Matthew 28:18-20 The Great commission
After Jesus’ glorious resurrection from the dead, He appeared to His disciples to show them He had risen from the dead. While some of them had trouble believing their own eyes, Jesus was alive and He had a message for them that would forever change their lives.
“And Jesus came and spoke to them,
saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all
the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, "teaching them to
observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Amen.”(Matthew 28:18-20)
His disciples may have thought their
work was finished when Christ was crucified on the cruel cross, but now they
find out their work has just begun. Jesus had prepared His disciples earlier
for this momentous occasion as He sent them out on a limited commission to the
Jews only (Matt. 10:5ff). Now the command was to go out to all nations which
would include both Jew and Gentile.
Let’s take
closer at Jesus’ Words. First, He said “all authority has been given to me in
heaven and earth.” In this statement Jesus is showing His divine nature and
that He truly is the Son of God. The word “authority” comes from the Greek word
“exousia” which is defined as, “the power of
him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed”
(Thayer). Only Jesus could make such a statement as He gave up the riches of
His heavenly home to become human (2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:5ff; John 1:1ff) and to
be tempted, yet He did not sin (Heb. 4:15). He remained faithful to God the
Father all the days of His life
including the intense suffering and shame He endured surrounding His
crucifixion (Phil. 2:8ff ). As proof of His faithfulness, God raised Him from
the dead, which is why He can now say that He has been given all authority over
heaven and earth. This means that every person is subject to Jesus’ authority
with the exception of the Father (1 Cor. 15:27). When Jesus ascended to the
Father, He sat down at His right side. Then He poured out the Holy Spirit onto
His Apostles which proved that His reign as King had begun (Acts 2:1-36). The
church/kingdom began on the day of Pentecost and Jesus is its head on both the earth
and in heaven (Eph. 1:22-23). This means that we should not have earthly
headquarters as some in the religious world do because Christ is our head and
authority. Also, there are those that claim that Jesus’ kingdom is still yet to
come, but that doesn’t make any sense because Jesus has all authority over
heaven and earth and is called “King of kings and Lord or Lord’s” (1 Tim.
6:15). If His kingdom is still in the future then what does He have authority
over? What is He King of? The scriptures make it clear that He is reigning over
His kingdom right now with all authority and that He will hand over His kingdom
to the Father when He comes again (1 Cor. 15:24ff).
Now that Jesus has established His authority, He commands
His disciples to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” While
Jesus directed this command to His disciples of that day, this same command is
to be followed by all Christians. Every Christian should be doing what they can
to reach the lost and lead people to Christ. Please notice the command is to
“go and make disciples.” The word “disciple” comes from the Greek word
“matheteuo” which is defined as, “to
be the disciple of one; to follow his precepts and instruction; to
teach” (Thayer). Simply put, a disciple is one who is taught and follows the
teaching of another. From this basic principle it is easy for us to understand
that a person must be taught before they can become a disciple of Christ. This
is exactly what we see prophesied by Jeremiah.
" Behold, the days are coming,
says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah -- "not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day that I
took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which
they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. "But this is the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their
minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be
My people. "No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no more." (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
Under the Law of Moses a Jew was
born a child of God and a male child was circumcised on the 8th day
(Gen. 17:12-13). As he grew up, he would be taught about God and how he
needs to obey His commands. However, Jeremiah is teaching us that this system under
the old covenant was going to change under the new covenant that we are under
now. Under this new covenant, no one is born a child of God. Instead, they must
learn about God first, then choose to accept God’s grace by obeying His
commands. Hence, one must be taught before they can become a disciple of
Christ. To prove this principle further, consider the following points:
Many other passages could be given, but these are sufficient to show that one must be taught before they can become a disciple of Christ. This fact alone shows us that infant baptism is invalid and unscriptural. Neither an infant nor a young child has the cognitive ability to be taught in such way for them to understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ.
Jesus tells
His disciples to make disciples of “all nations.” This would include all
nationalities because God doesn’t show partiality (Acts 10:34-35; Gal. 3:28ff).
He wants all humans to come to a knowledge of the truth and be saved (1 Tim.
