of the Term 'Soul Winning' 2

The Non-OT development of 'Soul Winning' 3

What of OT Sowing and Reaping? 3

Was Solomon a Soul Winner? 5

Was Solomon's Father a Soul Winner? 6

Was Abraham a Soul Winner? 7

Was Noah a Soul Winner? 7

Was Job a Soul Winner? 8

Was Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel a Soul Winner? 9

Conclusion 11

Appendix 12

NOTES 13

BIBLIOGRAPHY 14

Old Testament Soul Winning

The term 'soul winning' is strictly an Old Testament (OT) phrase which finds all of its application in the New Testament era. Its only occasion is founded in Proverbs 11:30, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” Although this verse dripped from the inspired pen of Solomon and became Holy Scripture, Solomon and his father, David, had little concept of its application. There was no OT soul winning commission or effort towards individual souls being won to righteousness. This is a bold conjecture and the thesis of this short paper.

The OT Source of the Term 'Soul Winning'

Proverbs 11:30 that coins the phrase 'soul winning' could have very little to do with the winning of individual souls to righteousness if it were not for two companion Scriptures that develop its theme. A full 500 years after Solomon's pen died, Daniel, the prophet from within the Babylonian captivity, concluded his writings with a marvelously insightful and prophetic utterance that carried Solomon's words deep into the NT commission yet to be spoken. “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament' and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. “ (Dan 12:2-3) Then the Apostle James, the first pastor at Jerusalem and the first author of a NT Epistle, takes this 'wise soul winner' who 'turns many to righteousness' and shows him standing in the center of the commission of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall hide a multitude of sins.” (James 5:20) Only with this subtle development of principle can one take the words of Solomon and imply that Proverbs 11:30 is for any individual soul winning effort. In its context, and in its day, it was as simple as Matthew Henery makes it, that communicating wisdom “wins upon them to bring them in love with God and holiness, and so wins them over into the interests of God's Kingdom among men.¹” Indeed this seems to be the extent of its impact on the OT saint, and there is no direct application for them to confront or challenge individual souls and strive to turn them to righteousness. 'Soul winning' shall be considered synonymous with the ideas of proselytizing which is to “habitually convert persons from one belief to another.²” Such an excellent definition certainly captures a Biblical concept of 'soul winning.'

The Non-OT development of 'Soul Winning'

The development of the application of Proverbs 11:30 is not accomplished nor carried out in the OT. It is not until the NT that the application is obtrusively evident and even commanded. Jesus said “Go ye and teach all nations” (Matt) and “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark) “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in my name;” (Luke) “as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you” (John); “that ye shall be witnesses unto me.” (Acts) Only in this NT application are the saints called sowers, reapers, laborers and fishers of men. Only in the NT application are individual souls directly 'converted' by 'repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.' (Acts 20:21) and only there is it clarified “Except ye be converted, ... ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”. (Matt 18) As much as commentators and other Bible students try to make OT saints responsible for 'soul winning' and 'turning the many to righteousness' they are never so commissioned, commanded, nor compelled. NT saints surely are.

What of OT Sowing and Reaping?

An OT companion verse used by soul winners is likewise taken out of its OT application and given its NT application . It is Psalms 126:5-6 “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” So much has been made of the NT soul winning application of this Scripture that only some deep digging in commentaries will reveal its OT application' and it is not an OT soul winning application. C.H. Spurgeon, (1834 -1892 ) prince of Baptist Preachers, and soul winner extraordinare barely alludes to its theme of Zion's deliverance and reformation before marching on to its NT application of soul winning³ The best description of the actual OT application is given by Clarke:

Psalm 126:6 Clark's commentary “ Verse 6. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed] The metaphor seems to be this: A poor farmer has had a very bad harvest: a very scanty portion of grain and food has been gathered from the earth. The seed time is now come, and is very unpromising. Out of the famine a little seed has been saved to be sown, in hopes of another crop; but the badness of the present season almost precludes the entertainment of hope. But he must sow, or else despair and perish. He carries his all, his precious seed, with him in his seed basket; and with a sorrowful heart commits it to the furrow, watering it in effect with his tears, and earnestly imploring the blessing of God upon it. God hears; the season becomes mild; he beholds successively the blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear. The appointed weeks of harvest come, and the grain is very productive. He fills his arms, his carriages, with the sheaves and shocks; and returns to his large expecting family in triumph, praising God for the wonders he has wrought. So shall it be with this handful of returning Israelites. They also are to be sown-scattered all over the land; the blessing of God shall be upon them, and their faith and numbers shall be abundantly increased. The return here referred to, Isaiah describes in very natural language: "And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all nations, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord," Isa 66:20.⁴ “

It is obvious then, that this insightful OT verse, revealing a direct application to NT soul wining, has no application to what one would categorize as OT soul winning or proselytizing, but only to Zion's deliverance and reformation. .

