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An Overview of the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20)
As Jesus concluded His earthly ministry, He explicitly commanded His disciples to address themselves to worldwide evangelism. At the heart of the church’s commission is the command to “make disciples.” Jesus had focussed His ministry on making disciples, and His goal was for the disciples to make what He had made of them. Jesus is the supreme Lord and Teacher of the historical disciples and the post-resurrection community. Matthew’s gospel is at least in part a manual on discipleship. With all of the major discourses directed to the disciples, with the term arranged in such a way that most sayings directed to the disciples have become teachings on discipleship, with the positive yet realistic enhancement of the picture of the disciples, and with disciples called and trained and commissioned to carry out the climactic mandate to “make disciples” in the conclusion of the gospel, Matthew has constructed a gospel that will equip the disciples in the making of disciples (Wilkins 1988:172). Through the “Great Commission” of Mt 28:16-20 Jesus focuses his followers on the ongoing importance of discipleship through the ages (Wilkins 1992b, 1992a: 188-191). “Make disciples of all the nations” Make Disciples
Jesus committed his earthly ministry to “making disciples” within Israel (cf. Jn 4:1), and he commissions his disciples to “make disciples” among the nations (Mt 28:16-20). The obvious meaning of “making disciples” is to proclaim the gospel message among those who have not yet received forgiveness of sins (Lk 24:46-47; Jn 20:21). The command[7] finds remarkable verbal fulfillment in the activities of the early church (e.g., Acts 14:21), where they went from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth proclaiming the message of Jesus and making disciples. In the early church, to believe in the gospel message was to become a disciple (cf. Acts 4:32 with 6:2). The injunction of the Great Commission is given at least to the Eleven (cf. Mt 28:16), but in their own role as disciples they are paradigms for all disciples (Carson 1984:596). As he addresses the disciples and commands them to “make disciples of all the nations,”[8] Jesus is telling them to make more of what he has made of them.
All The Nations
The object of “making disciples” is “all the nations.” All nations, now including both the Gentiles and Jews, receive the opportunity to become Jesus’ disciples. Although some suggest that “all the nations” means only “Gentiles,” not the “Jews,” since Matthew invariably only refers to Gentiles by this title (e.g., Kio 1990:230-239 and Hare 1967), most recognize Matthew’s overall intention is to include the Jews. The full expression “all the nations” is used four times in Matthew in settings which more naturally include all peoples, including Jews (Mt 24:9, 14; 25:32), including here. Most importantly, Matthew returns in the commission to the universal theme of the introductory verse to the gospel (Mt 1:1). There the blessings promised through Abraham and through him to all people of the earth (Gen 12:3) are said now be fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah. When the original covenant promise to Abraham (Gen 12:3) is reiterated in Genesis 18:18; 22:18, the Septuagint uses the same words found in Mt 28:19: “all the nations.” Matthew’s purpose has been to show how Jesus is the Messiah of all peoples. His theme of universal salvation through Jesus (e.g., Mt 1:1; 2:1-12; 4:15-16; 8:5-13; 10:18; 13:38; 24:14 et al.) thus climaxes this gospel in the command to “make disciples of all the nations” (Plummer 1982:430; Carson 1984:596). When we see Matthew’s commission to make disciples of “all the nations” in the light of Luke’s commission, that “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Lk 24:47), we understand that Jesus’ ministry in Israel was to be the beginning point of what would be later a universal offer of salvation to all the peoples of the earth (Wilkins 1992:188-189; Fitzmyer 1985:1583-1585). “Baptizing “and “teaching disciples to obey”
However, Jesus’ Great Commission implies more than securing salvation as Jesus’ disciple. Implied in the use of the imperative “make disciples” is both the call to and the process of becoming a disciple (Osborne 1984:91). Matthean contextual usage points to this conclusion, rather than theologizing based on the occurrence transitive verb; cf. the note in (Silva 1978:256). Even as one is “called” from among the nations to start life as a disciple, one must in turn “follow” the Lord through baptism and through obedience to Jesus’ teaching. As He addressed the disciples and commanded them to “make disciples of all the nations,” Jesus tells them to make more of what He has made of them. Jesus spent a great deal of time guiding and instructing the disciples in their growth. As He sends them out to make disciples, Jesus tells them to make more of what He has made of them. The process will not be exactly the same as what Jesus did with them, because the circumstances after Pentecost will change the process (cf. Wilkins 1992).[9] However, the process will be similar in many ways. Specifically, the process of growth is implied in the phrases, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Mt 29:19-20). As a person responds to the invitation to come out of the nations to start life as a disciple, she or he begins the life of discipleship through baptism and through obedience to Jesus’ teaching. The participle “baptizing” describes the activity by which the new disciple identifies with Jesus and the participle “teaching” introduces the activities by which the new disciple grows in discipleship (DeRidder 1975:190) For a recent discussion of the meaning of baptism as "adherence" see William B. Badke's article (1990:195-204). We should note that the process of growth does not include only instruction. Growth in discipleship is accomplished as the new disciple is obedient to what Jesus commanded. Obedience was the hallmark of Jesus’ disciples, as we see in an incident in Jesus’ earthly ministry. “Pointing to His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother” (Mt 12:49-50). H. N. Ridderbos says succinctly, “The apostles had to teach people to obey all that Jesus commanded them during His ministry on earth. Their listeners had to be brought under His commandments so that they could show by their lives that they really belong to Him. That is the final purpose of the preaching of the gospel” (Ridderbos 1987: 555-556).
