At staff meeting a few weeks ago, we spent a little bit of time talking about the Great Commission. Yes! This is my verse. As someone who is very committed to the cause of reaching the unreached, the Great Commission is my motto. But I learned something that kind of shook my understanding of this verse.
Don’t worry. My new found revelation has not changed my feelings or passion for world missions. But I do look at this verse a little differently now.
“Go Ye Therefore!” I’ve listened to countless sermons where this was the thrust of the message. The last thing Jesus said to his disciples was to “GO!” This verse has been the catalyst for pushing people out of their comfortable lives a out in the world making a difference.
Then I learned something very interesting. In staff meeting someone asked, “What are the verbs in this command?” Easy. Go, make (disciples), baptize and teaching. Then someone asked, “What is the “main” verb in this command?” Duh. Everyone knows that. Go!
Wrong.
Go is not the main verb. Make disciples is the main verb.
Go, baptize and teach are participles modifying the imperative verb “make disciples.” A better way to say this verse would be “As you go” or “In your going” make disciples. It is thought that as Jesus gave this command, the “Go” was assumed. In the three years Jesus walked with his disciples, they were always on the go. He often spoke about “all nations.” The point that he was making here was that we are to “make disciples.”
Here’s some more information on the context and language of this verse: Site 1 Site 2 Site 3
Here’s where the rubber meets the road. For me I’ve “GONE” many times. I’ve been obedient to “The Great Commission.” I’ve spread the gospel.
However, how many disciples have I made? (Awkward silence)
Sure, I’ve been a part of helping kids grow in their faith over a period off years. I’m very proud of that. However, when I step out of my role as “Kenny Conley: Children’s Pastor,” and become “Kenny Conley: Average Guy” or “Kenny Conley: Next Door Neighbor,” how many disciples have I made?
Rhetorical question: How well have I obeyed “The Great Commission?” How well have you?
Technorati Tags: Great Commission, Missions, Discipleship
Your giving me flashbacks from my Student Mobilization days in college. (I’m sure nobody even knows what I’m talking about…)
Hey Kenny – Thanks for linking my site to yours. I hope the information and study is helpful. I too thought of the great commission the same way. I am glad I am blessed to study the origional languages and understand the true meaning of the Great Commission. May God bless you as you continue to grasp the way of Jesus. – Tim
What I have been wrestling with is the “Who?”
Who is supposed to be making disciples?
1) Each believer under the authority of their local church
2) Each local church as a group (each person participating in some aspect of making disciples– going, baptizing, teaching)
3) The pastor(s) of each local church
The implications of each beleiver needing to go, baptize, and teach in order to be obedient to the command to make disciples are enormous. (Should my wife be teaching disciples to obey Christ’s commands? Should me or my children be baptizing those we are making disciples of?)
Bottom line, if the command is personal to each believer, how can each believer be obedient to this command? (I have never been in a church where I could reserve the baptismal so I could baptize people I was discipling.) It would seem the easiest, and most often applied, approach would be to say the command is not to the individual but to the church as a whole with the majority of the command to be performed by the pastor(s).
Part (maybe all) of the answer is in the Greek text. Can it be definitively shown that the command is to the individual (you singular) or to the group (you plural)? If to the individual, can it be shown that the command was a) only to those disciples present or 2) only to church leaders/pastors (ie- those called specifically to preach/teach/baptize?)
I look forward to hearing other people’s understanding of how this passage should be translated and applied.
Eric, thanks for your comment on this post.. but I do take concern for something you said.
The implications of each believer needing to go, baptize, and teach in order to be obedient to the command to make disciples are enormous. (Should my wife be teaching disciples to obey Christ’s commands? Should me or my children be baptizing those we are making disciples of?)
Bottom line, if the command is personal to each believer, how can each believer be obedient to this command? (I have never been in a church where I could reserve the baptismal so I could baptize people I was discipling.)
Yes, yes and yes! Jesus spoke this to his disciples and they went out and did it. You read in the scriptures of them going out into the cities and the wild meeting people, proclaiming the good news and baptizing people. They were the church collectively and they were the church individually and they acted it out together and individually.
Yes your wife can disciple someone. Yes, she can baptize them as well. Does she have to reserve the baptismal at your church? NO! The baptism process at your church was likely developed by someone at your church. Not the scriptures. Take them down to the creek, the YMCA or the ocean and baptize them.
I work with kids and when kids come to faith, I encourage the parents to baptize their kids. They’re the ones with the greatest influence in their lives.
Be careful not to read into the text. Don’t approach the text with all your ideas of church structure, rules and traditions specific to what you’ve personally experienced.
Just my thoughts though.
don’t forget about Phillip who helped the enunch understand the faith, he then baptized him in the process. I don’t think there is a rule per se, the point is that they get baptized as soon as possible, if possible, as an outward confession to all who see, that your identity is in Christ…