Evangelistic Evangelicals

Can you be an Evangelical without being an Evangelist? Can you be an Evangelist without being Evangelical? Yes.

The “ev” part of both words means “good.” The next section, “angel,” means “angel.” That’s because “angel” means “messenger.” In a stretch, it really even means “message.” “Gospel” is an Old English word that is made of “good” or “god” smashed with “spell.” It means a good story. It was used frequently by the Old English experts who translated the Scriptures for King James as a word to represent the Greek “evangel.” Good message and/or good messenger.

“Eu” and “ev” were used interchangeably at times when the English were still arguing about the letters they would use to write their language. “Eulogy,” that bunch of nice things you hope people will say over you at your funeral, is a similar word. “Eu” means “good” just like it would have if they had spelled it “ev.” “Logy” means “word,” like “logos.” “Good word.”

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were called “the Evangelists” during the time of the Wesleys and Whitefield, so when people started calling those preachers “evangelists,” it was like saying they were so righteous they should be writing Scripture. It made religious people cringe and spit like they did 20 years ago when someone called themselves or someone else an apostle. “Evangelical” drafts its origin from these four “gospel” or “evangel” writers. Those books were called “the Evangels.” A proper Evangelical uses that title as a declaration that they consider their core doctrines to come from the teachings found in those four books. None of that Pentecostal foolishness Paul tried to mess things up with later…

An Evangelist is a messenger with a good message. An angel of good. Pentecostal or Evangelical alike make good Evangelists if they are preaching good news – “god spells.”