πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος·
Matthew 28:19
1. The Not-so-Great Commission
Cast a wide eye over the beliefs of modern Christianity and you will see few doctrines as foundational as the Great Commission. It is the quintessential Christian teaching. Acceptance of it is nearly universal among denominations and it has been the driving force behind English-speaking evangelism for over 250 years.
The primary proof text of this doctrine is the Gospel of Matthew 28:18-20. The risen Christ, after announcing His divinity, tells His disciples what they are to do next. The KJV is the translation which inspired the first wave of Great Commissioners:
Doesn’t this mean that every single Christian is supposed to devote his life to international missions? If not, why not? Where does Jesus say “only some of you go”?
Are we to convert entire countries? If so, when should the preaching in a nation end? Is it okay to stop evangelizing once the majority expresses a belief in Christ? Once the government does? Or must we keep going until everyone within that nation’s borders is a believer?
If we are to “teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”, wouldn't this include the The Great Commission? If so, then doesn't that mean that no Christian should stay in his own country and that he should be wandering around the world preaching—including into the nation of the person who converted him?
Since Jesus said “every creature”, why don’t we preach to the animals, too?
Okay, that last one was just silly (although I’m sure they’ll be some animal lover out there who doesn’t think so), but you get the point. Implementing the Great Commission literally, as I’ve worded it, would be impossible and stupid.
“So,” I hear you say, “There must be something wrong with the way you worded it.”
But there isn’t. It is as (un)sound and (in)coherent as anyone else’s. It’s got the four common elements found in everybody’s Great Commission:
1: Application to every Christian (not just the eleven disciples).
2: An order to “Go! Take the Gospel to every single nation on Earth!”
3: A command to make Christians in every nation on Earth.
4: A promise of divine assistance.
Nonetheless, despite covering the basics, just about everyone would have at least one problem with the way I worded my Great Commission. This is because they've all got their own one that emphasises their own pet elements. Ask ten people to tell you what the Great Commission is and you will get 10 similar, but not identical, answers. Yes, everyone agrees that there is one, but few are in agreement as to its definition, scope or implementation.
So, in order for everyone to pass on their version and get to work, a great deal of generalization has taken place with regards to the Great Commission's form. But, while the abbreviated versions have broader utility, they are, by definition, less scriptural. There is simply no way for them to remain biblically sound, once they've been bullet-pointed to conform to the theology of every denomination and passed on without question or comparison with the source material.
This is how everyone has got it so terribly wrong.
2. The Apostle’s Didn’t Carry It Out
Along with the skeptic’s questions above, another indictment against the Great Commission as it is conceived of today is that the Lord’s eleven disciples, the very ones to whom this commission was given directly by Christ Himself, did not carry it out. If it was indeed a command to go into all the world and make disciples, then you would’ve expected that each one of them, including Matthias, whom they chose to replace Judas Iscariot, would’ve fanned out across the globe, ending up dead in some far off country, thousands of miles from Jerusalem. Yet Chapter 8 of the Book of Acts tells us that, long after Pentecost, the Apostles remained in Jerusalem:
(Acts 21:17-18).
Further to this, we know that Peter was living in Joppa (present day Jaffa) in Judea when Cornelius was converted. This is believed to have occurred in 40AD, seven years after the Lord’s resurrection.
As to where the Eleven-plus-Matthias died, other than James, the son of Zebadee, whose death in Jerusalem was recorded in Acts 12:1-2 (11 years after Christ’s resurrection!), this is largely unknown. Some extra-biblical sources such as the writings of the early Church fathers, as well as later traditions, indicate that most of them died outside of Jerusalem; however, none of these sources say that any of them ended up much further than Rome. By way of comparison, that’s not much further than Dallas is from New York.
There is a late Eastern Orthodox tradition that has Thomas dying in India, but even if that were true, it still leaves the others living in the civilized world of the 1st Century (with easy access to well-used routes back to Jerusalem for the feast days). None of them made it to Caledonia or Cathay.
There are only two possible explanations for this apostolic inertia. Either the Apostles were completely disobedient—which is to say, the Bible is lying because they weren’t really Apostles—or the Great Commission is not what it is now believed and taught to be.
3. To the Jew First
The word “apostle” is a transliteration of the Greek word ἀπόστολος [apostalos]. It is generally said to mean “one that is sent” or a “delegate”, but these translations, while somewhat accurate, fail to capture the full breadth and depth of the word as it is used in Scripture. In fact the inadequacy of these English renderings might explain why the translators opted to use a transliteration for 78 of the 81 occurrences in the NT.
The common Greek verb for “to send” is πέμπω [pempo]. If the Apostles were called pempostolos, then “sent ones” and/or “delegates” would be entirely sufficient translations.
