This article is an exegesis on the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18–20 by using a grammatical historical approach. A grammatical historical approach on Matthew 28:18–20 demonstrates that Jesus’ authority in heaven and on earth is a global authority. Furthermore, the commissioning of Jesus’ disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, baptise them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit and teach them to observe all things that Jesus has commanded them, is a call to global mission. When Jesus promised the disciples that he would be always with them, he assured them of a global victory. This will be achieved by looking at the history of interpretation of Matthew 28:18–20. The exegesis of this passage is explored in detail. The conclusion is that the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18–20 is a call to global mission.
The Great Commission
The article will demonstrate through a grammatical historical approach that Jesus’ authority in heaven and on earth is a global authority. Furthermore, the commissioning of Jesus’ disciples to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teach them to observe all things that Jesus has commanded them, is a call to global mission. Lastly, when Jesus promised the disciples that he will always be with them, he assured them of a global victory. This will be achieved by looking at the history of interpretation and the exegesis of 28:16–20. The conclusion here is that the Great Commission in this passage is a call to global missions.
This article discusses the major themes. Jesus says that all authority in heaven and on earth is given to him. The word
The Great Commission in 28:18–20 is about the commandment that Jesus gave to his disciples to make disciples of all nations and teach them all things that Jesus has commanded. According to Chung (
It has been recognised by Finkbeiner (
Matthew 28:18–20 is a charge given by Jesus to his disciples in order that they may continually reproduce themselves for as long as Christ desires. Matthew uses five lines to present this scenario. He first covers the characters and setting, then he moves on to the circumstances. He gives them motivation for their action, commands them what to do and how to do it, and finally, closes with a promise that only God can make (Phelps
This passage is an adequate model for a church missions programme in setting a vision, establishing purpose and making decisions. It asserts that the model of making disciples can integrate the inseparable entities of evangelism and social justice in the mission of the church, while at the same time, respecting the distinction between them. While social justice is never misplaced in Christian mission, it can never replace the proclamation of the gospel (Stromsmoe
Matthew 28:18–20 must be viewed as the gospel’s climax, but over and above this, it needs to be appreciated that it looks more towards the future than back to the past. It is in other words, a bridging passage that concludes Matthew’s story of the ‘historical Jesus’ and points the reader to a new era of universal mission for the church which conducts its endeavours under the protection of the risen Christ (Sim
Witherington (
Nonetheless, the Great Commission is important in understanding the whole Gospel of Matthew. The Great Commission is Matthew’s ‘table of contents’ located at the end. The beginning and the end are more significant than the other Gospels (Lee & Viljoen
The history of interpretation of this passage demonstrates that many scholars (Donaldson
18 καὶ προσελθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· Ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς·[18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth’.]
In this passage, the one who spoke the commission is the one who had been given ‘all authority’ (v. 18) to do so. The authority of Christ is not a new theme in this gospel (see e.g. Mt 7:29; 10:1, 7–8; 11:27; 22:43–44; 24:35). His power to defeat the devil (Mt 4:1–11), to teach like no other (7:28–29), to calm nature (8:23–27), to forgive sin (9:1–8) and to heal the sick (9:27–31) had already been established (Lawless
Despite (or perhaps because of) the hesitation of the eleven, Jesus approaches them. Before the commission in verse 19, he assures them of his sovereignty over heaven and earth. Elsewhere in Matthew Jesus claims the authority to forgive sins (9:6) and that all things have been given to him by the Father (11:27). Therefore, the claim here only heightens the reader’s understanding of Jesus’ authority. Jesus gives a new dimension to the implications of his authority (Freeman
Christ addresses his disciples – some of whom are hesitant to worship him – and clearly expresses his exalted position of authority. Matthew 28:18b expresses Jesus’ consciousness of full authority with a view to wielding that authority in the command that follows (Chung
The indicative statement that introduces the Great Commission (‘all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’) alerts us to the reality that Jesus is not only a teacher – he is the Lord. This reinforces the conclusion that the pattern of disciple making is not to be a human relationship, but one that faithfully points to Christ. In other words, we do not make disciples that follow us, but rather, with God’s grace and help, we make disciples that follow Jesus (Stromsmoe
The immediate literary context of the command to make disciples is the risen Jesus’ claim of authority over heaven and earth. The command to make disciples is closely related to the claim of authority through the use of the conjunction οὖν
In verse 18, Jesus is a man with authority. He received this authority from God the Father and in this passage Jesus is transferring the power to his disciples so that they can fulfil the Great Commission. This authority, according to Jesus, precedes the Great Commission, because the process of making disciples of all nations is a divine assignment that the disciples cannot fulfil by their own power. What is more important for this article is that this authority is given in heaven and on earth. It is a universal authority. Jesus is assuring his disciples that there is no other power in heaven or on earth than the power that the Father has given him.