2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9). These verses can also be used to show that Calvinism’s
doctrine on selective grace is not true. At first Jesus’ disciples didn’t fully
understand that all nations included the Gentiles until several years later. God revealed this truth to Peter and his
companions at the conversion of Cornelius and his household (Acts 10). From
that point forward the Word of God was eventually preached to everyone (
As we get
back to Jesus’ commands, we find out that teaching is not the only thing necessary
for becoming a disciple. He also makes baptism necessary as well. He commanded
them, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” From the
English language it should be easy to see that both teaching and baptism are
necessary to become a disciple of Christ. We can also confirm this from the grammar
of the original Greek as well. Both Greek words for “baptizing” and “teaching”
are present participles. This indicates both of these actions take place at the
same time as the main verb which is “make disciples”. This means that both
teaching and baptizing are necessary to complete the action of the main verb “make
disciples.” The Pulpit Commentary
explains it this way, "The present participle denotes the mode of
initiation into discipleship. Make them disciples by baptizing them." As you can see, both languages clearly show that Jesus’ commanded His disciples to both
teach and baptize to make a disciple.
This brings us to another point. Since Jesus commanded
these things to be done, this means that these actions are carried out by
humans. After all, we can teach and we can baptize someone. The baptism being
commanded here was to continue until the end of the age. The only kind of
baptism this could be referring to is water baptism and not Holy Spirit baptism
as some claim. Holy Spirit baptism was a promise (Acts 2:33) that Jesus would
administer (Mat. 3:11) and we only have two recorded instances of this
happening in the Bible. The first instance was on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2)
and the second one was on the house of Cornelius (Acts 10, 11) Since Holy
Spirit baptism was a promise administered by Jesus it cannot be the baptism
commanded in the great commission. You cannot obey a promise. However, we can
baptize someone in water and this is exactly what you see happening throughout
book of Acts. There should be no doubt that water baptism is under consideration
here.
There are several more interesting points that can be observed
from Jesus’ command to baptize “into the name of the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. First, we need to look at this phrase, “into
the name of” and what it means. The BDAG Lexicon defines it this way, “Those
who are baptized become the possession of and come under the dedicated
protection of the one whose name they bear.” Also consider this quote, “In the
Greek papyri, which is that from which we get the New Testament, “into the name
of” was a common phrase for the transference of ownership” (Archaeology in the
New Testament). These definitions show us just how important baptism is,
because when a person is baptized into the name of the Farther, the Son and the
Holy Ghost, they become God’s possession and are now under His protection.
Without baptism, this transfer of ownership and union with God cannot occur.
This means that you cannot be a disciple of Christ without baptism which leaves
you in a lost state.
Paul brings some
clarity to this concept in 1 Corinthians 1 where he was teaching against
dividing the Lord’s church up because there is only one church. Then he makes a
statement about baptism.
For it has been declared to me
concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says,
"I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of
Cephas," or "I am of Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul
crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:11)
We can see that Paul is stressing
the point that Christ was crucified for us and we should not be trying to
divide the one church the He established. Also, we should not be exalting a
human above Christ by calling ourselves after that person because the church
belongs to the Lord (Mat. 16:18) and He purchased it with his own blood (Acts
20:7). Finally, Paul teaches us that baptism is what makes it possible for you
to say, “I am of Christ” which means that you belong to Him.
The second interesting thing about
Jesus command to baptize “into the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” is that it shows the
Trinity of the Godhead. This is even more apparent when you look at the original
Greek language. In Greek grammar, the general rule is when a definite article
is present before a word it identifies it as individual or a specific thing.
However, when the article is absent before a word then it shows its nature or
quality. Let me give you an example of what I mean.
Then the woman of
First, “the woman” shows that this
specific woman is being referred to as individual. However, the second use of
the word “woman” without the definite article “the” simply refers to any
Samaritan woman. So, in our text we can see all three persons that make up the
Godhead have the definite article “the” in front of them and this shows us that
each of them is an individual person that makes up the triune nature of God.
Now if the passage had only said the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then all
three of these would have been referring to one person. Since that is not the
case, this is a great passage that refutes the doctrine that states the Farther,
Son, and Holy Spirit are all the same person.