Apostolos is the substantive noun form of the verb ἀποστέλλω [apostello], which is a compound of the preposition ἀπό [apo] and the verb στέλλω [stello]. Apo implies separation away from the speaker; stello suggests “to set in order for” or “to arrange or prepare a thing for oneself”. If we combine these lexical meanings with the meaning we derive from the NT usage, we see that an apostle is one purposely chosen, appointed to a specific task by God, and then dispatched to do it.
Given that, and what we know of the Eleven remaining in Judea long after the Lord gave them the so-called Great Commission, why does the Bible call them Apostles? When did they receive their appointments to apostlehood?
Well, in Matthew 10:5 we read the following:
This is because they, as with the seventy afterwards, were being sent into “every city and place” ahead of Jesus (Luke 10:1) as sub-apostles to His mission; which was not to the Gentiles, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As He Himself says in Matthew 15:24:
Now, in case you hadn't realized it before, Jesus never preached to Gentiles. His was an exclusive mission to the lost believers in Yahweh; to fulfill the prophecies concerning the Messiah, Christ had to come to the Jews before bringing “light to the Gentiles” (Rom 1:16; 2:9-10, Acts 13:46, Isaiah 49:6).
This is also why He did preach to the Samaritans, because many of them were the very definition of those lost from the House of Israel and Jesus took great pains to overcome the Jewish prejudice against them. As descendents of Jews polluted by Assyrian blood, they had the Torah, albeit a redacted one, and many looked forward to the coming Messiah (John 4:25). There are two prime examples in Luke’s Gospel of Samaritans with true faith: there's the grateful leper of Luke 17:11-19, and the Good Samaritan of Luke 10:33-36.
As for apostles, as we see in Luke 9:50, Jesus did eventually send them to at least one Samaritan village. The word “send” here is, of course, apostelo.
All this squares with the Gospel of John account of the Great Commission, wherein Jesus tells the Eleven He is sending them out on the same mission He was sent on (John 20:21):
4. Then to The Greeks
The most conclusive proof that the Great Commission was not a command to go and make Gentile disciples in every Gentile nation is the incident with Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10. This was the first time that the Apostles realized that the time for the Word of God to go to the Gentiles was going to happen in their lifetimes through one of them.
10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost...11:1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God...18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Two points about this: First, if the Great Commission included Jews and Gentiles, then what is this whole episode but half of a second, redundant Great Commission given exclusively to Peter. Secondly, if the Gentiles were included, why are the Apostles and disciples so surprised that Gentiles were now being discipled?
As well, Peter, when he’s giving the Gospel to Cornelius’ house, mentions that, until then, Jews were forbidden by God to enter into Gentile homes (Acts 10:28). Later in his speech, we see that he considered this prohibition still in effect even after Jesus had “commanded [His disciples] to preach unto the people” (Acts 10:42). Clearly “the people” Peter is referring to are Jews.
One last thing regarding apostleship, even though Peter was the first to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, it was Paul who was the “Apostle to the Gentiles” (Galatians 2:7-9), and he was not a recipient of the Great Commission. And nowhere in any of Paul’s Epistles does he exhort anyone to go into all the world and make disciples. If he doesn’t see the need to pass on the Great Commission, why do we?
click here to continue
Cast a wide eye over the beliefs of modern Christianity and you will see few doctrines as foundational as the Great Commission. It is the quintessential Christian teaching. Acceptance of it is nearly universal among denominations and it has been the driving force behind English-speaking evangelism for over 250 years.
The primary proof text of this doctrine is the Gospel of Matthew 28:18-20. The risen Christ, after announcing His divinity, tells His disciples what they are to do next. The KJV is the translation which inspired the first wave of Great Commissioners:
28:18And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching 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.This reading is conflated with the reading of the sister verse of Mark 16:15:
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.The end result is today’s composite Great Commission. Here’s a typical formulation:
Every Christian! Go into each country in the world and preach the gospel in order to convert and baptize every creature in that nation in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Teach them to believe everything I’ve said. And, remember, I am with you in spirit forever.Reading this, a skeptical mind would be filled with questions. To wit:
Doesn’t this mean that every single Christian is supposed to devote his life to international missions? If not, why not? Where does Jesus say “only some of you go”?
Are we to convert entire countries? If so, when should the preaching in a nation end? Is it okay to stop evangelizing once the majority expresses a belief in Christ? Once the government does? Or must we keep going until everyone within that nation’s borders is a believer?
If we are to “teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”, wouldn't this include the The Great Commission? If so, then doesn't that mean that no Christian should stay in his own country and that he should be wandering around the world preaching—including into the nation of the person who converted him?
Since Jesus said “every creature”, why don’t we preach to the animals, too?
Okay, that last one was just silly (although I’m sure they’ll be some animal lover out there who doesn’t think so), but you get the point. Implementing the Great Commission literally, as I’ve worded it, would be impossible and stupid.