Teaching them to obey all things: Matthew as a Manual on Discipleship
Matthew’s gospel was the favorite Gospel of the church for much of church history, because of the theme of this book: “teaching them to obey all things.” However, the theme needs to be expanded to include the full phrase in Matthew 28:20: “teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you” (NRSV). In other words, everything that Jesus taught the original disciples in turn they were now to pass on to new disciples. Moreover, Matthew’s gospel presents the most extensive and most intentionally organized collection of Jesus’ teaching. Therefore, Matthew’s gospel is intended, at least in part, as a resource tool to help Jesus’ disciples in their task of making and developing future disciples. I refer to it as “a manual on discipleship.” Matthew points to Jesus to be the supreme Lord and Teacher of the disciples. Although the disciples were still susceptible to incomprehension and misunderstanding in His earthly ministry, Matthew emphasizes that Jesus’ teaching brought them understanding and obedience. That same understanding and obedience will continue to be the hallmark of disciples in the ongoing age. Matthew’s gospel is readily usable for this purpose, because the growth-process of discipleship is comprised in large part of teaching new disciples to obey all that Jesus had commanded the original disciples. First, we see that all five major discourses are directed toward the development of the disciples. These discourses are intended as instruction in, and clarification of, what it meant to be Jesus’ unique kind of disciple, as opposed to, or distinct from, other kinds of disciples. Secondly, there is a progression of teaching in the discourses that addresses the fullness of the disciple’s life—i.e., discipleship. Matthew was the favorite gospel of the early church throughout much of church history because it was a natural catechetical tool designed to develop wholistic disciples. The basic thrust of each discourse points to that kind of intentional well-roundedness, as we can see briefly: 1) Kingdom life. The Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7) addresses all aspects of what life lived in the presence and power of the kingdom would be like in this age, including ethical, religious, marital, emotional, economic, etc. 2) Missionary disciples. The Missionary discourse (Mt 10) gives principles for all disciples, both in the original missionary outreach of the Twelve and the on-going missionary endeavor throughout the ages. It explains life as a mission-driven disciple in an alien and often hostile world until the coming of the Son of man. 3) Presence of the kingdom. The Parabolic discourse (Mt 13) explains that the kingdom would not manifest itself in the political, militaristic, dominant cultural kingdom that much of Israel expected to arrive with Messiah. Jesus explained for the disciples then, and now, that the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven will result in a very different kind of expectation; how the kingdom will grow, what is its value, and how we are to live in the kingdom while still in this world. 4) Community life. In the Community discourse (Mt 18) declared how the community life of the kingdom is expressed through the church, with an emphasis upon purity, accountability, forgiveness, and restoration. 5) Expectation of Jesus’ return. The Olivet discourse (Mt 24-25) explains how Jesus’ disciples are to live with an appropriate kind of expectation of Jesus’ return, the end of the age, and the establishment of Messiah’s throne. Matthew is indeed a wonderful gospel to help us fulfill the theme of the conference: “Teaching Them To Obey All Things.” How will this flesh out in our teaching, ministry, and mission contexts? Let me suggest the following in conclusion. ¨ Develop a clear articulation of Jesus’ form of discipleship, which includes conversion and transformation, evangelism and follow-up. We must be more precise in our use of biblical terminology. ¨ Jesus, through Matthew’s gospel, envisions the intentional development of disciples through using the discourses as a catechetical tool. ¨ Develop outcomes that achieve the objective of each discourse, and develop a regular schedule that rotates through these discourses as a teaching base. ¨ The objective of the Great Commission must be achieved in community, because it is not enough simply to impart data; disciples must be taught how to obey through modeling. They must be held accountable to obey through mutuality. ¨ We need to develop a strategy whereby everything Jesus taught His disciples becomes the guiding force in the transformation process of disciples into the image of Christ (For the development of a full “paradigm” of transformational discipleship see Wilkins 1997). Only then can we truly say that we are “teaching them to obey all things.” |
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