What are the limits of preaching the Gospel of Christ?
Q519 · The Unique Work of the Church
The Church never ceases to preach the Gospel of Christ all over the world. The believer’s work of preaching God’s salvation is not limited to a specific region.
1036 Origen, Homilies on Luke 32.6 (FOTC 94:132ff).
1037 Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of St. John 6:38 (ANF 9:380).
1038 Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of St. John 6:38 (ANF 9:380).
1039 Origen, Against Celsus 3.30 (ANF 4:476).
1040 Origen, Against Celsus 3.30 (ANF 4:476).
“The Church which Origen sees and loves is ever the ensemble of Christ’s disciples scattered over the face of the earth. That great society can never be confused with the rest of the human race, although it never ceases to attract those who have need of belief and although the anxious crowds of those who are hearkening to its call surround it as with a radiance.”1041
From the very beginning of the church, the gospel message was proclaimed by the faithful wherever they lived or traveled. In his treatise against Celsus, Origen writes, “Christians do not neglect, as far as in them lies, to take measures to disseminate their doctrine throughout the whole world. Some of them, accordingly, have made it their business to itinerate not only through cities, but even villages and country houses, that they might make converts to God.”1042
1041 R. Cadiou, Origen (Herder Book Co., 1944): p. 313.
1042 Origen, Against Celsus 3.9 (ANF 4:468).