“So,” I hear you say, “There must be something wrong with the way you worded it.”
But there isn’t. It is as (un)sound and (in)coherent as anyone else’s. It’s got the four common elements found in everybody’s Great Commission:
1: Application to every Christian (not just the eleven disciples).
2: An order to “Go! Take the Gospel to every single nation on Earth!”
3: A command to make Christians in every nation on Earth.
4: A promise of divine assistance.
Nonetheless, despite covering the basics, just about everyone would have at least one problem with the way I worded my Great Commission. This is because they've all got their own one that emphasises their own pet elements. Ask ten people to tell you what the Great Commission is and you will get 10 similar, but not identical, answers. Yes, everyone agrees that there is one, but few are in agreement as to its definition, scope or implementation.
So, in order for everyone to pass on their version and get to work, a great deal of generalization has taken place with regards to the Great Commission's form. But, while the abbreviated versions have broader utility, they are, by definition, less scriptural. There is simply no way for them to remain biblically sound, once they've been bullet-pointed to conform to the theology of every denomination and passed on without question or comparison with the source material.
This is how everyone has got it so terribly wrong.
2. The Apostle’s Didn’t Carry It Out
Along with the skeptic’s questions above, another indictment against the Great Commission as it is conceived of today is that the Lord’s eleven disciples, the very ones to whom this commission was given directly by Christ Himself, did not carry it out. If it was indeed a command to go into all the world and make disciples, then you would’ve expected that each one of them, including Matthias, whom they chose to replace Judas Iscariot, would’ve fanned out across the globe, ending up dead in some far off country, thousands of miles from Jerusalem. Yet Chapter 8 of the Book of Acts tells us that, long after Pentecost, the Apostles remained in Jerusalem:
8:1And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.Except the Apostles! They were holed up in Jerusalem. In the next Chapter of Acts, we read:
9:26And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples...27Barnabas took him, and brought [him] to the apostles...28and he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.This is believed to be the same visit mentioned in Galatians 1:18-19
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.So, three years after Paul’s conversion, Peter and James were still in Judea. They were still there when Paul, with Barnabas and Titus, went to Jerusalem again to take part in the debate about circumcising the Gentiles (Acts 15:1-2). In Galatians 2:1, Paul tells us this was “fourteen years later”. Paul’s final visit to Jerusalem occurred around 57AD, where he again met James
(Acts 21:17-18).
Further to this, we know that Peter was living in Joppa (present day Jaffa) in Judea when Cornelius was converted. This is believed to have occurred in 40AD, seven years after the Lord’s resurrection.
As to where the Eleven-plus-Matthias died, other than James, the son of Zebadee, whose death in Jerusalem was recorded in Acts 12:1-2 (11 years after Christ’s resurrection!), this is largely unknown. Some extra-biblical sources such as the writings of the early Church fathers, as well as later traditions, indicate that most of them died outside of Jerusalem; however, none of these sources say that any of them ended up much further than Rome. By way of comparison, that’s not much further than Dallas is from New York.
There is a late Eastern Orthodox tradition that has Thomas dying in India, but even if that were true, it still leaves the others living in the civilized world of the 1st Century (with easy access to well-used routes back to Jerusalem for the feast days). None of them made it to Caledonia or Cathay.
There are only two possible explanations for this apostolic inertia. Either the Apostles were completely disobedient—which is to say, the Bible is lying because they weren’t really Apostles—or the Great Commission is not what it is now believed and taught to be.
3. To the Jew First
The word “apostle” is a transliteration of the Greek word ἀπόστολος [apostalos]. It is generally said to mean “one that is sent” or a “delegate”, but these translations, while somewhat accurate, fail to capture the full breadth and depth of the word as it is used in Scripture. In fact the inadequacy of these English renderings might explain why the translators opted to use a transliteration for 78 of the 81 occurrences in the NT.
The common Greek verb for “to send” is πέμπω [pempo]. If the Apostles were called pempostolos, then “sent ones” and/or “delegates” would be entirely sufficient translations.
Apostolos is the substantive noun form of the verb ἀποστέλλω [apostello], which is a compound of the preposition ἀπό [apo] and the verb στέλλω [stello]. Apo implies separation away from the speaker; stello suggests “to set in order for” or “to arrange or prepare a thing for oneself”. If we combine these lexical meanings with the meaning we derive from the NT usage, we see that an apostle is one purposely chosen, appointed to a specific task by God, and then dispatched to do it.
Given that, and what we know of the Eleven remaining in Judea long after the Lord gave them the so-called Great Commission, why does the Bible call them Apostles? When did they receive their appointments to apostlehood?
Well, in Matthew 10:5 we read the following:
These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying , Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into [any] city of the Samaritans enter ye not.The Greek verb translated “sent forth” here is apostello. It is in this verse the 12 are appointed as apostles, but, notice, to the Jews only. No Gentiles; no Samaritans.
