Matthew 28:18–20

Context

This is the final section of the Gospel of Matthew. It records the words the risen Jesus spoke when he met the eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee. The preceding verse (28:17) notes that the disciples worshiped him, "but some doubted." Jesus first declares that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to him (v. 18). On the basis of that authority, he then issues a command (vv. 19–20a) and concludes with a promise of his presence (v. 20b). In Matthew 10:5–6 the disciples were sent to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel," but here the scope widens to "all nations." The closing promise is often read as paired with "Emmanuel" ("God with us") in 1:23, the two together framing the book as a whole.

Interpretation

• The central command: In the Greek text, the only imperative verb is "make disciples." "Go," "baptizing," and "teaching" are participles (modifying forms derived from verbs). Many commentators therefore read disciple-making as the core of the command, with baptism and teaching as its means. Many interpreters, however, hold that "go" also carries imperative force.
• "All nations": Some read the phrase as referring to all people, including the Gentiles. Others take it to refer to ethnic groups distinguished by language and culture and use it as a basis for missions to people groups that have not yet heard the gospel.
• Recipients of the command: On the basis of the promise "unto the end of the world," most churches today hold that the command was given not only to the apostles but to the entire church that followed. In the late eighteenth century the English Baptist minister William Carey argued that the command remains binding, an argument regarded as a starting point of the modern Protestant missionary movement.

Debates and Issues

• Subjects and mode of baptism: Baptists and others point out that "make disciples" precedes baptism and therefore hold that baptism should be administered only to those who have professed faith. They also practice immersion, arguing that the original term baptizō means "to immerse in water." Presbyterians, Methodists, and others who practice infant baptism hold that the passage does not prescribe a sequence and that the children of believers, as members of the covenant community with God, are proper subjects of baptism (see infant baptism debate and baptism and immersion).
• Baptismal formula: The wording of this passage differs from "in the name of Jesus Christ" in Acts 2:38. Most churches follow the triune formula of this passage and cite it as a basis for the doctrine of the Trinity. Oneness Pentecostals, a movement within Pentecostalism, argue that the singular noun "name" refers to Jesus and that baptism should be administered in the name of Jesus only. Mainstream churches reject this view as modalism.
• Textual question: Some quotations by the fourth-century church historian Eusebius contain a shorter form, "in my name." On this basis it has been argued that the triune formula was a later addition. All extant Greek manuscripts, however, contain the triune formula.

In the Korean Church

The Korean church commonly calls this passage the jisang myeongnyeong (至上命令, "supreme command"), its term for the Great Commission. It is a frequently used sermon text at missionary commissioning services, on Mission Sunday, and at send-off ceremonies for short-term mission teams. Churches that emphasize discipleship training cite "make disciples" as the basis for their training ministries. In baptism and immersion services, the officiant usually follows this passage in baptizing "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The New Korean Revised Version renders verse 19 as "make disciples of all nations."

Related Passages

• Matthew 1:22–23: the "Emmanuel" promise
• Daniel 7:13–14: dominion and a kingdom given to the Son of man
• Luke 24:46–49: the commissioning words in the Gospel of Luke
• Acts 1:8: the call to be witnesses unto the uttermost part of the earth