The Cape Town Commitment Bible Readings
The Cape Town Commitment is a two-part document from the Cape Town Congress of The Lausanne Movement. Part 1 'What We Believe' was formed by theologians from around the world.
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Why not take some time to read and reflect on the Bible Passages from which each statement takes its inspiration and source.
(If you would like a printable version of these topics and Bible passages, click HERE to download & print)
1. We Love Because God First Loved Us
We love because God first loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Galatians 5:6; John 14:21; 1 John 4:9, 19 Love for God and love for neighbour Matt. 22:37-40; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:22; 1 Pet. 1:22; 1 Jn. 3:14 ; 1 Jn 4:7-21; Jn. 13:34-35; Jn. 1:18; 1 Thess. 1:3; 1 Cor. 13:8, 13 | The character of the love of God, and how we are to love. Deut. 7:7-9; Hos. 2:19-20; 11:1; Ps. 103;145:9, 13, 17; Gal. 2:20; Deut. 10:12-19 To love the Lord our God, to love our neighbour, to love one another, to love the world Deut. 6:4-5; Matt. 22:37; Lev. 19:18, 34;Matt. 5:43-45; Jn. 15:12 ; Eph. 4:32; Jn. 3:16-17 | Such love is the gift of God poured out in our hearts, but it is also the command of God requiring the obedience, and requires us to be like Christ himself |
2. We Love the Living God
Our God whom we love reveals himself in the Bible, so we love God with joyful thanks Deut. 4:35, 39; Ps. 33:6-9; Jer. 10:10-12; Deut. 10:14; Isa. 40:22-24 ; Ps. 33:10-11, 13-15; Ps. 96:10-13; Ps. 36:6; Isa. 45:22 | We love and worship the living God only | We love God with passion for his glory, and if we claim to love God we must share God’s greatest priority, which is that his name and his Word should be exalted above all things. |
3. We Love God the Father
Through Jesus Christ, God’s Son, we come to know and love God as Father, and the Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. | We love God, who the Father of His people.
Jn. 3:16; 1 Jn. 3:1; Rom. 8:32; Heb. 9:14; Gal. 2:20; Gal. 1:4-5 | We love God as the Father whose character we reflect and whose care we trust |
4. We Love God the Son
Loving the Lord Jesus Christ means that we steadfastly affirm that he alone is Saviour, Lord and God. We trust in Christ. Jn. 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:4-6; Heb. 1:2; Col. 1:15-17; Ps. 110:1; Mk. 14:61-64; Eph. 1:20-23; Rev. 1:5; 3:14; 5:9-10; Rom. 2:16; 2 Thess. 1:5-10; 2 Cor.5:10; Rom. 14:9-12; Matt. 1:21; Lk. 2:30; Acts.4:12; 15:11; Rom. 10:9; Tit. 2:13; Heb. 2:10; 5:9; 7:25; Rev. 7:10 | We obey Christ. | We proclaim Christ. |
5. We Love God the Holy Spirit
We love the Holy Spirit within the unity of the Trinity, with God the Father who sends him, and with Jesus Christ to whom he bears witness. | In the Old Testament we see the Spirit of God active. | At Pentecost God poured out his Holy Spirit as promised by the prophets and by Jesus. |
6. We Love God's Word
We love God’s Word in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and receive the whole Bible as the word of God, inspired by God’s Spirit, spoken and written through | human authors. Ps. 119:47, 97; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:21 . | We love the Bible because of the Person the Bible reveals,the story the Bible tells, the truth the Bible teaches, and the life the Bible requires. Deut. 30:14; Matt. 7:21-27; Lk. 6:46; Jas. 1:22-24; Tit. 2:9-10 |
7. We Love God's World
We share God’s passion for his world, loving all that God has made. Ps. 145:9, 13, 17; Ps. 104:27-30; Ps. 50:6; Mk. 16:15; Col. 1:23; Matt. 28:17-20; Hab. 2:14
