Matthew 28:19-20 meaning

There are no clear parallel Gospel accounts of Matthew 28:19-20.

However, it is possible that Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:44-49, Acts 1:4-5 and /or 1 Corinthians 15:6 are parallel accounts of Matthew 28:19-20.

Matthew 28:18-20 is known as “The Great Commission.” This scripture is not only Jesus’s final instructions recorded in Matthew’s gospel, but it also represents the final words of Matthew’s gospel account.

It is fitting that Matthew’s gospel does not end with an event, like the ascension of Christ as in Mark (Mark 16:19-20) or the disciples worshipping in the temple, as in Luke (Luke 24:50-53). Neither does it end with an observation about the proliferation of Jesus’s many deeds, as in John (John 21:25).

Rather, the Gospel of Matthew ends with the Messiah’s own words spoken directly to His followers concerning what they were to do next. Jesus’s words leap off the page and speak directly to every believer who reads or hears Matthew’s Gospel. This is a fitting end because Matthew wrote his gospel to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah as prophesied in the scriptures.

Matthew has given extensive proof that Jesus is, in fact, the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. However, this Messiah did not do what His Jewish audience expected—which was to vanquish Rome. It is therefore appropriate that Matthew end with the Messiah’s command as to what was to be done with the authority He had been given.

The surprising answer is that Jesus will:

• Leave the earth (Acts 1:9)
• Send the Holy Spirit to empower His followers to do even greater things than He did (Acts 1:8, John 14:12), and
• Command His followers to be witnesses, and make disciples of all nations, beginning in Israel, by teaching them to follow His commands (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8).

The Great Commission is an enduring call-to-action for Christ’s disciples to fulfill even to the end of the age (v 20b).

The Great Commission consists of only two sentences.

The first sentence of the Great Commission was Jesus’s declaration that: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

This declaration is monumental and the previous Bible Says commentary addressed some of its meaning. Jesus’s declaration also laid the groundwork for the second part of the Great Commission—Matthew 28:19-20, which is the scripture that this commentary addresses.

While the first sentence of the Great Commission was a simple yet profound declaration, the second sentence issues and describes a simple yet profound command:

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (vv 19-20).

The simple action Jesus’s followers are commanded to take within the second sentence is: make disciples of all nations.

Jesus included three guidelines which help explain how the disciples were to accomplish the Great Commission’s command to make disciples. These three guidelines are:

1. Go therefore;
2. and baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit;
3. and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

The second sentence of the Great Commission concludes with the encouraging promise: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

As was mentioned in the previous commentary, when the disciples heard Jesus declare that
“all authority in heaven and earth [had] been given to [Him]” (Matthew 28:18), they likely assumed that He would next tell them that He would now exercise His authority to take charge on earth.

Even though Jesus gave them the Great Commission, they appear to have continued to assume that Jesus was about to go “full-Messiah” on the world and annihilate His enemies, establish His everlasting kingdom, and redeem Israel to peace, prosperity, and the unending glory foretold by the prophets. This is inferred by the fact that just prior to Jesus ascending, the disciples asked Him “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6b). At that time Jesus once again reiterated that after gaining the power of the Holy Spirit their job was to be His witnesses unto the entire earth (Acts 1:8).

In the disciples’ defense, Jesus taught them to pray that God’s will would be “done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). If ever there was an opportunity for this prayer to be answered, it might have been when the recently resurrected Messiah stood before them declaring that He had been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).

But the disciples’ assumptions were incorrect. Jesus was not about to overthrow Rome, destroy His slanderous and murderous enemies, or inaugurate His political kingdom on earth at that time. Although He will do these things and more upon His return, this was not the time. When the disciples asked when the time would come, Jesus told them that was the business of the Father (Acts 1:7).

In the meantime, Jesus had much bigger plans in mind.

Rather than inaugurating His kingdom in Israel then and there, Jesus was going to have His kingdom proclaimed and established in the hearts of people across the entire earth. He told Pilate His kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). His was a spiritual kingdom. Now Jesus is instructing His followers to spread His spiritual kingdom to the entire earth. This will be a prelude to Jesus returning and establishing a physical kingdom.

This spiritual kingdom would be a kingdom without borders and barriers. But until the Messiah returned at the end of the age (Matthew 13:24-30 and 37-43 and 25:13), it would be a spiritual kingdom of faith. It would be a kingdom of disciples in all nations who are living and teaching others to observe all that Jesus commanded. 

