Our sinful flesh, even with a thorough grasp of sound doctrine, can cause us to fail to evangelize. We might maintain a strong stance against hyper-Calvinism and be committed doctrinally to urgency about making disciples and still find ourselves apathetic and passive in evangelism.

A trap is something you fall into because you don’t realize it’s there. Theological traps are errors in thinking about God and His ways that creep in and steal away our motivation for evangelism. These aberrant thoughts affect our emotions, zap our confidence, and often hold us back from faithful verbal evangelism.

Being the sinners that we are, our flesh easily falls into such traps. Outside of intervening grace, we tend to avoid sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Biblical evangelism is a supernatural event springing from grace. Our flesh is diametrically opposed to it because we are proud and selfish. That is why consistent evangelism as a lifestyle is such a battle for most of us. Evaluation of our evangelism—what we do and what we fail to do—is therefore a healthy exercise.

Great commission-centric living requires a continual renewal of our minds. How we think about God, others, and life in general, must be regularly recalibrated: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2¹). As we consider together some of the theological traps that easily ensnare, let’s be honest with ourselves before God. Are we presently struggling in the quagmire of one or more of the following four traps?

Relegating our Responsibility to God’s Sovereignty

If we have a biblically healthy view of God’s sovereignty in salvation, we must admit the negative tendencies about evangelism that come with it. Our sinful flesh is prone to reason that if God is in control and election is real, then God will certainly save the elect so ultimately it’s not really up to us anyway. This kind of thinking can cause us to stray away from urgency in evangelism. This is why some people who are passionate about evangelism tend to reject strong views of God’s sovereignty in salvation.

A view of God’s sovereignty that allows or encourages apathy in evangelism is not sound doctrine. God’s Word leaves the relationship between God’s sovereignty and the will of man a mystery that cannot be fully understood.² In passages that strongly declare God’s sovereignty, verses that declare man’s responsibility are often close by (see John 6:41-71).

Our sinful flesh, even with a thorough grasp of sound doctrine, can cause us to fail to evangelize. We might maintain a strong stance against hyper-Calvinism and be committed doctrinally to urgency about making disciples and still find ourselves apathetic and passive in evangelism.

Diminishing a Woman’s Responsibility for Evangelism

Bible-believing Christians must emphasize male leadership because God does. To fail to do so is to be unfaithful to God’s Word.

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