Was Solomon a Soul Winner?

Solomon, who penned the verse “The fruit of the righteous is the tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise” was not what one today would call a 'soul winner'. When looking at the OT saints for attributes of soul winning one must expand the examination to include any form of proselytization. They did not have the gospel committed unto them nor the commission to preach it to every creature. Solomon proselytized in three ways and the first and foremost is in his writings of wisdom literature. Reading through Proverbs one is struck by the metaphors of wisdom crying out to all of mankind as she calls them to hear instruction and turn to righteousness. The target audience for his writing is 'my son' but his focused audience skillfully opens to all of mankind, and in personifying wisdom, in his eighth chapter, one sees Christ, present at the creation of this world. Although Solomon, with a pen of inspiration, painted a portrait of the Christ, the redeemer of mankind, there is no evidence that he himself could bring such a portrait into focus. He proselytized for righteousness but not necessarily for the redeemer of mankind.

Solomons second proselytizing effort is found in the words of the Preacher. In Ecclesiastes Solomon preaches philosophy which concludes “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” (Eccl 12:13-14) Solomon's writings were material of proselytizing but one could not call them soul winning. Another awareness of proselytizing is found in Solomons prayer of dedication at his newly finished temple. There Solomon adds to his prayer “Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name’s sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house; Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.” (2Chron 6:32-33) Notice that the implication in this prayer is that 'strangers' would come to pray for Jehovah's great name's sake. This does not constitute a high level of proselytizing but it does follow the commission given to Israel that all nations might know 'the LORD thy God is one God'. Solomon was not a soul winner pursuing the individual conversion of souls; although his inspired writings prompted the usage of the phrase.

Was Solomon's Father a Soul Winner?

David, Solomon's father, King of Israel, and a man after God's own heart, (1Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22) wrote ”The law of the LORD is perfect converting the soul:” but there is no indication that David was a soul winner in the sense the he pursued individual souls and strove to see their conversion. David versed several such references about conversion or being washed from iniquity, or being justified but as they give clear reference to the NT commission to win souls, even David was not an OT soul winner.

While renegade from the spiteful hand of King Saul David gathered to himself many base souls who became his loyal followers. This was certainly not soul winning and could barely constitute proselytizing. There seems to be no evidence of what one would consider soul winning in the OT King David.

Was Abraham a Soul Winner?

In a desperation to show some level of proselytizing in the OT some have even tried to picture Abraham as gathering souls around him on his trek by faith to a city not made with hands. (Heb 11) Matthew Henery's Commentary on Proverbs 11:30 somehow makes Abraham a soul winner by referencing Gen 12:5 “And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.” This is another case where ones belief system is so powerfully developed that they can see things in the Bible that are not present nor intended. There is no such evidence that Abraham purposefully proselytized souls toward righteousness, except by his own example of great faith toward God. Abraham was not a soul winner.

Was Noah a Soul Winner?

Peter refers to Noah as a “preacher of righteousness” (2Pet 2:5) but that does not necessarily indicate that Noah proselytized toward righteousness. Peters previous Epistle emphasized that via Noah only eight souls were saved in the Ark. 'Works' is the emphasis for Noah in the hall of fame of faith of Heb 11, but his being a preacher of righteousness should convince us that he set about to get others persuaded of the need for salvation in the Ark. The very term 'preacher' implies that he pushed on people to make a decision and actively proselytized; for in teaching one lays out knowledge and information available for the voluntary student to snatch it up, but preaching implies an applied pressure to make a decision with the information given; the 'backing one into a corner' as it were and forcing a free will decision one way or the other; the blatant declaration that 'the ball is in your court' (via a sports metaphor from tennis) and that one must decide what to do with it. Noah was a preacher of righteousness and thereby come the closest of all the OT saints to being a soul winner. Yet in preaching righteousness and salvation in an Ark his preaching did not necessarily involve salvation of the soul from an eternal judgment, nor a redeemer that would wash away sin and iniquity, not an eternal life with Jehovah God for all eternity. Noah's preaching would make him a body winner for a physical salvation that marvelously pictures what Christ would soon do spiritually. Noah was not a soul winner, but an OT saint who found grace in the eyes of the LORD, worked for the LORD and preached righteousness.

