40 Questions About the Great Commission

Daniel L. Akin, Benjamin L. Merkle, George G. Robinson

• Publisher: Kregel Publications
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780825487354
• Topic: Theologie & Religion
• Subtopic: Christlicher Dienst

Jesus' Great Commission is one of the key pillars of the church's evangelistic work and has been the guiding principle for missionaries throughout church history. In 40 Questions about the Great Commission, scholars Daniel Akin, Benjamin Merkle, and George Robinson unpack the meaning, history, theology, and practical applications of Jesus' command to go and make disciples. Ideal for personal or group study, this volume will reignite your passion for evangelism while answering key questions like: • Where do we stand in relation to fulfilling the Great Commission?
• How do baptism and teaching relate to the Great Commission?
• What is the meaning of "I am with you always, to the end of the age"?
• How does the Old Testament relate to the Great Commission?
• What is the special contribution of each Gospel's version of the Great Commission?
• What is the responsibility of the local church to the Great Commission?
• What are some mobilization resources that can help churches and individuals to become Great Commission focused?Other highlights include an overview of some of the great evangelists and missionaries in church history, and a collection of notable quotations on the Great Commission, ideal for teaching and preaching.

PART 1

General Questions about the Great Commission

QUESTION 1

What Is the Great Commission?

In the last chapter of Matthew, almost all modern English translations place a subheading before Jesus’s last words to his disciples: “The Great Commission.” If one looks above Mark 16:14, the label occurs again in many English Bibles as well.¹ Many Christians today are familiar with the term. It appears as the theme or title of countless blogs, articles, books, conferences, and sermons. Subheadings and titles like these are helpful because they summarize what passages are teaching. This chapter will explore the meaning of the title “Great Commission,” where it originated, and where and why it appears in Scripture.

The History of the “Great Commission”

Who coined the label “Great Commission” is not certain. Because the phrase is so common today, it is difficult to decipher the history of the title. An author or speaker may refer to someone in history as teaching about the Great Commission even if that historical person did not use the title. For example, many rightly refer to William Carey (1761–1834), the father of the modern missionary movement, as writing about the Great Commission in his work An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. Although Carey’s teaching is congruent with much of our understanding about the Great Commission today, he never used the expression in his famous mission treatise.² Another difficulty, as David Wright reveals, is that “commission” is a common enough noun and “great” is also so common of a descriptor that the phrase “great commission” appears in a general sense long before its modern restricted use.³

Timothy Tennent says the expression seems to first appear in print in 1889 when Eugene Stock published his three-volume work, History of the Church Mission Society.⁴ Robbie Castleman writes that it is possible that the Dutch missionary Justinian von Welz (1621–1688) created the label.⁵ But, Malcom Yarnell argues that the earliest identification of Matthew 28:18–19 as the Great Commission appears in Francis Johnson’s 1595 work A treatise of the ministery of the Church of England.⁶ Johnson describes the passage with adjectives, calling it the “last and great commission.”⁷ Yarnell further argues that Benjamin Keach, a seventeenth-century particular Baptist, is the first to repeatedly develop “the idea that Matthew 28:16–20 is the Great Commission from which the Christian churches should live their lives.”⁸ However, Johnson’s and Keach’s understanding still differ from the full modern idea of the Great Commission as a title for Matthew 28:16–20 as the missionary mandate.

Although the history of the phrase is not easy to sort, many Christians have adopted the phrase and continue to use it today. Some argue that Hudson Taylor (1832–1905), missionary to China, popularized the use of the label.⁹ Taylor is often attributed with the now famous quote, “The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.” A source that confirms the attribution, however, does not exist.¹⁰ Whether Taylor popularized the term cannot be known with certainty, given the dearth of information. But we do know that either during or shortly after Taylor’s life, the term became popular. As Wright concludes “it was not until the last decades of the nineteenth century, or even perhaps the earliest years of the twentieth, that Matthew 28:18–20 came to be conventionally referred to as ‘the Great Commission.’”¹¹

Why Matthew 28:18–20 Is the “Great Commission”

It is important to consider why Matthew 28:18–20 has this title, its full meaning, and what other passages the title fits. What has prompted writers to label it a “commission,” and what is it that makes this commission so “great”?¹² Why is it not—as others have asked—for example, called the Great Command, the Great Declaration, or the Great Suggestion? There are several reasons. First, Jesus’s words are not a declaration or a suggestion, because Jesus commands his disciples with the authority of the Creator and Sovereign Lord. He sends out his disciples with “all authority in heaven and on earth.” His words require a response. The Greek aorist participle poreuthentes should not be translated with a relaxed idea (“as you go”) but with an imperatival force (“Go!”).¹³ In fact, each participle in this passage (going, baptizing, and teaching) has an imperatival force.¹⁴ The disciples must obey Jesus’s words.

Second, Jesus’s words are also more than a command. A command is an authoritative order that can be positive or negative. For example, “feed the hungry” and “do not murder” are commands, but they are not commissions. In a commission, one is sent with another’s authority to fulfill a task or mission. Artists are commissioned to produce a painting, and ships are commissioned to deploy in service. The one commissioned has the power and authority to act for the one sending them. With his final words, Jesus sends out his disciples to participate in God’s mission with his authority and with the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why many have correctly labeled Matthew 28:18–20 as a “commission.” God, through Christ, has sent his followers to participate in his mission by making disciples of all nations.

