Every Christian is a priest

Writing about 1 Corinthians 1 & 2, Brad at 21st Century Reformation has some great insights on the power of the Word of God in evangelism:

Because knowledge of the truth of history does not come from compiling a mountain of evidence for the listener or from an airtight rational argument, Paul . . . intentionally puts his faith in the power of God to simply communicate directly to the hearer of the Gospel that indeed the Gospel is THE story of human history. In other words, the best way to do evangelism is to tell the simple story and to lay hands on people asking God to reveal himself to the person. This method puts our faith in the power of God and not our persuasive words of wisdom. This does not mean we do not contend at all for the faith by being reasonable but that we acept that certainty does not result from pure convincing rational argument or pure convincing evidence. Ultimately, the answer to the big picture question of what is the theme of the story of history comes from special revelation.

Brad focuses both on proclamation of the Word and on Christians as bearers of Christ:

As Christians, we are first and foremost a people with whom God dwells. We are a people of His presence . . . . We attempt to effect the word through all sorts of other methods, like politics and rationalistic apologetics, which are simply not the one thing needful. People need to hear the word of God from the presence of God.

Amen. How often do we reflect on the fact that the church is "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people"? As much as we do, we will be empowered to "declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pe. 2:9).