What is the Meaning of the Great Commission

What is the Meaning of the Great Commission

In the final moments before Jesus ascended to the Father He gathered His disciples on a mountain in Galilee and gave them the last and most comprehensive instruction of His entire earthly ministry. Matthew 28:18-20 records it: "Then Jesus came to them and said 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.'"

Three sentences. And within those three sentences, the most consequential assignment ever given to any group of human beings. The Great Commission, as it has come to be known, has driven more human movement, produced more cultural transformation, generated more literature and music and art and sacrifice and martyrdom, and changed more individual lives than any other instruction given in the entire history of human civilization.

But for all its historical influence the Great Commission is also one of the most consistently misunderstood and most frequently reduced passages in all of Scripture. Many believers have heard it so often that it has become familiar without becoming personal, a statement they know about rather than an assignment they have received. In this study we are going to examine every dimension of what Jesus actually said, what the authority declaration means, what the command to go actually involves, what making disciples requires, what baptism signifies, what teaching to obey entails and what the promise of His presence guarantees, so that the Great Commission might move from a familiar passage to a living personal mandate.

The Foundation: All Authority in Heaven and on Earth

The Great Commission does not begin with a command, it begins with a declaration. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Before Jesus told His disciples what to do He told them who He was and what He possessed. And this sequence is not incidental, it is essential. The commission flows from the authority. The "therefore go" is grounded in the "all authority has been given to me."

What does it mean that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus? The word translated authority, exousia in Greek, carries the sense of the right and the power to act, to command and to enforce. Jesus was declaring that following His resurrection there was no domain, in heaven or on earth, in the spiritual realm or the physical realm, among angels or among human beings, where His authority did not extend completely. He was not claiming authority over some things or most things or many things. He was claiming authority over everything.

This authority had been given to Him, it was the Father's gift to the Son in response to His obedient completion of the redemptive mission. Philippians 2:9-11 describes the same reality: "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." The resurrection and ascension of Jesus were not merely the vindication of His personal claims, they were the inauguration of His universal lordship.

Why does this authority declaration matter for the Great Commission? Because without it the commission would be an exercise in wishful thinking, sending a small group of ordinary people out to make disciples of all nations with no more resources than their own persuasiveness and their own courage. But with the declaration of all authority the commission becomes something completely different, an assignment carried out in the name of and under the authority of the one who has all power in heaven and on earth. The disciples were not being sent out to achieve the impossible through their own resources. They were being sent out as ambassadors of the one who had the authority to accomplish through them what would be impossible without Him.

The Command: Go and Make Disciples

The main verb in the Great Commission, the primary command around which everything else is organized, is "make disciples." The Greek word is matheteusate, a verb form of the word mathetes which means disciple or learner. Jesus was not commanding His followers primarily to make converts, to grow churches, to plant ministries or to win arguments about religion. He was commanding them to make disciples, people who were following Jesus, learning from Him, being formed by Him and becoming more like Him over time.

The word "go" in most English translations reads as a command, "go and make disciples." But in the original Greek "go" is actually a participle, "as you go" or "going." The grammatical structure suggests not that the disciples were being commanded to go on special expeditions for the purpose of making disciples but rather that in the natural course of their going, as they moved through their daily lives, as they traveled, as they engaged with the people around them, they were to be making disciples. The Great Commission is not primarily a command to cross the world in pursuit of a mission, though cross-cultural mission is certainly included. It is a command to engage intentionally with every person in every sphere of life for the purpose of bringing them into discipleship with Jesus.

Making disciples is a comprehensive process, it involves bringing people to initial faith in Jesus, incorporating them into the community of believers and then forming them over time into mature followers of Jesus who reflect His character and carry out His mission. It is not a transaction, not a moment of decision that is then considered complete. It is a sustained relationship of spiritual formation that requires genuine personal investment from the one doing the discipling and genuine personal openness from the one being discipled.

The Scope: All Nations

"Make disciples of all nations." The phrase "all nations" panta ta ethne in Greek, is one of the most significant phrases in the entire commission. The word ethne from which we get the English word "ethnic" refers to peoples, ethnic groups, language groups, cultural communities. Jesus was not simply saying "make disciples of people in every country" He was saying "make disciples of people from every ethnic, linguistic and cultural group on earth."

This was a radical and revolutionary expansion of the scope of God's saving purposes as most Jewish people had understood them. The covenant of God had been with Israel, one nation, one ethnic group, one people who had been called out from among the nations to be God's special possession. The disciples standing on that mountain in Galilee had grown up understanding their faith as primarily an ethnic and national identity. And Jesus was telling them that the mission He was sending them on was to every ethnic group on the face of the earth, that the Gospel was not the expansion of Judaism to include willing Gentiles but the proclamation to every people group of the salvation that the Jewish Messiah had accomplished for the whole world.