So, rather than fulfilling the disciples’ immediate hopes, Jesus commissioned them with accomplishing this great task. It will be through accomplishing this great task that the disciples will partake in something far greater than the restoration of a kingdom for Israel. They will be part of redeeming the entire world.

The Bible Says’ commentary for Matthew 28:19-20 will consider the Great Commission one phrase at a time and how these words relate to each other before looking at its other and more external aspects.

“GO…”

The first word of the Great Commission’s second sentence is—Go. In most English translations of verse 19, including the NASB-95, it appears as though Jesus is issuing two distinct commands to execute:

1. Go;
2. And make disciples.

But according to the language of the original Greek text there is only one action commanded: make disciples.

In the original Greek text of this verse, the word—Go—is a passive participle that functions as an adverbial clause to the imperative command of make disciples. This usage means Go modifies or describes how Jesus’s disciples were supposed to make disciples. An expression that more accurately conveys the Greek text’s meaning of Matthew 28:19 might be: “As you go make disciples of all nations…,” or “While you are going make disciples of all nation….”

In other words, the command was not for Jesus’s followers to go to all the nations, but rather it is for them to make disciples of all nations as they go, doing whatever they do. Thus, in application each believer should be making disciples at all times and in all places in two ways:

1. By providing an example of following Jesus’s commands. The best to way teach is to demonstrate. Thus, following Jesus’s commands at all times and in all places is the minimum application of the Great Commission.
2. It is inferred that this intentional following of Jesus’s commands should be attended with instruction as appropriate (1 Peter 3:15).

This adverbial clause—"As you are going”—also implies that Jesus’s disciples will be going and journeying to places rather than staying put. In addition to following His commands at all times and in all places, Jesus expects them to make deliberate attempts to spread His teachings to the entire earth. And that they were to make disciples all along their journeys.

According to Christian tradition, they personally took the Gospel and made disciples throughout the many nations within the Roman Empire. This included to the west and north of Jerusalem, to the nations of the south into the heart of Africa, and eastward to the nations in Persia and even India.

In effect, Go is the first of the three guidelines that His disciples were to follow to execute and carry out Jesus’s core instruction. They were to make disciples wherever they went or happened to go. They were not supposed to make disciples only sometimes (but not at other times) or in some places (but not other places).

They were to make disciples at all times in every place they went.

The end of Mark includes Jesus saying something similar to His disciples:

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
(Mark 16:15)

This very well may be Mark’s version of the Great Commission or it may be a separate but similar teaching. In either case: the word “Go” in Mark 16:15 is used the same way that—Go —is used in Matthew 28:19 as a passive participle/adverbial clause. The imperative command of Mark 16:15 is “preach the gospel to all creation,” which is similar to but not quite the same thing as make disciples of all nations, as recorded by Matthew.

“…THEREFORE…”

The second word of the Great Commission’s final sentence is: therefore.

The word therefore is a conjunctive adverb that connects two independent clauses and indicates a cause-and-effect relationship between them. It shows how the second clause is a result or conclusion of the first clause. Making disciples is connected to Jesus’s authority.

In the context of the Great Commission, the first clause is Jesus’s preceding declaration: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me” (Matthew 28:18). The second clause is Jesus’s imperative command to make disciples of all nations. The word therefore clearly connects Jesus’s declaration about His authority with His command to make disciples.

Because Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18), His followers are to make disciples of all nations (v 19). One of the first ways Jesus chose to exercise and use His absolute authority after it was given to Him was to deputize and commission His followers to make disciples of all nations.

The word therefore links Jesus’s declaration of authority with His command to make disciples of all nations and demonstrates the legitimacy of His disciples’ mission.

And as Jesus’s followers carry out His command, they are obeying the resurrected One who has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). Jesus’s authority supersedes the authority of the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin Council, the chief priest, Pilate, Caesar, and every other earthly authority. Moreover, Jesus’s authority supersedes the authority and power of any demonic forces, including Satan.

This is seen early in the Book of Acts, when the Jewish authorities arrested Peter and John for proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah and the power of His resurrection. Before the Sanhedrin Council released the apostles, they warned them to cease speaking and teaching the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18):

“But Peter and John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.’”
(Acts 4:19-20)

In terms of the Great Commission, Peter and John chose to follow Jesus’s supreme authority rather than the authority of the Jewish Council even as they would respect and pay any penalty the council judged against them for teaching the name of Jesus.