Next Jesus commands, “teaching
them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” I have already stated teaching must occur
before one can become a disciple of Christ and there are certain things that a
person must know and understand to become a disciple of Christ. For instance a
person must understand that they are a sinner and are separated from God (Rom.
3:23; Isa. 59:1-2). They must understand Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection
and that He is the only way to heaven (John 14:6). Once a person believes that
Jesus is the Son of God and they realize that they are lost without Him. They
must be taught to repent (Luke 13:3) and turn away from their old lifestyle by
living their life according to God’s Word. They must also understand they have
to confess Jesus as their Lord (Rom. 10:10) and continue to confess Him as
Lord. Finally, a person must understand that they must be baptized in the name
of Jesus or by His authority for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:38). They need
to understand at the point of baptism is when they enter into possession of God
and are added to the one church by Him (Acts 2:47). When a person understands
this basic principle of Christianity, then they have the knowledge and ability
to become a disciple of Christ. Once they choose to accept God’s plan of
salvation by submitting to God’s authority, then they must continue to be
taught and shown how important it is for them learn as much as they can about
God’s commands (2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Pet. 3:18). They also need to be taught how
important it is to not to just know the commands of God but to live by them
faithfully until the day they die (Rev. 2:10).
Finally Jesus says, “and lo, I
am with you always, even to the
end of the age." While
Jesus was speaking to His apostles here, this message certainly applies to us
today. It teaches us that Jesus is with us and He is watching over us until the
end of the age when He comes again. These promises are made to Christians in
several other passages as well (Rom. 8:28; Heb. 13:5-6; 1 Pet. 3:12). What a
comforting thought to know that our God will always be there for us.
The last thing I want share with you are some charts that
will help you see the whole council of God at work in regards to the great
commission. This first chart will show everything that is said in the gospels
in regards to the great commission.
THE GREAT COMMISION
Mat. 28:18-20 |
Teach |
|
|
Baptize |
Make disciples |
Mark 16:15-16 |
Preach |
Believe |
|
Baptized |
Saved |
Luke 24:46-47 |
Preach |
|
Repentance |
Remission of sins |
Saved |
John 20:21-23 |
Preach |
|
|
|
Saved |
All together |
Preach |
Believe |
Repent |
Be Baptized for the remission
of sins |
Makes a saved disciple |
This chart
shows everything Jesus commanded in regards to the great commission. The only
thing left out is confessing Jesus as Lord. However, we can know that
confession is part of the great commission which leads people to salvation
because it is necessary to be saved (Mat. 10:32-33;
To further illustrate how Jesus’ disciples followed His commands of the great commission please note the following chart of conversions in the book of Acts.
CONVERSIONS IN ACTS
PREACHING |
BELIEVED |
REPENTED |
CONFESSED |
BAPTIZED/SAVED |
Pentecost Acts 2:14ff |
Implied vs.
37, 41 |
Repent vs. 37-38 |
|
Taught vs. 38 |
Acts 8:5ff |
Believed vs. 12,13 |
|
|
Baptized |
The Eunuch Acts 8:35-39 |
Taught and Believed vs. 37 |
|
Confessed vs. 37 |
Baptized |
Saul Acts 9,22,26 |
Implied |
Implied |
Implied Acts 9:6, 22:10 |
Taught Acts 22:16 Baptized Acts 9:18 |
Cornelius Acts 10, 11 |
Taught |
Implied Acts 11:18 |
|
Commanded |
Acts 16:13 |
Implied |
|
|
Baptized |
The Jailer Acts 16:31ff |
Taught |
|
|
Baptized |
Corinthians Acts 18:8 |
Believed |
|
|
Baptized |
Ephesians Acts 19:1ff |
Taught |
|
|
Baptized |
This chart clearly shows how
Jesus’ disciples obeyed His commands of the great commission. In every one of
these conversions listed, preaching/teaching and baptism occurred. Even though belief,
repentance, and confession were not specifically named in each instance they
certainly are implied. When you combine the commands Jesus gave at the great
commission and compare them to the conversions in the book of Acts, you should
have no problem understanding what it takes to become a disciple of Christ. You
must hear the Word of God (Rom. 10:17), believe that Jesus is the Son of God
(Jn. 8:24), Repent (Luke 13:3), Confess Jesus as Lord (