Was Job a Soul Winner?

Job, who penned his faith in a book captured his need for a redeemer better than any OT saint when he wrote: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” (Job 19:25-27) Yet Job did not exert effort to persuade Eliphaz the Temanite that he would also see this redeemer. Job wrote “For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both. Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me: Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.” (Job 9:32-35) Yet Job never exerted persuasion on Bildad the Shuhite to convince him that he too needed a daysman. Indeed Job did not proselytize aggressively because he wanted no one in his circumstance and current relationship with his Creator and he was but building his strong belief system because of his circumstances. Although Job wrote that “the wicked man ... believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and his is waited for of the swored (of God.)” (Job 15:22); yet he did not warn Zophar the Naamathite, that “it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Heb 9:27) In the whole dissertation of Job, where there is a discerning of the present, in this life, judgment vs an after life eternal judgment, Job never proselytizes. (Remember proselytizing is to habitually convert persons from one belief to another.)

Job, who answered Eliphaz's question “What is man, that he should be clean and he which is born of woman that he should be righteous?” (Job 15:14) did not try to proselytize young Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, nor convince him of his need of righteousness because of a coming eternal judgment. If an OT saint was to habitually convert persons to their belief, Job's discourse with these four should present evidence that he was a soul winner. It does not.

Was Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel a Soul Winner?

Although Isaiah wrote “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow; though the be red like crimson they shall be as wool. “ (Isa 1:18) the salvation that he preached and the righteousness he porselytized for was national not individual so he could not be regarded as an individual soul winner. He was a prophet, i.e. one who says 'thus saith the LORD', to the nation of Israel. So too Jeremiah, who said “Behold, the days come saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:” (Jer 31:31), is primarily a prophet to the house of Israel, not proselytizing individuals to righteousness, conversion or new life as would a 'soul winner'.

Ezekiel gave the immutable warning “Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.” (Ezek 33:1-7), but though he warned Israel as he was charged, he was not a soul winner. Again his emphasis was a national salvation of God's people, not an individual salvation from pending judgment of individual souls.

Conclusion

Just as the mission of the coming messiah was revealed and portrayed in the OT, the mission of the coming soul winners was revealed and portrayed in the OT. Just as the former was typified but not fulfilled in the OT times, so too the role of the soul winner was talked about but not fulfilled until the messiah paved the way for the commissioned soul winner to 'habitually convert persons from one belief to another'. It was Jesus who said 'except ye be converted ... ye shall not enter the kingdom of God.” OT saints were not so commissioned to be soul winners, and one does not find it in their role. Christians are so commissioned and each NT saint is elect to be a soul winner. Recall that NT 'so great salvation' was first spoken by Christ, (Heb 2:3) not Noah, Abraham, Moses, David nor Isaiah. Today such salvation is the call to all men everywhere, and Christians are His witnesses, commissioned to be soul winners.

Appendix

2) Raised from Spiritual Death {#Eze 37:10 Lu 15:24 Ro 8:11 11:15 Eph 2:1,6 Col 2:13 3:1}

1) Spiritual, of the Penitent {#Ps 51:12 Isa 57:18 Jer 3:22 30:17 Ho 14:4 Mic 7:19}

9b) Healing of {#Ps 41:4 147:3 Isa 53:5 57:18 Jer 3:22 17:14 Ho 6:1 Lu 4:18 Re 22:2}

NOTES

1 Henery, Matthes, “Matthew Henery's Commentary on the Whole Bible” (1706-1721)

3 Spurgeon, Charles Hadden, “The Treasure of David”, Vol 6, Zondervan Publishing House, Mi, 1950 edition pp79, Ps 126:5-6

4 Clarke, Adam, “Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible” (originally published in eight volumes, 1810-26) (1762-1832)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Clarke, Adam, “Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible” (originally published in eight volumes, 1810-26) (1762-1832)

Henery, Matthes, “Matthew Henery's Commentary on the Whole Bible” (1706-1721)

Spurgeon, Charles Hadden, “The Treasure of David”, Vol 6, Zondervan Publishing House, Mi, 1950 edition pp79, Ps 126:5-6