19 πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, [19a Go therefore (οὖν) and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,]
The phrase
Some understand the term ἔθνη as referring only to Gentiles – an interpretation likely built on a belief that God had ultimately rejected the Jews who had first rejected him (Lawless
Most scholars, according to Sim (
Viljoen (
Franklin and Niemandt (
What is important and even shocking for Matthew’s Jewish audience is that the new followers of Jesus are to come from the Gentiles and that they, the descendants of the patriarchs, have lost their special status (Mt 8:11–12). Jesus had given command to his disciples to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and to avoid the Gentiles (Mt 10:56). In sharp distinction to this prohibition is verse 19 where the Jews, as a distinct people, are not even mentioned. Disciples are to be made of the Gentiles. No longer is the mission only to the Jews, or first to the Jews and then to the Greeks (Rm 1:16; Gl 3:28), but simply to the Gentiles. It is noteworthy that ethnic is a neuter plural, and would thus be expected as the proper form in opposition to it (Scaer
Therefore, it is better to take the commission here as expanding the ‘mission’ of Matthew 10:5 to include all ethnic groups. What Matthew intends with this reading, is that the disciples understand that their mission is to ethnic groups and they must preserve the ethnic identity of each group. Group conversions can, and perhaps should be the norm. Thus, Jesus commands the making of disciples of individuals from all ethnic groups, including Judaism (Freeman
Jesus commissioned the disciples to a worldwide mission of teaching which was parallel and in contrast to Rome’s desire for worldwide societal control (Cronshaw
The Great Commission is a commission to all nations as described by the Greek phrase πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. The commission now includes the Gentiles as opposed to the previous whereby the disciples were commanded to only go to the lost sheep of the children of Israel. It is a commission to all people regardless of race, religion, colour and class. The gospel now must be preached to the whole lost world. The gospel has expanded to other ethnic groups – not only to the Jews. The Great Commission includes all the geographic and cultural contexts of the world.
20a διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν·[20a teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you].
The command is to ‘teach all things’, and the author records Jesus giving a command for active evangelism somewhere in those discourses. Then the command would apply to believers at all times and in all places because of Christ’s command in Matthew 28 (Phelps
‘Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you’ provides the content of what is to be passed on to others in the process of discipleship. If the disciples are to teach them to obey ‘everything’ Jesus has commanded, then the mission of the disciples is to be holistic (Hertig
The ‘teaching’ of verse 20 refers to the communication of the total revelation which God has given in Jesus and not only the call to faith. The call to repentance (i.e. contrition and faith) is the call to be baptised. The teaching (διδάσκοντες) goes beyond that call. This teaching does not refer to that necessary preaching which must precede baptism, and in a sense, is comprehended by baptism, but rather to the continued exposition of the gospel in the church among those who have become disciples through baptism. Those who are made disciples remain disciples by listening to the apostolic teaching which is nothing else than preaching the complete counsel of God (Scaer
The disciples are commissioned to teach the new disciples to keep what Jesus commanded. It is Jesus’ own teaching and not the Torah that is the substance of what is to be taught. Throughout Matthew, the emphasis has been on Jesus as the teacher. Now the disciples are for the first time commissioned to also teach. However, it is not just that they are to teach. They are to teach the converts ‘to keep’ (τηρεῖν) that which Jesus taught. This verb adds a distinctively ethical dimension to the teaching. Christianity is Torah-based, but it is, nevertheless, inherently moral. Any proclamation of the gospel, which does not have this Christocentric ethic, is not the gospel as Matthew presents it (Freeman
The disciples are commanded to baptise those who believe and after the baptism to orientate the believers in the way that they should live here on earth as the children of God. This commandment is based on the whole gospel of Jesus without selecting some facts. It means the gospel of Jesus, as presented in the Great Commission, is a holistic gospel. It has an ability to cover various areas of life as Jesus taught his disciples. The Great Commission is a command to teach the believers the whole truth without compromise; it is teaching without fear and favour.
20 καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθʼ ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος. [20b and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen].