Christ’s followers are to obey Jesus in all things. During His ministry, Jesus taught people to obey and comply with the governing laws (Matthew 22:15-21) and the religious customs (Matthew 23:1-2). Jesus paid His taxes (Matthew 17:24-27), followed the religious customs whenever they did not violate God’s law (Matthew 15:3), and submitted to His illegal arrest (Matthew 26:52-56).

Likewise, the Bible teaches that everyone, including believers, should follow the governing authorities because God placed such authorities over them (Romans 13:1-7, 1 Peter 2:13-17). The Bible endorses and widely supports the rule of law. However, because Jesus is the supreme and ultimate authority, if any lesser authority (be it an individual person or institution of government) opposes a believer’s obedience to Jesus, the believer is to confidently and graciously follow Jesus and entrust themselves to Him if they unjustly suffer any earthly consequences.

To this point, the Apostle Paul invites the believers in Rome to consider: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31).

By way of example, this practice of obeying a higher authority while patiently suffering the penalties of unjust lesser authorities is sometimes referred to as “Civil Disobedience.” The gospel preacher and reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. effectively and peacefully used this Christian principle in his efforts to change hearts and legislation that were unjust during the American Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

“AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS…”

The heart of the Great Commission is its core command: make disciples of all nations.

Disciples are followers. They are students, learners, and emulators of a teacher or role model. In Jewish culture, such a teacher or role model who had disciples was referred to as “Rabbi” (John 1:38). A disciple is a person who goes beyond mere belief in something or someone. Disciples are constantly seeking to put into better practice the things they believe. The root Greek word translated and make disciples can also be translated “instruct” or “teach.”

Jesus was not commanding His disciples to make disciples of their own. He was telling them to make more disciples of Himself. Just as Jesus followed His Father in all things, so He desired His disciples to follow Him in all things.

The first step in becoming a disciple is to make a public testimony of being a believer in Jesus. Jesus made this clear when He said they were to baptize these new disciples in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Baptism was the external sign of an internal belief. It was a public testimony or witness that the person had believed on Jesus for salvation from the poisonous venom of sin (John 3:14-15). The first witness (Baptism) was to proclaim belief in Jesus and express a personal commitment to identify with Him, and follow His teachings. The witness that came after Baptism was to follow Jesus’s commands in all ways and at all times.

The disciple-makers were to proclaim to others that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and that He desired to not only save them from their sins and receive the Gift of Eternal Life, but to invite them to join Him and receive their Inheritance of Eternal Life in His Messianic kingdom.

The disciples of Jesus were to replicate and multiply. They were to make more disciples of Jesus who would in turn make more disciples of Jesus.

Jesus commanded His disciples to not merely convert unbelievers of Jesus as the Son of God into believers of Him. The Great Commission is more comprehensive in scope. Jesus commanded His disciples to make and train unbelievers to be believers and believers to be faithful witnesses. This would include testifying to sinful believers and lukewarm believers in an effort to help them become full-fledged disciples of Him—teaching them to observe all that Jesus had commanded His original followers.

Before His crucifixion, Jesus empowered the twelve disciples with miraculous abilities and commissioned them to proclaim the kingdom of heaven to the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:5-7). He strictly told them to not go to Gentile or Samaritan towns (Matthew 10:5). Matthew 10 details Jesus’s instructions for that mission, which is sometimes referred to as “the Little Commission.”

The Little Commission (Matthew 10:5 - 11:1, Mark 6:7-13, Luke 9:1-6) and others like it (Luke 10:1-24), seem to have been preparations for this Great Commission. The Little Commission was relatively brief, and its scope was limited to Israel. The Great Commission is enduring to the end of the age and expands to all nations—wherever people are found throughout the earth.

In a Jewish context, the term nations means “Gentiles.” As the disciples made disciples of all nations, this would mean that Gentiles would become followers of the Jewish Messiah and participate in the Messianic kingdom.

By telling the disciples that they were to make disciples of all nations, Jesus was telling them that they would play a key role in fulfilling the prophecies that foretold how the Gentiles would participate in the Messianic kingdom.

These promises go all the way back to Abraham and extended to the prophets:

“And in your seed [the Messiah] all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.”
(Genesis 22:18a)

“Then in that day
The nations will resort to the root of Jesse [the Messiah],
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.”
(Isaiah 11:10)

“He [the Messiah] will not be disheartened or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”
(Isaiah 42:4)

“He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant [the Messiah]
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.’”
(Isaiah 49:6)

See also: Micah 4:1-3.

