The Great Commission: Go and Make Disciples

Matthew doesn’t smooth over the moment before he records the most famous commissioning verse in the New Testament. The eleven disciples go to the mountain, see the risen Jesus, worship him, and then, in the very same sentence, “some doubted” (28:17). Matthew could have cut that clause. He didn’t. Whatever the Great Commission is, it’s given to a group that isn’t uniformly sure.

Read it in the terminal: bible matthew 28

Authority comes first

Jesus doesn’t open with the command to go. He opens with a claim: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (28:18). The commission that follows is downstream of that claim, not a stand-alone pep talk. The disciples are sent out under someone else’s authority, not their own credentials.

Disciples, not just converts

The command is “make disciples,” not “make converts” or “collect decisions.” It’s paired with two ongoing tasks, baptizing and teaching, that describe an entire process of formation, not a single transaction. Matthew’s Jesus is asking for people who learn to obey “all things” he commanded, which is a much longer project than a single moment of assent.

“Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” — Matthew 28:20

Questions for study

1. Why might Matthew have included the detail that some worshippers doubted?
2. How does grounding the commission in Jesus’s authority change how you understand your part in it?
3. What’s the difference between making converts and making disciples in practice?
4. What does the promise “I am with you always” add to a command that could otherwise feel like an impossible task?

cd .. cd ~ (back to terminal)