The Great Commission

in light of apostolic ministry.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

(Mat 28:18-20)

The term Great Commission has too often been hijacked by Christian ministries that do not understand or fully appreciate what it mandates. Popular misconceptions about the Lord’s command in Matthew 28:18-20 run along these lines:

 “We are not a discipling church as much as we are a ‘Great Commission’ church that is called to lead people to accept the forgiveness that is in Christ.”

I am not here to throw stones at ministries that emphasize evangelism—I am only saying that they are not fulfilling the Great Commission. It may be a jolt to some readers, but I contend that even the Apostle Paul was not fulfilling the Great Commission when he wrote

I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius; …….For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel….

(1Co 1:14-17)

This does not mean that Paul was unbiblical—he was indeed anointed and sent by God to evangelize, which is a necessary prerequisite if the Great Commission is to ever be fulfilled. But Paul’s evangelistic preaching is not what was being described by Christ in Matthew 28:19-20 when he commanded to baptize and disciple. Paul was not baptizing, nor was he extensively training many of his new converts. He was making converts that other ministers, like Apollos, would fulfill the Great Commission with.

The Context of the Matthew 28:18-20

The four gospels report different post resurrection appearances of Christ to his disciples. Of these reports, all except that of Matthew were private and witnessed by only a few. Furthermore, all the gospels except for Matthew record post-resurrection appearances of Christ in and around the precincts of Jerusalem. In contrast, the events in Matthew 28 occurred in Galilee before a much larger group. The group of disciples that saw Jesus on the mountain in Matthew is believed by more than a few scholars to have been the group of more than 500 disciples that saw him at the same time, spoken of by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:16. 

It is easy to see why this meeting would have been well attended, because Jesus had announced a meeting in Galilee even before his passion (Mat. 26:32). The angel at the tomb told the two Mary's that Christ would meet with them in Galilee (Mat. 28:7), and the resurrected Christ himself told these ladies to spread the word throughout the believing community that they were to go to Galilee to meet with Christ (Mat. 28:10). 

Clearly, the appearance of Christ in Matthew 28 is anything but random. It was arranged ahead of time by Christ, and advertised throughout the covenant community. Furthermore, the location of the meeting was anything but random.

Matthew recorded that they went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them (Mat. 28:16 AV). The text literally reads into THE mountain where Jesus had ORDAINED them. Matthew was not speaking about a random mountain that the Lord thought would be a good meeting place. Rather, the location in which the Great Commission is given is the very mountain upon which the Lord ordained his 12 apostles.

The Mountain and the Message

The book of Matthew takes considerable liberties with chronological order. For example, chapter 10 tells of the choosing of the 12 apostles, but their ordination sermon is given in chapters 5-7 in what we commonly call The Sermon on the Mount. Comparing and synthesizing the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke allows us to see the order of events on the day the 12 apostles were ordained. 

1. Jesus went up into a mountain to pray all night.
2. In the morning, he called selected disciples up into the mountain with him, where he selected the 12.
3. They partly descended the mountain into a flatter area where the Lord spent a good amount of time exercising healing and deliverance ministry among the greater crowd.
4. Jesus preached The Sermon on the Mount to the 12 as their ordination sermon, with the greater crowd of disciples standing behind as witnesses.

The Sermon on the Mount is the most extensive message given in the New Testament on the principles of the Kingdom of God. In it, Jesus describes who is blessed in the kingdom, what is valuable treasure in the kingdom, and how to walk in the kingdom. If the summary of the Lord's preaching ministry was Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mat. 4:17), then the The Sermon on the Mount is the best illustration of what kind of repentance the Lord was calling for.

Furthermore, a close look at the sermon shows how intimately it is related to leadership. Jesus spoke blessings and curses over those who would teach these truths or ignore them. Jesus warned about trying to exercise authority over someone else and their presumed defects when we have the beam in our own eyes--this is usually uncritically explained as the Lord forbidding judgment. In reality, the Lord was setting a high standard for those in apostolic leadership who would be charged with keeping the gates of the kingdom. The Lord concluded the sermon with warnings of judgment against those that would preach and minister without a strong commitment to the Straight and Narrow Way that he had been describing.

We see that The Sermon on the Mount is thus the ministry mandate to those Jesus had ordained to leadership in his kingdom. Jesus was giving his apostolic leadership the kingdom message they would carry.

Return to the Mountain

Matthew 28:18-20 was not a random, chance meeting with the resurrected Lord. It was a scheduled meeting on the very mountain that the Lord had ordained his apostolic leaders some months prior. Once again, he would speak words of impartation and authority over his ordained leaders in the presence of a greater company of witnesses--thus ensuring the weight and gravity of their calling would forever remain with them. Understanding this setting is key to understanding what the Great Commission really is!

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you... This is obviously a reference back to The Sermon on the Mount. The Lord was reminding those entrusted with the kingdom keys, of the day when he laid on them the obligations of kingdom leadership. They were not to define their own ministries, but instead to propagate the kingdom truths that Jesus taught on that same mountain.

Go ye therefore, and teach [Gr. matheteuo = disciple] all nations,... The Great Commission is the authorizing statement for the Church going into the world and bringing them under the discipline--discipleship--of the things the Lord taught in The Sermon on the Mount.  We do not keep the Great Commission by telling people God loves them and leading them in the sinner's prayer. The Great Commission can only be fulfilled after a person is converted. We keep the Great Commission when we utilize spiritual influence granted by the authority of the resurrected Christ to train people in the ways of the kingdom.

Parting Thoughts

Matthew 28:18-20 remains to this day the authorizing statement for apostolic ministry, who are delegated to spread the kingdom message that Christ initiated. The Great Commission is intimately related to apostolic ministry, because it makes direct reference to the ordination sermon that Christ first commissioned his chosen apostles with. The Great Commission assumes a leadership culture in which faithful Christian leaders are diligent to impart the timeless truths of Jesus, thus raising up new generations of kingdom leaders. 

I want to leave the following suggestions in light of what has been discussed.

1. Every person who aspires to apostolic ministry must be a student of The Sermon on the Mount. This is our ordination sermon that describes the message we are to carry.
2. The Great Commission carries the heaviest spiritual authority granted to mankind. It is based on the exalted authority of Christ himself. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore... We are sent to bring all thoughts into captivity to Christ (2 Cor 10:5). Be assured the spiritual authority Christ intended for the Great Commission will not be present in power if we do not even understand what Christ was asking for.