The core command of the Great Commission is a command to be God’s instrument to fulfill elements within these prophecies.

As Jesus’s command to make disciples of all nations relates to these Messianic prophecies it further demonstrates how He is the Messiah who will bring the prophecies to fruition. In this regard, the Great Commission is Matthew’s final appeal to His audience to believe that Jesus really is the Messiah.

Jesus’s command addresses one of the likely doubts preventing Jews who were otherwise open-minded about Jesus’s Messianic qualifications. This doubt might have been something like: “if Jesus is the promised Messiah, then where is the promised Messianic kingdom?”

The command of the Great Commission addresses the lack of a visible kingdom by sending out the Messiah’s disciples to proclaim and inaugurate a spiritual kingdom. Jesus as the spiritual King to all the earth and His disciples are to spread that kingdom to the ends of the earth.

As mentioned previously in this commentary, the Great Commission was the great prelude to the inauguration of Jesus’s kingdom. It was the King sending out his servants to the main highways to invite all whom they found to join the wedding feast (Matthew 22:9-10). And the Jews of that generation could witness this happening. They could see how many people from all nations came to believe, worship, and follow Jesus, the Jewish Messiah who redeems even the Gentiles.

All who were willing to see could have seen for themselves how the prophetic scriptures were being fulfilled because of Jesus, the Messiah (Genesis 22:18a, Isaiah 11:10, 42:4, 49:1, 49:6, 49:12, Micah 4:1-3).

The disciples to whom Jesus gave the Great Commission in person were obedient to Jesus’s command to make disciples of all nations.

Following Jesus’s ascension into heaven (Acts 1:9) and the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4), the disciples will soon begin to take the Gospel across the world, starting in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:5-47). About three thousand Jews who were visiting Jerusalem from across the Roman Empire believed on that day (Acts 2:41) and they soon returned to their homes with the Gospel in their hearts. It is also likely that these three thousand believing Jews took the Great Commission command with them and began to spread the gospel in their home regions.

The New Testament itself was part of this disciple-making enterprise. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John were either written by Jesus’s disciples (Matthew and John) or sponsored by them (Peter is believed to have been the primary source for the Gospel of Mark). Furthermore, Peter and John wrote no less than six epistles between them (1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Revelation). All of these written documents were circulated among believers in the Roman world to build them up in their faith (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 3:16).

Christian tradition indicates that all eleven of Jesus’s original twelve disciples actively participated in taking the Gospel to Europe, Asia, and Africa. The book of Acts tells us how Paul, a later convert and an apostle of Jesus who was “born out of due time” (1 Corinthians 15:8), takes the Gospel message to the Jews and Gentiles in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and eventually to the city of Rome.

Acts 13-28 details his missionary efforts. Additionally, Paul will write no less than thirteen epistles to churches and individuals in the effort to make disciples of Jesus. Paul personally makes the core command of the Great Commission his life goal:

“We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.”
(Colossians 1:28-29)

The presence of the church today is both the evidence that the disciples were faithful to Jesus’s command to make disciples of all nations as well as a testimony of this command’s endurability until the Messiah’s return at the end of the age.

There are also significant parallels between the Great Commission and the Creation Mandate of Genesis 1:28-30. Because of these parallels, the Creation Mandate is sometimes referred to as “The Original Commission.”

The core command of the Great Commission has at least two interesting parallels to the “Original Commission” found in Genesis 1:28-30. Consider the following:

1a. God created humans. Humans were part of God’s creation project.
(Genesis 1:26-27)

1b. Jesus saved His disciples. His disciples were part of Jesus’s redemption project to make those born again by His Spirit new creations in Christ.
(Luke 10:20, John 15:3, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Peter 1:3-5)

2a. God endowed humans as His image bearers with His dominion and power.
(Genesis 1:26-28)

2b. Jesus endowed His disciples with His authority.
(Matthew 28:18-19a)

3a. God commissioned humans to be collaborate with Him in the development of the earth.
(Genesis 1:28)

3b. Jesus commissioned His disciples to be collaborate with Him in taking His Gospel to all nations.
(Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15)

From these parallels we see that just as God created Adam and then commissioned him to collaborate with Him as co-regent of the world; so too did Jesus redeem His disciples and then commission them to collaborate with Him as co-redeemers of the world.

“…BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT…” 

This is the second guideline and instruction for how the disciples were to fulfill Jesus’s command for them to make disciples of all nations.

