In certain evangelical circles today there is a debate about how we as Christians should present God's truth to people. Some say that we should be theocentric, that is, we should never begin with man and his felt needs, but always with God and what He says are man's real needs, even if unfelt. Our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus in John 3 would certainly give support to this position.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness, and says that "...we know that you have come from God..." (vs. 2). Nicodemus barely gets the words out of his mouth when Jesus very firmly tells him that he must be born again (vs. 3-5). Our Lord then proceeds to answer his questions and concerns about this concept and then finishes by clearly pointing to Himself as the only means of salvation and eternal life (vs. 13-15). Jesus is very direct. He focuses on unfelt needs and presents the truth to Nicodemus. He starts with God's truth about our need to be born again, and then ends up pointing to Himself as the sole solution to this great need.
If one only looks at this passage, one would come away from Scripture thinking that this is God's ordained pattern for presenting the truth; a purely theocentric approach with no concern for what people consider their needs to be. But then immediately after this historical account, we have the one about the woman at the well in John 4, and our Lord's approach to her is radically different.
Instead of immediately telling her she is a sinner who needs His help, Jesus asks her for a drink of water (v. 7). He does this to break down a cultural and social barrier between men and women in that day, as well as one between Jews and Samaritans. Having confronted those issues with a few simple words, our Lord quickly addresses her felt need. She didn't want to have to keep coming to the well in the heat of the day to draw water. Christ offers her "living water" (vs.10-14). When the woman asks for the "living water" (v. 15), Jesus brings up the issue of her sinfulness, but in a very gentle way. He could have blasted her for her many husbands and for living with a man outside of wedlock, but instead He gently makes her realize that He is aware of her sinful state (vs.16-18). Some think at this point she trys to divert attention from herself by bringing up a divisive question about worship (vs.19-20). I personally think that she genuinely wanted to know the truth and was testing Him to see if He really was a "prophet". When the woman brings up the subject of the "Messiah", Jesus finally reveals to her that He is indeed the Messiah (v.16). The result as we already know is that she believed in Jesus and became His first witness to the Samaritans (vs. 28-30).
The lessons from these two chapters are that, first of all, we can and should approach people who are familiar with God's truth, but unconverted, with a theocentric approach. As a teacher of Israel, Nicodemus should have been aware of his need for a spiritual birth, but he wasn't (v.10), and so Jesus is loving, but much more direct with him. Our Lord starts with the unfelt need and then points to Himself as the solution. With the woman at the well, Jesus takes an anthropocentric approach. He starts with her felt need and then moves systematically to revealing Himself as the only one who can meet her deepest need.
The bottomline is that each of these methods is biblical and utilized by Christ Himself. Neither is more biblical than the other. But what is of paramount importance is where we end up. Regardless of whether one begins with felt needs or unfelt needs, the conclusion of the matter has to end up with a clear presentation of Jesus Christ as the only solution to men and women's greatest needs. This is the biggest problem with those today who begin with felt needs. In too many cases, they attempt to address the felt need, but they don't end with Jesus. They often offer humanistic solutions mixed with scripture, and that will not ultimately work.
Those who advocate the theocentric approach can also be guilty of neglecting Jesus. One can talk about "God" a lot, but unless you specifically point to Christ as the One who is sufficient for every need, we have failed to present the whole truth. May God help us to be discerning and faithful in how we present His truth. But regardless, it is ultimately about Christ! If He is not the focus and conclusion of our message, we have not presented God's truth correctly.
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