Before asking why this commission is so great, it is important to understand that the Great Commission is only a part, albeit a crucial part, of all that God is doing. From the entire story of the Bible, the grand redemptive story, we see that there is a larger missio dei, a Latin phrase meaning the “mission of God.” From the opening line of “In the beginning” to the closing “Amen,” the Bible tells the story of God’s mission to redeem humanity and creation. As Christopher Wright says, “The whole Bible is itself a ‘missional’ phenomenon…. The Bible renders to us the story of God’s mission through God’s people in their engagement with God’s world for the sake of the whole of God’s creation.”¹⁵ Mission is ultimately about what God is doing, which is not limited to what man does. The Great Commission is man’s role in God’s greater work. God is working to bring all creation back to himself, but he gives a specific command within that greater work for his people to proclaim the gospel of Jesus. As Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert write, “There are certain things that God intends to do one day that we are to have no part in…. [T]here were also certain elements of Jesus’ mission during his first coming that were unique to him. We have no part, for example in dying for the sins of the world.”¹⁶ Our role is to be a witness of God’s mission in Christ. We understand the Great Commission best then if we understand it as part of God’s mission. John Massey summarizes it well: “ ‘Mission’ is, therefore, God’s work in the world; the church serves as a sign and instrument for that mission.”¹⁷

If the Great Commission is only a part of God’s mission, then what makes it “great”? First, Robert Plummer answers, “Jesus commissions [the disciples] with language that draws a parallel to his own mission” (John 20:21).¹⁸ The God of all creation is at work in his mission to restore the world and mankind to himself, and he allows his followers to play a part in that mission, a role that parallels the Son of God himself. The Great Commission is our Spirit-empowered work in God’s mission. Second, what makes this commission even more important, as DeYoung and Gilbert demonstrate, is its “strategic placement” at the very end of Matthew to climax all that has occurred prior, and its ability to sum up the major themes of the Gospel.¹⁹ D. A. Carson agrees: “The Great Commission is not simply tacked on at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. Rather, it brings to a climax one of the themes that drives through the entire book.”²⁰ The Great Commission completes Matthew’s teaching that Jesus came to save (Matt. 1:21). Third, these words are also Jesus’s final words to his apostles before he leaves them. As a result, they carry extra power and importance. Last words are meant to be lasting words. Finally, Ed Stetzer also says, “At this moment the mission shifts in Jesus’ words from a centripetal mission—up to Jerusalem—to a centrifugal mission—go therefore out from this place.”²¹ The expanded scope of worldwide evangelism is what makes this commission great.

When we place Matthew 28:18–20 in the context of God’s mission and Matthew’s structure, we can see why many have labeled it the Great Commission. In it, we reach the top of a mountain, literally and figuratively, seeing all that Christ has done for mankind and all that Christ will do.²² We also see our glorious, life-encompassing marching orders from our Savior.

The Great Commission or Great Commissions?

When Eugene Stock uses the title “Great Commission” in his work, he referred to all the gospel mandates rather than Matthew alone.²³ Matthew 28:18– 20 is a crucial part of the Great Commission. But, our understanding of the “Great Commission” must broaden beyond Matthew’s final verses. Mark 13:10,²⁴ Luke 24:46–49, John 20:19–23, and Acts 1:8 each record commissions by Jesus to spread the gospel.²⁵ Although these passages differ in their specific focus, they all capture the command for Christians to spread the gospel. And all but John specifically reference bringing the gospel to the nations/world.²⁶ Timothy Tennent is right then when he says that there are actually Great Commissions (plural) in the Bible and that each adds to the collective force of the Great Commission (singular).²⁷ The benefit of expanding the title to include all of these passages is that it allows the title to carry the unique contribution of each book, and it highlights the truth that this theme is important to all of the New Testament.

Robert Plummer argues that the Great Commission also appears implicitly in Paul’s writings. Paul commands in Philippians 2:16 “to hold out the word of life”;²⁸ he encourages the Thessalonians because the word was going out from them everywhere (1 Thess. 1:8); and he commands the church to imitate him, which has an evangelistic component (1 Cor. 4:16).²⁹ The Great Commission is present throughout the New Testament. It reaches its fulfillment as we move toward the eschaton (Rev. 5; 7). Its presence should not surprise us because God’s mission is central to the story of the whole Bible. We should expect to see our role in it in multiple locations.

Summary

The title “Great Commission” is not in the original New Testament manuscripts, but it faithfully captures the heart of Jesus’s words, just like the word “Trinity” faithfully captures the Bible’s understanding of God’s being, character, and identity. Jesus has sent his disciples to continue his mission and to be witnesses to the great work that God is accomplishing. One day God will complete his mission and his followers will enter into God’s perfect rest to enjoy him forever. Until then, we have work to do!

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Where does the Great Commission fit into the overall story of the Bible?
2. How does Jesus’s commission in the New Testament differ from God’s commands to Israel in the Old Testament?
3. Reread the passages this chapter gives as being a part of the Great Commission. What does each contribute?
4. How does placing the Great Commission within God’s larger mission give us a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction
• Abbreviations
• Part 1: General Questions about the Great Commission
• Part 2: Historical Questions about the Great Commission
• Part 3: Exegetical Questions about the Great Commission
• Part 4: Biblical-Theological Questions about the Great Commission
• Part 5: Practical-Missiological Questions about the Great Commission
• Select Bibliography
• Appendix A: 6 Seasons of God’s Kingdom Strategy
• Appendix B: Sermon on Matthew 28:16–20—The Great Commission & William Carey: A Passionate Global Vision