At a fundamental level, the directive baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit meant that the disciples were not to make acolytes who were devoted to the disciples, but rather they were to make disciples of God, the Father; Jesus, His Son; and the Holy Spirit. The new disciples were to be baptized in God’s name, not their own names.

Jesus’s name is the only name under heaven whereby men can be saved (Acts 4:12). Paul reminded the Corinthians of this truth (1 Corinthians 1:23, 1:30-31, 3:11) and chided them for boasting of being a disciple of Peter, Paul, or Apollos (1 Corinthians 1:11-13, 3:3-9).

Baptism was a common practice in Jewish culture at that time. The Jews practiced baptism mainly as a ritual to purify them from being ceremonially unclean. Jesus instructed His disciples to baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to distinguish His baptism from other baptisms.

It is because of Jesus’s instructions in Matthew 28:19 that many Christian baptism ceremonies utilize the phrase in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to this day.

The word baptizing means to immerse. When someone is baptized, they are dunked or immersed into something. Water was and still is a common element used in baptisms to signify spiritual immersion. Archeologists have uncovered a large number of ancient “mikvehs” in Israel, ancient baptismals used for ritual purification.

The Hebrew word “miqve” means “collection” or “gathering” and is often used to refer to a pool of water, as in Exodus 7:19 where it is translated as “reservoirs” of water. The mikvehs were small cellars with steps, allowing people to immerse themselves. There were many mikvehs discovered in the ancient Jewish “monastery” called Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptizer, would dunk people under water who repented of their sins as they prepared themselves for the coming Messiah and His kingdom (Matthew 3:1-2, 4-6). In John’s case, he primarily baptized people in the Jordan River. John’s baptism was not done for ritual purification. When John was baptizing people, he was using water to signify the spiritual immersion of the people he baptized. John’s baptism was a public act signifying the person’s repentance of their sins. It was God’s will that each Israelite repent and follow His ways. But Israel’s leaders rejected God’s will to repent (Luke 7:30).

John’s baptism was only temporal and preparatory (Matthew 3:11a). The repentance of sin would prepare hearts to receive the Messiah. John prophesied:

“but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
(Matthew 3:11b)

Jesus, the Messiah, was the worthier and mightier person who came after John. Jesus’s baptism was the eternal, spiritual baptism to which John’s pointed and foreshadowed. John the Baptist’s immersion represented a spiritual repentance. The baptism John referred to that Jesus would provide was an immersion into God’s spirit to empower a new walk and a new spiritual birth that makes believers a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The element for John’s baptism was water. The elements for Jesus the Messiah’s baptism are the Holy Spirit and fire. These are two separate immersions, each of which are the true baptism which is represented by a believer’s baptism in water.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit initially came on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4) shortly after Jesus issued the Great Commission. The baptism of fire will come at the Bema (judgment seat) of Christ at the end of the age (1 Corinthians 3:13).

But Jesus was not authorizing His disciples to baptize people with His judgement or with the Holy Spirit. He was authorizing them to baptize in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This baptism represents the true baptism that should take place upon someone’s initial belief in Jesus.

We might understand these four baptisms in the following way:

1. John’s Baptism was a water baptism that signified the repentance of sins in preparation for the coming Messiah (Matthew 3:1-6).
   
   
2. Jesus’s Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a result of receiving the Gift of Eternal Life when one believes in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God (Romans 6:4). The baptismal element is God Himself (Matthew 3:11b). Believers are immersed in His Spirit and made a new creation in Christ (1 Corinthians 5:17).
   
   
3. The Disciples’ Baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit refers to a water baptism that signifies a believer’s identification with and public commitment to the Holy Spirit’s (and the Trinity’s) role in directing the course of his life as a disciple of Jesus (Matthew 28:19).
   
   
4. Jesus’s Baptism of Fire is the Son’s judgment of believers’ works that will occur for all believers after this life. It is described in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. There each person’s deeds are immersed in judgement fire to determine their quality. The baptismal element is fire (Matthew 3:11b). We can also be purified through fiery trials in this life. Believers who walk in faith through these trials will gain great reward (1 Peter 4:12-13).

Scripture speaks of other baptisms, or immersions, including the baptism of Moses in the Red Sea (1 Corinthians 10:2) and a baptism of cleansing the conscience through repentance in Christ (1 Peter 3:21, 1 John 1:9).