The promise of Jesus at the end of Matthew, ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the ages’ (v. 20), was much more than a perfunctory closing to a call statement. It was an announcement of victory even in the midst of persecution. In all of these dangerous situations, the disciples would need to trust the bookend truths of Matthew’s Gospel: the virgin-born redeemer, named ‘God with us’ (1:27) would be with them to the end (28:20; Lawless
This last promise in Matthew extends beyond the life span of the disciples to every believer that commits to the task of raising up a group of Christ-followers among every ethno-linguistic group of people on earth ‘to the end of the age’ (v. 20b). This phrase is also found in Matthew 13:39–40, 49; 24:3 which refers to the end of the present age when the Son of Man returns to establish his kingdom. Thus, the promise not only applied to these first century disciples, but to every disciple since then and until the end of the church age (Fanning
The Great Commission, with the task of proclaiming the gospel and making, baptising and teaching the disciples along with serving the needy, cannot be separated from the power and the presence of the risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Christ has promised to be with those who will fulfil his commission in all the days to the end of the world (Jambrek
The commission ends with the promise of Jesus’ presence which is similar to those Old Testament passages in which God promised his presence to those he commissioned. Now they are promised that he will be with them all the days until the consummation of the ages. In Matthew 1:23 the name
The Great Commission ends with the promise that Jesus will be with his disciples until the end of the ages. Jesus is assuring his disciples that the fact that he is ascending to heaven to be at the right hand of his Father does not mean he is leaving them. It is not only the promise to the disciples, but also to the believers that will be born in the time to come. The Great Commission is timeless and infinite, because it is to be valid until the end of the ages. It is a commission beyond human history.
Before mission is globalised there is a need to localise it. Mission cannot be globally powerful if it is not locally relevant. Therefore, globalisation of mission involves four distinct qualities: Firstly, the creation of new and multiplication of existing social networks and activities that increasingly overcome traditional political, economic, cultural and geographical boundaries. Secondly, globalisation involves the expansion and stretching of social relations, activities and interdependence. Thirdly, globalisation involves the intensification and acceleration of social exchanges and activities. Lastly, globalisation involves the subjective plane of human consciousness (Johnson
It was through the modern missionary movement that Christianity became a worldwide phenomenon, and in that process, Christianity came to acquire the image of a western religion. The subsequent globalisation of the image of western Christianity poses a problem for non-western Christianity. Although we talk about a post-Christian West and a post-western Christianity, the prevailing forms of Christianity in most parts of the non-western world are still dominated by western influences (Johnson & Ross
The Great Commission in 28:18–20 is a global mission, because in it, Jesus speaks about the authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus is not only the teacher of the word, but he is Lord. Jesus has universal authority that he received from his father which he then transfers to his disciples. This authority also speaks volume to the defeat of the devil and his demonic forces. Jesus has authority over sicknesses, sin and other ailments. After his resurrection, Jesus has authority over death. It means that no power can hinder the propagation of the gospel. Jesus is assuring his disciples that no demon in hell can stop them from preaching the gospel.
The Great Commission in this passage is a global mission, because Jesus’ disciples are called to make disciples of all nations. Mission is not restricted to a particular nation, but is inclusive of all nations, including the Jews and the Gentiles. The gospel is supposed to spread to all people of all ages, race, religion, colour, class, et cetera. The gospel should reach all ethnic groups of people in the world in their different languages, culture and beliefs. The gospel should spread to each geographic context of the globe. It is a worldwide mission.
The Great Commission in this passage calls the disciples to baptise the believer and teach them all that Jesus has commanded them to teach. It is a holistic mission. Christians in a global mission should not pick and choose what to preach, but should preach without compromise. The message of the gospel does not change because of different contexts. There is nothing like an African gospel. However, there is a gospel in an African context. The Great Commission extends the time beyond human history. It also means that the gospel transcends the present age. An eschatological reality goes beyond human history. Moreover, Jesus assures his disciples about his eternal presence and eternal victory.
In summary, the Great Commission fulfils the four distinct qualities of globalisation outlined by Johnson (
The exegesis on the Great Commission in 28:16–20 has helped us to arrive at the following conclusions. Jesus’ authority in heaven and on earth is a global authority. The commissioning of Jesus’ disciples to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptise them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all things that Jesus has commanded them, is a call to global mission. Lastly, when Jesus promised the disciples that he will always be with them, he assured them of a global victory. The main conclusion here is that the Great Commission in this passage is a call to global missions.
The author declare that he has no financial or personal relationships which may have inappropriately influenced him in writing this article.
In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread his teachings to all the nations of the world. The most famous version of the Great Commission is in Matthew 28:18–20, where on a mountain in Galilee Jesus calls on his followers to baptise all nations in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
All further references to Matthew 28:18-20 will be indicated only by chapter or verses or refer to as ‘this passage’.
Although this might be true, it must be noted that some scholars argue that the long ending of Mark’s Gospel rivals Matthew’s Gospel. Even if the long ending does not belong in Mark’s Gospel, some contend for it.
οὖν is apparently a primary word; (adverbially) certainly or (conjunctionally) accordingly and (so, truly), but, now (then), so (likewise then), then, therefore, verily, wherefore. It is a conjunction indicating that something necessarily follows from another. It is used in drawing a conclusion and in logically connecting sentences together (see Mounce & Mounce