stonegatestandard.com

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” 

- Matthew 28.19-20

 The words at the end of the gospel according to Matthew are interesting.  I can understand what it means to baptize someone; there are many examples of that taking place in the New Testament.  I can understand what it means to teach someone.  There are examples of that, too.  The part that complicates the end of Matthew’s gospel is “make disciples of all nations”.  What in the world does that mean?  Were the apostles to go throughout the entire world and literally make disciples from every nation?  Was this a command that was given only to eleven different people?  If you want to complicate matters more, look at the ending to the gospel of Mark: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.”  That makes even less sense than Matthew does.  So now I have to go and preach the gospel to the whole creation, including trees and fish and pigs?

When we study the Bible, we often run across phrases that don’t make sense.  They don’t make sense at first because the Bible was written in human language from a particular period in time.  Since human languages change, we have to find out what the words meant when

It has been said the “Great Commission” – that is what we call Christ’s words in Matthew 28 and Mark 16 – was fulfilled by the apostles of Christ in the first century.  To support this view there are a couple arguments made.  First, Paul says that the gospel was preached to the entire creation in Colossians 1.23.  In fact, Paul says it was preached to every creature (including fish and trees and pigs?).  Secondly, Jesus has never commanded someone to do something that they could not obey (this is certainly true).  This line of reasoning concludes that if Christ wanted these 11 people to preach the gospel everywhere, then they could carry out that task.

However, since there is no record in the New Testament of any apostle preaching to trees, I have to conclude that every creature was not preached to.  Additionally, since there were no converts in Japan in the first century, I have to conclude that the gospel was not literally preached to all the nations of the world.  Does this mean that there is something wrong with what Jesus said?  No, it means there is something wrong with the way I was understanding his words. 

To a Jew, there were two kinds of people, those who were Jewish and those who were not.  A colloquial, first century Jewish expression to refer to these two kinds of people was the “whole creation”.  Additionally, throughout the Old Testament, reference is made to “all nations” when referring to both the Jews and the Gentiles.  Christ is not telling his disciples to preach to trees and he is not telling them that they must travel to each individual nation.  Christ is telling his disciples that they must preach the gospel to everyone without making distinctions.  Paul’s claim that the gospel has been preached to every creature is very similar to the expression used in Romans 5 about salvation coming to all men.  It is not true that all people will be saved, but salvation has been offered to both Jews and Gentiles.  It is not true that every creature has had the gospel preached to them, but all of humanity, both Jews and Gentiles, has been offered the gospel of salvation.

This understanding changes the audience and the charge given by Christ in Matthew 28.  It is not a commandment given for a lonely group of 11 people to carry out.  It is a commandment given to all who would become Christians.  The call is for Christians to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ without distinction.  We do not personally have to travel to every nation; we do not personally have to preach to every creature (trees don’t listen very well, anyway).  We do, however, have to preach the gospel, without making distinctions, to all whom we meet.  Jesus has never asked us to do something that we can’t carry out.  Certainly we can do our part to carry out the Great Commission.  Let us speak to our neighbors, our friends and our families.  Let us tell all whom we meet about the saving grace of our Lord and Savior.  Most importantly, let us remember that Jesus will be with us until the end of the age.