One of the most striking features about the baptism Jesus directed His disciples to use as they made disciples of all nations is that it invokes the name of all three members of the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Notice how there is only one name (name is singular) but there are three Persons (the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit) into which new disciples are to be baptized. This is a classic expression revealing the mysterious Triune nature of God. There is only one God, but three persons.

Matthew 28:19 is the second time in Matthew’s Gospel where all three members of the Trinity are explicitly mentioned and described in the same scene. The first time was as Jesus was coming out the water as John baptized Him,

“After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.’”
(Matthew 3:16-17)

The voice out the heavens was from God the Father. Jesus is God the Son. And the Holy Spirit was descending as a dove and lighting upon Jesus.

It is interesting that both Trinity references in Matthew involve the action and/or idea of baptism. And just as Jesus’s ministry as the Messiah began with the palpable presence of the Three-in-One Godhead at His baptism, so too are disciples of Jesus to make other disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Just as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit all played a role in the Messiah’s ministry, so too do the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit all play a role in the ministry and growth of disciples.

Throughout Jesus’s ministry, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit shared a oneness of community and fellowship. The Father sent Jesus, His Son, into the world (John 3:16). Jesus, the Son, sought the will of the Father (John 5:19, 6:38, 12:49-50). And the Son acted in the power and leadership of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 4:1, 12:18, Luke 4:14, 4:18-19, John 3:34).

When a person believes in Jesus, they receive the Gift of Eternal Life and are born into God’s eternal family (John 1:12-13, John 3:3, Romans 8:14-16). Then when believers choose to walk in obedience and become disciples, their first instruction is to be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

By submitting to water baptism they are making a commitment to walk in faith. By walking in the obedience of faith they are immersed into fellowship with the Triune Godhead. By walking in fellowship with the Father, through the resurrection power of Jesus and the indwelling Spirit, each believer is gaining an unequaled experience and reward of eternal life (John 17:3).

When disciples are baptized in the name of the Father, they are committing themselves to be immersed in the Father’s will and to do the Father’s will. All who love God and keep His commands are promised rewards beyond their ability to comprehend (1 Corinthians 2:9). They are promised the same reward that the Father gave to the Son (Revelation 3:21).

When disciples are baptized in the name of the Son, they are acknowledging the Son’s sacrificial offering of His life so that they could be immersed in the Son’s cleansing blood which washes away the stain of their sins (Hebrews 10:12). This allows each believer to emerge from the grave of sin and death into the Son’s abundant resurrection life.

When disciples are baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit, they are recognizing that they are immersed into the Holy Spirit’s unlimited power and strength, and are making a public commitment to walk in the Spirit in order to overcome as Jesus overcame (Galatians 5:16, Revelation 3:21).

With the Great Commission, Jesus sends His disciples into the world as the Father sent His Son (Philippians 2:5-9, Hebrews 10:7). Jesus commanded:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations….

In so doing, Jesus gives His followers an opportunity to be like Himself. Jesus left the comfort and security of heaven in obedience to His Father (Philippians 2:5-8). He similarly gives us the opportunity to live and to overcome life’s trials by faith, trusting God, as we love and serve others according to the Father’s will and in the Holy Spirit’s power.

As the Son trusted and obeyed the will of the Father in His life (Matthew 26:39), so ought His disciples entrust themselves and do the will of the Father in their own lives (Matthew 6:25-34, 7:21). We are to overcome as He overcame (Revelation 3:21).

As Jesus, the Son, was led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, so too ought His disciples be led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. In addition to the Great Commission, Matthew’s Gospel speaks of the Holy Spirit’s role in the life of disciples on at least two occasions:

• John the Baptizer alluded to the Holy Spirit’s role when he described the baptism the Messiah would perform (Matthew 3:11);

• Jesus encouraged His disciples in the “Little Commission” that the Spirit will give them what words they are to say (Matthew 10:19-20);

John’s Gospel is more explicit about sending His disciples “the Helper” who is the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17, 14:26, 15:26). Jesus actually said that it was better for Him to ascend to heaven and leave them so that they could have the Holy Spirit as their Helper (John 16:7).

But returning to our larger point, Christian baptism and discipleship as outlined by Jesus’s Great Commission are inseparably facilitated by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

“…TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THAT I COMMANDED YOU…” 

The first guideline and instruction on how the disciples were to fulfill Jesus’s command for them to make disciples of all nations was: Go (literally “Going”). The idea of “going” is “whatever we are doing, wherever we are.” We are all to be making disciples at all times.

The second was: baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And the third and final guideline and instruction for how the disciples were to fulfill Jesus’s command is teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.

