The Great Commission

Jesus’ last words to His apostles have become known as the Great Commission. One thing that many people don’t seem to realize is that there are four gospels, and, therefore, different versions of the Great Commission. I think that it is important to note that each of the writers wrote down what was most important to him, and, apparently, didn’t try to write down the entire message. The different accounts are, in fact, quite different.

Matthew recorded it this way: “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Mark: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”

Luke: “And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.”

And, finally, John really didn’t write an account of the Great Commission, but, according to him, Jesus’ last words to His disciples were, “Follow me.”

If we examine the words, we find that Jesus said that all power was His. Not some of the power, or that He was part a committee that had all power, but that all power was His. Some may ask, “Well, who gave it to Him? Did He give it to Himself?” Quite possibly He did, otherwise, someone else gave it to Him, without reserving any power to themselves. He told them to teach all nations. Teach them what? Well, He also said to preach the Gospel to every creature (creature meaning created being—in this instance, meaning beings created by God). So, by looking at those two together, it is clear that we should be teaching (or preaching) the Gospel; in Luke it talks about repentance and remission of sins should be preached to all nations, so repentence and remission must be part of the Gospel message. Matthew and Mark both talk about baptism, where Luke talks about tarrying at Jerusalem, until they were endued with power from on high. I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that the disciples tarried at Jerusalem until the day of Pentacost, when the Holy Ghost fell (enduing them with power), and they had the first post-resurrection baptismal service (and, when Peter told the crowd to be baptized, he specifically used the terms “repent” and “remission of sins”). So, really, Luke is talking about baptism, too, although he may not have realized that at the time (or, alternatively, he thought it was obvious, and didn’t consider us trying to understand his context almost two thousand years later). Mark goes on to talk about signs that shall follow the believers: New tongues, taking up serpents, not being harmed by drinking deadly things, and healing the sick. I have pointed out before that I don’t think every believer is going to show each of those signs, and least, not in a purely literal sense. In a Spiritual sense, I know that I gained a new tongue when I accepted salvation. Of course, I was born again, so all of me was effectively new, but one of the most striking changes in me was that certain words that I had been trying unsuccessfully to drop from my vocabulary for years were suddenly gone. I have had to take up two-legged serpents that would have liked to separate me from the love of God. I have drunken in all kinds of deadly things with my eyes and ears and continued my walk with Christ. There have been times when I have been able to encourage a brother or sister who was Spiritually ill, and see them recover.