Revelation 7:9 gives us the eschatological picture of what the completion of this mission looks like: "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation tribe people and language standing before the throne and before the Lamb." Every nation. Every tribe. Every people. Every language. The Great Commission will not be complete until there are genuine disciples from every people group on earth, which is why the recognition of unreached people groups (those with no access to the Gospel) remains one of the most urgent priorities of the global church.

The Initiation: Baptizing Them

"Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Baptism is the initiating rite of discipleship, the public, visible, bodily act through which a person declares their new identity as a follower of Jesus and is publicly incorporated into the community of His disciples. Its inclusion in the Great Commission establishes it as not optional or peripheral, it is part of the commission itself, the appointed means of publicly marking the transition from outside the community of disciples to inside it.

The formula "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" is one of the most explicit and most liturgically significant Trinitarian statements in the New Testament. The singular "name" not the plural "names" indicates the unity of the three persons in one divine being. Baptism is administered in the singular name that encompasses the three persons, marking the disciple's belonging to the Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit simultaneously.

Romans 6:3-4 gives the deepest theological account of what baptism represents: "Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father we too may live a new life." Baptism is a participation in the death and resurrection of Jesus, a public enactment of the spiritual reality of dying to the old life and rising to new life in Christ. It does not accomplish the spiritual reality but it publicly marks, declares and celebrates it.

The Formation: Teaching Them to Obey

"Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." This dimension of the Great Commission is the most sustained and the most demanding, and the one most easily reduced or neglected. The commission was not simply to make initial converts and baptize them, it was to teach them to obey everything Jesus had commanded. Not to know everything He commanded. Not to believe everything He commanded. To obey it.

This is the distinction between information transfer and genuine discipleship. A person can know the Sermon on the Mount intellectually without it having any formative effect on how they actually live. A person can assent to the teachings of Jesus theologically without those teachings actually shaping their behavior, their character, their relationships or their use of money and time. What Jesus commissioned His disciples to produce was not people who knew about His commands but people who were actually living them, who were genuinely formed by sustained exposure to His teaching in ways that produced observable transformation in the entire fabric of their lives.

This kind of teaching requires time, relationship and genuine personal investment. It cannot be accomplished through a one-hour Sunday service or an occasional read through a devotional. It requires the kind of sustained, close, life-on-life engagement that characterized Jesus' own discipleship of the twelve, the extended proximity that allowed His character to be observed, His teaching to be questioned, His example to be followed and His correction to be received. Making disciples who are being taught to obey everything Jesus commanded is a long-term investment of significant personal attention and genuine relational depth.

The Promise: I am With You Always

"And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age." The Great Commission ends not with another command but with the most important promise that could accompany the commands, the promise of Jesus' constant, personal, uninterrupted presence with His disciples in the carrying out of the commission He has given them.

The word translated "surely" idou in Greek, is an attention-getting word, a word that signals "pay close attention to what I am about to say." Jesus wanted to ensure that this promise was not glossed over or taken for granted. And the promise itself could not be more comprehensive: "I am with you always." Not sometimes. Not when circumstances are favorable. Not when faith is strong and ministry is fruitful. Always, to the very end of the age.

This promise was the practical resolution of the disciples' most obvious problem with the commission. They were eleven ordinary people, mostly uneducated, mostly from the margins of Jewish religious society, traumatized by the arrest and crucifixion they had just witnessed and not yet fully comprehending the implications of the resurrection they had experienced. And they had just been given an assignment to make disciples of every ethnic group on earth. The gap between their resources and the scope of the commission could not have been more obvious to them. And Jesus closed that gap not by expanding their resources but by promising His permanent presence, the presence of the one who had just declared that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him.

The presence of Jesus with His disciples in the carrying out of the Great Commission is not metaphorical or sentimental, it is the practical reality of the Holy Spirit's indwelling of every believer (John 14:16-17), the intercession of the risen Jesus at the right hand of the Father (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25) and the sovereign authority of the ascended Lord working through the witness and the lives of His people to accomplish His purposes in the world. The commission is not carried out by human beings alone, it is carried out by human beings in partnership with the risen, ascended, all-authoritative Jesus who is with them always.

The Great Commission and the Local Church

The Great Commission is often discussed primarily in the context of cross-cultural missionary work, and cross-cultural mission is genuinely one of its most important and most demanding expressions. But the commission was given to every disciple not only to professional missionaries, and its primary expression for most believers is in the ordinary spheres of daily life where God has placed them.

Matthew 28:19-20 does not say "some of you go and make disciples while the rest of you support them financially." It says "go and make disciples" a commission extended to every person who has been made a disciple themselves. Every believer is commissioned. Every believer has been sent. The sphere of mission for most believers is their family, their neighborhood, their workplace, their school and their community, the people God has placed in their ordinary daily life who need to be brought into discipleship with Jesus through the natural, relational, sustained engagement that genuine discipleship requires.

