Matthew and Mark both record an event referred to as the “Great Commission.” The central exhortation in that commission, as recorded by Matthew, comes from Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations…” With the immeasurable authority granted to Him by the Father at His victory over evil, Christ commands His apostles, His followers, His disciples, to go out and seek more followers, make more disciples.
Jesus was a Jew. We can’t forget that as we study His life, especially as it retold by Matthew. Matthew’s gospel focuses on the Jewishness of the Lord, as well as those around Him, more than any of the other gospels we have. This reality provides additional insight into this passage in the Great Commission. Jesus, throughout His public ministry, was participating in a Jewish rabbinical system, which had an impact on the way He went about His work. By the first century, a thorough and well-developed system had emerged, centered around itinerant teachers, known as rabbis. Rabbis would go from town to town, village to village, sharing their interpretations of the Law, and expounding on its precepts. As they did this, young men and women from the town might decide to follow the rabbi, traveling with him and learning from him, becoming his disciple.
From this, you can see the way Jesus used this system as He taught. Throughout the gospels, we see a group of people following Jesus from place to place and taking in His teachings. The 12 apostles were the closest to Jesus amongst this group. The Bible frequently refers to such people as “disciples,” indicating they were His “pupils,” or “students.” And they refer to Jesus as their “Teacher” or “Rabbi.” The scribe in Matthew 8:19, himself a sort of Rabbi, comes to Jesus and says, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” This shows the scribe’s desire to give up his own position of authority, and instead follow Jesus, wherever He may lead. When she sees the resurrected Lord, Mary Magdalene, part of His group of female disciples, declares, “Rabboni! (which is to say, Teacher)” (John 20:16).
The Primary Obligations of a Disciple
Disciples had two primary obligations to their masters. First, they were to learn and accept the teachings of the rabbi. For a time, they may have debated the meanings of certain precepts, but once the rabbi made his declaration, the disciples were to accept that judication. This was certainly the expectation for Christ’s disciples, to whom He said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word…” (John 14:23).
The other primary obligation of a disciple was to emulate the practices and lifestyle of his rabbi. Once again, Christ certainly expected this of His disciples. Paul, himself a one-time disciple of Gamaliel, wrote, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Another disciple, who was familiar with traditional rabbinic practice, wrote, “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:6).
A New Standard for Biblical Disciple Making
Jesus conformed to many of these traditional practices, but He distinguished Himself from the typical rabbi. In Matthew 23, as He condemns the most prestigious rabbis of Jerusalem, the Pharisees, Jesus says the following: “And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ” (Matthew 23:10). Most Jews were encouraged to travel with multiple rabbis, but Jesus says that He is the only one worthy of the title Teacher. Another event that makes Jesus unique amongst the rabbis is the Great Commission that we began with. Jesus is, in effect, telling His disciples, go out and make other disciples for Me! The disciples of this Rabbi, rather than striking out on their own successful teaching careers, are to bring more disciples to their resurrected Teacher.
Note the way that the disciples are to go about making more disciples. Once again, the main verb in the phrase commands the disciples to “make disciples of all nations.” But there are two additional phrases, based on underlying Greek words called “participles,” which have a variety of uses. In this case, Jesus clarifies and nuances the main verb with two participles of means, clarifying the means by which the main verb will be accomplished. What are these two clarifying instructions Jesus gives?
We will deal with the second one, first. Jesus says that His disciples are to “[teach] them to observe all things as I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20). Just as these apostles were instructed by Jesus, they are to instruct others in the precepts of Christ and the Law of Liberty. This pattern follows the same pattern that the original disciples themselves had to follow: they were required to accept all the teachings of their rabbi.
Emulation Through the Act of Baptism
And the other clarifying command Jesus gives is to, “[baptize] them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Remember the two ordinances that were required of a rabbinic disciple: accept the teachings of his master, and emulate him in practice and lifestyle. We have one of these two conditions satisfied, as the disciples teach all nations. Furthermore, they are to teach them to observe all things. Imitate Him in everything that is done.
And what does Jesus set forward as pinnacle of this emulation? Baptism. Baptism is the way that the disciple commits himself to following the example of the Great Teacher. “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:2-4).
In baptism, we die, cease from sin. We leave behind our old life because of our conviction in the teachings of the Master. Upon this conviction, we emulate, imitate Him in the very zenith of His work: His death, burial, and resurrection. In the process through which He gave up His own life, that we might live, we participate, dying to ourselves and rising to live for Him. By doing these things, being taught the precepts of the Teacher, and observing what He has commanded, culminating in the ultimate imitation of His life, baptism, we become disciples of His. This is not a meaningful ceremony, or a lifeless sign. This is the culmination of the teaching we have heard from the Teacher (Romans 10:17), our conviction in the truth of His commands, and our desire to imitate Him.
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