Disciples are made of all nations by Go-ing, Baptizing, and Teaching.

And Jesus explained to His disciples what they should be teaching in order to make more disciples. They were specifically to be teaching new disciples to observe all that Jesus commanded His disciples to do.

To observe means to consciously do or keep. Observing a command implies intentionality and obedient action.

The disciples were to teach would-be disciples to observe all that Jesus had commanded them during their time together.

All that Jesus commanded includes every moral-teaching and kingdom-oriented imperative that Jesus commanded and issued to His disciples.

Jesus commanded His followers to do many things. His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is perhaps the most comprehensive exposition of His moral teachings. Some other commands Jesus made are as follow:

• Jesus commanded His followers to keep the Law of Moses (Matthew 5:17-20). The Apostle Paul asserts that when believers walk in the Spirit they fulfill the Law (Romans 8:4).

• The Law’s greatest two commandments were to love God with all one’s being and to love others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40—See also Matthew 7:21). The Apostle Peter asserts that the culmination of discipleship is love (2 Peter 1:5-7).

• Jesus commanded His followers to obey God from the heart and not merely with their external actions (Matthew 5:21-32). Hebrews asserts that the new covenant of Christ is written on the heart of a believer (Hebrews 10:12-17).

• Jesus commanded His followers to love and serve others, including our enemies, rather than seeking to exploit them. He taught them that this was the path to true glory and greatness. (Matthew 5:33-48, 20:25-28, Luke 10:30-37). The Apostle Paul repeats this admonition (Romans 12:20-21).

• Jesus commanded His followers to be merciful and quick to forgive others, because they would be judged by their own measure or lack of mercy. (Matthew 5:7, 6:12, 6:14-15, 7:1-5, 18:21-35)

• Jesus commanded His followers to seek harmony (righteousness) with God and rewards from their Father in Heaven, rather than seeking harmony with and rewards from men (Matthew 5:3-12, 6:1-8, 6:16-32, 7:13-14). The writers of the epistles echo this theme throughout (Romans 14:10-11, 1 Corinthians 2:9, 3:11-15, 9:24, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Galatians 6:8-9, 2 Timothy 2:1-13, Hebrews 10:23-25, James 1:12, 1 Peter 1:7-8, 1 John 4:17, Revelation 3:21).

All that Jesus commanded equally includes emulating His faith (Matthew 21:21), His perspective (Philippians 2:5), and the manner in which He lived His life. Since these are the only three things we can control—who we trust; our perspective; and our actions—it follows appropriately that these are the things for which we will be held accountable.

Jesus commanded His followers to emulate Him on multiple occasions and in various ways. Here are four significant ways Jesus commanded His disciples to emulate Him.

• Jesus commanded His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him.
  (Matthew 16:24-25)

• Jesus commanded His disciples to serve others as He served the world.
  (Matthew 20:26-28)

• Jesus commanded His disciples to abide in Him as He abided in His Father.
  (John 15:10)

• Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as He has loved them.
  (John 15:12)

All that Jesus commanded also includes the command of the Great Commission, which is to make disciples of all nations.

His disciples were to make disciples by teaching others to observe the things Jesus said to them,

“What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.”
(Matthew 10:27)

And His disciples were to make disciples by teaching others through emulating Jesus with their own attitude and actions:

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
(Matthew 5:16)

The disciples were to make disciples who would in turn make more disciples by going, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching others to observe Jesus’s commands. That means the command applies to all believers to the end of the age.

As has been mentioned several times already in this commentary, the command of the Great Commission has been and is perpetual and enduring from the time Jesus issued it until His return. It is no accident then that the design of Christian discipleship is self-replicating.

“…AND LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE.”

The final expression of the Great Commission and the Gospel of Matthew is an encouraging promise.

Jesus promised His disciples: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. He introduced His promise with the interjection: and lo.

The interjection and lo is a translation of the Greek word which is normally translated: “and behold.” These types of interjections are used to draw attention to significant information.

Jesus had just said and/or implied many important things in His Great Commission. But there was one more important thing He wanted to say before it was over. And He did not want His disciples to overlook or forget it, so He drew special attention to it by saying: and lo. This infers that this command will be difficult. The world is against Jesus’s kingdom (John 17:16). As Jesus’s disciples take His commission to the world, the world will push back. But Jesus is not leaving and washing His hands. He will continue to be with each of His disciples in spirit.