We love the world of nations and cultures. Acts 17:26; Deut. 32:8; Gen. 10:31-32; 12:3; Rev. 7:9-10; Rev. 21:24-27 . Love for all peoples demands that we treat all people with dignity and respect, on the grounds of their value to God in creation and redemption. | Such love also demands that we seek to make the gospel known among every people and culture everywhere. Acts 10:35; 14:17; 17:27 We love the world’s poor and suffering, as God is loving toward all he has made, upholds the cause of the oppressed, loves the foreigner, feeds the hungry, sustains the fatherless and widow. Ps. 145:9, 13, 17; 147:7-9; Deut. 10:17-18 All God’s people are commanded to reflect the love and justice of God in practical love and justice for the needy. Gen. 18:19; Ex. 23:6-9; Deut. 16:18-20; Job 29:7-17; Pss. 72:4, 12-14; 82; Prov. 31:4-9; Ex. 22:21-27; Lev. 19:33-34; Deut. 10:18-19; 15:7-11; Isa. 1:16-17; 58:6-9; Amos 5:11-15, 21-24; Ps. 112; Job 31:13-23; Prov. 14:31; 19:17; 29:7; Matt. 25:31-46; Lk. 14:12-14; Gal. 2:10; 2 Cor. 8-9; Rom. 15:25-27; 1 Tim. 6:17-19; Jas.1:27; 2:14-17; 1 Jn. 3:16-18 . |
We love our neighbours, foreigners and our enemies. Lev.19:34; Matt. 5:43-4
We are commanded not to love the world of sinful desire, greed, and human pride. 1 Jn. 2:15-17 22:1-3; Dan. 4:27
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8. We Love the Gospel of God
We love the good news in a world of bad news.
| We love the assurance the gospel brings.
| We love the transformation the gospel produces, with our saving faith expressing itself obedience, and therefore action. |
9. We Love the People of God
Love for one another in the family of God is not merely a desirable option but an inescapable command. Such love is the first evidence of obedience to the gospel, and a potent engine of world mission. 2 Thess. 2:13-14; 1 Jn. 4:11; Eph. 5:2; 1 Thes. 1:3; 4:9-10; Jn. 13:35 | Love calls for Unity.
| Love calls for Honesty.Love calls for Solidarity. |
10. We Love the Mission of God
We are committed to world mission, because it is central to our understanding of God, the Bible, the church, human history and the ultimate future. | God calls his people to share his mission, to be a blessing and a light to the nations, to worship and glorify God for all eternity and to participate in the transforming mission of God within history. | The cost of our mission. Jesus modelled what he taught, that the greatest love is to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. |
The Cape Town Commitment – A Declaration of Belief and a Call to Action, by The Lausanne Movement
'This Statement* is framed in the language of love. Love is the language of covenant. The biblical covenants, old and new, are the expression of God’s redeeming love and grace reaching out to lost humanity and spoiled creation. They call for our love in return. Our love shows itself in trust, obedience and passionate commitment to our covenant Lord. The Lausanne Covenant defined evangelization as “the whole church taking the whole gospel to the whole world”. That is still our passion. So we renew that covenant by affirming again:
- Our love for the whole gospel, as God’s glorious good news in Christ, for every dimension of his creation, for it has all been ravaged by sin and evil.
- Our love for the whole church, as God’s people, redeemed by Christ from every nation on earth and every age of history, to share God’s mission in this age and glorify him forever in the age to come.
- Our love for the whole world, so far from God but so close to his heart, the world that God so loved that he gave his only Son for its salvation.
- In the grip of that three-fold love, we commit ourselves afresh to be the whole church, to believe, obey, and share the whole gospel, and to go to the whole world to make disciples of all nations.'
This second part of The Cape Town Commitment will include specific calls and resolutions generated by the Congress and its GlobaLink participants.
The completed two-part declaration will be published by the end of November. It will be available in eight Congress languages, as a free download, on the Lausanne website at www.lausanne.org and on the World Evangelical Alliance website at www.worldevangelicals.org.
*Copyright:The Lausanne Movement , at the Cape Town Congress in 2010