This is because they, as with the seventy afterwards, were being sent into “every city and place” ahead of Jesus (Luke 10:1) as sub-apostles to His mission; which was not to the Gentiles, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As He Himself says in Matthew 15:24:
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.Again, it is in the Greek text where it is confirmed that this is Christ’s Apostleship from God:
ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν Οὐκ ἀπεστάλην εἰ μὴ εἰς τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ.That word in red is, of course, a form of the verb apostelo. Jesus is the premier Apostle.
Now, in case you hadn't realized it before, Jesus never preached to Gentiles. His was an exclusive mission to the lost believers in Yahweh; to fulfill the prophecies concerning the Messiah, Christ had to come to the Jews before bringing “light to the Gentiles” (Rom 1:16; 2:9-10, Acts 13:46, Isaiah 49:6).
This is also why He did preach to the Samaritans, because many of them were the very definition of those lost from the House of Israel and Jesus took great pains to overcome the Jewish prejudice against them. As descendents of Jews polluted by Assyrian blood, they had the Torah, albeit a redacted one, and many looked forward to the coming Messiah (John 4:25). There are two prime examples in Luke’s Gospel of Samaritans with true faith: there's the grateful leper of Luke 17:11-19, and the Good Samaritan of Luke 10:33-36.
As for apostles, as we see in Luke 9:50, Jesus did eventually send them to at least one Samaritan village. The word “send” here is, of course, apostelo.
All this squares with the Gospel of John account of the Great Commission, wherein Jesus tells the Eleven He is sending them out on the same mission He was sent on (John 20:21):
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as [my] Father hath sent me, even so send I you.Looking at the Greek text clarifies the phrase “even so”. It is a translation of the adverb kago, which literally means “and I”. In this verse, it carries the meaning of “I too”, or “in the same manner”, referring to the way and type of manner He was “apostled” by the Father.
εἶπεν οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς πάλιν Εἰρήνη ὑμῖν· καθὼς ἀπέσταλκέν με ὁ πατήρ κἀγὼ πέμπω ὑμᾶς.Note those words in red. They are the two verbs translated “sent” and “send” respectively. Jesus was sent (apostello), but he was sending (pempo) the disciples. This is because they are not being given a new apostleship here; it is just a continuation of their first appointment to the Jews that we read about in Matthew 10.
4. Then to The Greeks
The most conclusive proof that the Great Commission was not a command to go and make Gentile disciples in every Gentile nation is the incident with Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10. This was the first time that the Apostles realized that the time for the Word of God to go to the Gentiles was going to happen in their lifetimes through one of them.
10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost...11:1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God...18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
Two points about this: First, if the Great Commission included Jews and Gentiles, then what is this whole episode but half of a second, redundant Great Commission given exclusively to Peter. Secondly, if the Gentiles were included, why are the Apostles and disciples so surprised that Gentiles were now being discipled?
As well, Peter, when he’s giving the Gospel to Cornelius’ house, mentions that, until then, Jews were forbidden by God to enter into Gentile homes (Acts 10:28). Later in his speech, we see that he considered this prohibition still in effect even after Jesus had “commanded [His disciples] to preach unto the people” (Acts 10:42). Clearly “the people” Peter is referring to are Jews.
One last thing regarding apostleship, even though Peter was the first to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, it was Paul who was the “Apostle to the Gentiles” (Galatians 2:7-9), and he was not a recipient of the Great Commission. And nowhere in any of Paul’s Epistles does he exhort anyone to go into all the world and make disciples. If he doesn’t see the need to pass on the Great Commission, why do we?
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Paul doesn't mention the great commission to all the world. Wonder why not? Couldn't it possibly be for the same reason Jesus doesn't address spousal abuse, rape, homosexuality? By the the time Paul is spreading the GC, this is a not even an issue worth mentioning--because it is common sense! Not only that, but there are lots of places in Paul's writings that the GC is implied. You're missing the beauty of the forest for the examination of a singular tree.
ReplyDeleteNo-name-one: You're kidding, right? You saw that entire forest of words and only focused on that one tree? Irony much.
DeleteIn 1st Corinthians 1:17, Paul says, "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel". Wasn't baptizing one of the things a "Great Commissioner" was meant to do? If the GC applies to every believer, including baptizing the disciples one makes, does this mean that Paul is not a believer?
We are a Body of many members, with different giftings, we are not all Apostles--dispatched ones or, yes, commissioners. Neither are we all teachers. By God's Will, we are not all capable of going out and making disciples; and we shouldn't presume to be.
Find a good a teacher, brother, one who will teach the Doctrines of Christ and not the traditions of men.
τεκνίον, φύλαξον σεαυτόν ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων ἀμήν