And this will not be for a short time, but to the end of the age. Jesus did not want them to miss or forget that He would continue to be with His disciples always, even to the end of the age. The term always indicates that there will not be a single moment where this promise will lapse. He wanted His disciples to realize and remember these things for the rest of their lives.

The Son of God and the Messiah was about to physically leave this earth and ascend into heaven (Mark 16:19-20, Luke 24:50-53, Act 1:9-12). But He would always be with them spiritually.

When Jesus promised His disciples I will be with you always, He was not speaking sentimentally. He was speaking literally. Jesus would not be with them in a bodily sense. Rather He would be with them through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, would literally be with His disciples always.

On the night Jesus was arrested and condemned, He told His disciples that He would be leaving them soon, but He promised to send them a divine Helper who would guide them in all truth (John 14:16-17). He promised this Helper would teach them all things and help them remember all things about God (John 14:26). This promised Helper is God Himself, the Holy Spirit.

This is not a new concept. In the Old Testament, God made a “helper” for Adam, which was Eve. The Hebrew word translated “helper” (“ezer”) is thereafter primarily used to describe God (as in Exodus 18:4, Deuteronomy 33:26, 33:29, Psalm 33:20, 70:5, 115:9-11, 121:2, 124:8). God has been and always will be our Helper.

Moreover, Jesus also told His disciples on that night that it was to their advantage that Jesus be replaced by the Holy Spirit as God’s presence on earth (John 16:7).

As a human, Jesus shared the limitations of human nature, including the limitation of being in only one location at a time. As Jesus commissioned His disciples to Go out into all the world, He would no longer have been able to be with all of them at the same time had He remained on earth as a human. But the Holy Spirit, who does not have the limitations of human nature, could be with every disciple always.

Because Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God and they are one with God the Father, Jesus can rightfully promise every disciple: I am with you always because the Holy Spirit is always with us. It is a reiteration of His previous promise to send the Helper in John 14 and 15 and 16. The term “the Spirit of Christ” as used in Romans 8:9 and 1 Peter 1:11 infers this very thing.

This promise is a great comfort to disciples. Like the psalmist rhetorically contemplates, there is no place that we can go to, or situation that we can find ourselves in where God is not with us (Psalm 139:7-10).

But Jesus’s promise ending the Great Commission goes even further than Psalm 139. Psalm 139 rhetorically infers the negative truth that there is no place we can go apart from God’s presence. The Great Commission positively states the reality that God the Holy Spirit is always with us.

• The Holy Spirit is always with us to teach and to guide us in truth.
  (John 14:26).

• The Holy Spirit is always with us to empower us to overcome sin and evil.
  (Romans 8:13, Galatians 5:16-17, 1 Corinthians 10:13).

• The Holy Spirit is always with us to equip and empower us to do the things God calls us to do.
  (Acts 1:8, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, Galatians 5:22-23, Ephesians 3:16)

The final expression of the Great Commission—even to the end of the age—reinforces Jesus’s promise that He will always be with His disciples until this age ends.

Jesus will always be with His disciples until His physical return at the end of the age. The promise will endure beyond the earthly lifetimes of the disciples to whom Jesus physically spoke these words. The Great Commission’s promise, like its command, will continue and endure from one generation to the next generation of disciples even to the end of the age.

After the end of this present age, this promise will no longer be necessary because God will dwell upon the earth with men. Therefore, we will no longer live by faith but by sight (Revelation 21:3, 22).

CONCLUSION

Thus, Matthew concludes His Gospel account demonstrating the Messiahship of Jesus.

Instead of narrating Jesus’s ascension, Matthew leaves his readers with Jesus’s call to action for everyone who accepts that He is the Messiah.

Believers are to continually make disciples until His triumphant return at the end of the age when He promised to establish His kingdom (Matthew 22:39, 24:30-31, 25:31, 26:29). Upon His return Jesus will reward His faithful followers (Matthew 6:16-20, 7:13-14, 7:24-25, 8:11, 10:39-42, 13:43-46, 16:25, 19:28-30, 24:45-47, 25:6-7, 25:20-23, 25:34-36) and He will rebuke His followers who were wicked or lazy (Matthew 7:13-14, 7:21-23, 7:26-27, 8:12, 10:37-38, 16:25-26, 24:48-51, 25:8-12, 25:24-30).

May we ever seek His kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33) until our reunion at the end of the age so that we are found faithful and invited by God Himself to enter into the joy of our Messiah (Matthew 25:21).