The local church is the primary community within which the Great Commission is carried out, the gathering of disciples that worships together, learns together and equips its members to carry the commission into every sphere of daily life. Ephesians 4:11-12 describes the purpose of the gifts God has given to the church: "So Christ himself gave the apostles the prophets the evangelists the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up." The church is not the destination of the Great Commission, it is the equipping center that prepares its members to carry the commission into the world.

What the Great Commission Means for You Today

The Great Commission was given to eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee, and through them to every person who has become a disciple of Jesus in every generation since. If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you have received the Great Commission. It is not optional additional discipleship for the highly committed, it is the basic assignment of every follower of Jesus regardless of their spiritual maturity, their ministry experience or their sense of personal adequacy for the task.

What does that mean practically? It means that every relationship God has placed in your life is a potential discipleship opportunity. Every neighbor, every colleague, every family member, every friend who does not yet know Jesus is someone the Great Commission calls you to engage with intentionally, not by performing religious activities at them but by living genuine Christian life in their presence, by being willing to speak honestly about what Jesus means to you and by investing in genuine relationship with them over time in the way that discipleship requires.

It also means that every believer you know is someone you can be discipling, investing in their growth, helping them to understand and obey everything Jesus commanded, walking with them through the difficulties and the questions of genuine Christian formation. Discipleship is not the exclusive domain of professional ministry, it is the normal activity of every person who has been made a disciple themselves and who has therefore received the commission to make disciples of others.

Conclusion: The Assignment That Changed the World

Eleven ordinary people received the Great Commission on a mountain in Galilee. They went. They made disciples. Those disciples made more disciples. And the movement that began with eleven terrified men in an upper room has in two thousand years reached every nation on earth and produced billions of followers of Jesus across every ethnic group, every language community and every cultural context the world contains.

The commission has not been completed, there are still people groups without any access to the Gospel and billions of people who have not yet heard the name of Jesus. And the commission has not been withdrawn, the same Jesus who gave it to eleven disciples on a Galilean mountain gives it to every person who follows Him today. All authority has been given to Him. He is with you always. Go and make disciples.

Reflection

Who are the specific people God has placed in your sphere of daily life, your family, your neighborhood, your workplace, your school, who do not yet know Jesus and who represent your most immediate and most personal expression of the Great Commission? What would it look like to engage with one of those people more intentionally this week, not through a rehearsed religious presentation but through genuine relationship and genuine care that creates space for the Gospel to be shared? And how does the promise "I am with you always" speak to the specific fear or reluctance that has been keeping you from engaging more fully with the commission Jesus has given you?

Share your thoughts and reflections in the comments below!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is the Great Commission only for pastors and missionaries?

No, the Great Commission was given by Jesus to all of His disciples not to a professional ministry class. Matthew 28:19-20 does not qualify the recipients of the commission by spiritual maturity, ministry position or professional training. Every person who has been made a disciple of Jesus has received the commission to make disciples of others. The specific expression of that commission will vary enormously, a missionary crossing cultures, a mother discipling her children, a believer investing in a friendship with an unbelieving colleague, but the commission itself belongs to every follower of Jesus without exception.

What is the difference between evangelism and discipleship?

Evangelism is the proclamation of the Gospel, the announcement of who Jesus is and what He has done, with the invitation to respond in faith. Discipleship is the sustained process of formation that follows genuine response to the Gospel, learning to obey everything Jesus commanded, growing in Christlike character, being integrated into the community of believers and being equipped to extend the commission to others. The Great Commission encompasses both, "go and make disciples" involves bringing people to initial faith (evangelism) and then forming them over time into mature followers (discipleship). Neither is complete without the other.

What does it mean practically to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Baptism "in the name of" in the first century carried the sense of belonging to, being under the authority of and being identified with the one in whose name the act was performed. To be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is to be publicly declared as belonging to the Triune God, to have one's new identity as God's child, as a member of the body of Christ and as a temple of the Holy Spirit publicly marked and celebrated. The formula is not a magical incantation, it is the theological declaration of the new reality that genuine faith in Jesus has created in the person being baptized.

A Short Prayer

Lord Jesus You gave the Great Commission to eleven ordinary people and through them to me. I receive it today, not as a familiar passage I know about but as a personal assignment I have been given. Help me to see the people You have placed in my sphere of life with the same eyes of compassion You had for the crowds on the hillsides of Galilee. Give me the courage to engage intentionally, the patience to invest in genuine relationship and the wisdom to make disciples rather than simply recruiting religious converts. And remind me every day of the promise that accompanies the commission, that You are with me always, that all authority has been given to You and that the work I am doing in Your name is not done in my own strength but in Yours. Amen.

Continue Reading: The Great Commission calls every believer to go and make disciples, and that mission begins with understanding the Gospel that we are commissioned to proclaim. Discover the full meaning of what Jesus accomplished for us by reading our complete study on The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and be equipped with the full Gospel that the commission calls us to share.

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