Author: Steve Amato
Keywords: bible study,Bible, Jesus, great commission, ascension,discipleship, mission

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# The Synoptics on The Great Commission & The Ascension
## The Great Commission Matt 28: 16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 17 When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
## Comments ## Some Doubted The word "doubt" here cannot be construed as total unbelief, but rather of a degree of unbelief. The only other place the greek word is used in the Bible is in Matthew 14:31 In which by faith Peter stepped out onto the water. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" So again we see it is not a completely lack of faith. But I would say that the quality of faith that the "some" exercised is not characteristic of Biblical faith. For Paul writes of the faith of Abraham saying, "Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised." Romans 4:20,21 We saw this same kind of doubting going on concerning Jesus' resurrection. It appears at that time they were not fully persuaded that God had power to do what He promised. But now having seen the resurrected Christ, how could these "some" continue to doubt? What was it they doubted about? I would infer that it was certainly not his resurrection that they doubted, but rather whether it was appropriate to worship Christ. Notice the context "When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted." Doubted is being contrasted with worshipping him. The scriptures at that time were very emphatic, and it is the first Commandment to worship God only. Even Islam accepts Jesus as a great prophet. But they reject him as an object of worship. The concept of the deity of Christ would be a source of great controversy for centuries. Nonetheless it appears that Jesus tolerates this unbelief, as if to allow them time to mature in their thinking on the matter. ## Non-Trinitarians and the Great Commission It is interesting that Matthew says that Jesus came to "them", as if referring specifically to the doubting ones. If this is the case, then again this affirms that the issue had to do with the Deity of Christ, or more generally the Trinity. For he says, "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" It doesn't say "names. "Name" is singular. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in one name. Which is also in accordance with Jesus' response to Philip saying, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." John 14:9 Yes his command here applies to all of them, but he targets the non-trinitarians so as to make clear to them that as they make disciples, they must baptize in the name of the Trinity, else they are acting outside of His authority. Non-Trinitarian Christians such as Jehovah Witnesses are acting outside of Jesus' authority in their discipling of people. And of course you cannot baptize in the name of the Trinity unless you also accept the Trinity. Thus it is with the prerequisite of their acceptance of his Deity that he commissions them and promises to be with them. ## Make Disciples The making of disciples consists of baptizing and teaching people to obey what Jesus has commanded. Although "baptizing" is set here before "teaching", the greek would seem to play down any relevance to this order in that both are present active participles and there is not even an "and" separating them. These two things are simply presented as two aspects of discipleship. Does "teaching them to obey all I commanded you" limit the teachings to the gospels? No, for the New Testament letters are also Jesus' commands. "If anybody thinks he is a prophet or spiritually gifted, let him acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command." 1Co 14:37 But just as there are non-Trinitarian doubters, so also there are those who doubt that the New Testament letters are the Lord's commands as well. Such are unspiritually minded. Is the Great Commission for all Christians, or only for those few disciples? As it does say to teach them "to obey everything I have commanded you", that would include the Great Commission itself.
## The Great Commission & Ascension Mark 16: 15 He said to them, "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
## Comments ## To Every Creature Matthew mentions the fact that the Great Commission involves baptizing and teaching. Mark mentions it involves preaching, as does Luke. So speaking to people of Christ is essential to living the Christian life, if we are to live as servants of Christ. 2Cor 4:13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, But why preach to "all creation". The King James renders this "to every creature". Are we to preach to animals? What he means by this is to include Gentiles. For Jews were generally racist. They spoke of Gentiles as if dogs or other such animals. And indeed we will see in the book of Acts a great reluctance on the part of the Jewish apostles to preach to Gentiles. Indeed instead of "going", they stayed around Jerusalem for quite a long time. So God went on to chose someone else who would fulfill the Commission. Are there people in the world that you despise like the Jews did the Gentiles? Perhaps they are the ones God is calling you to go to. For didn't God chose the most unlikely character - a Pharisee who even used to persecute even Jewish Christians - to preach to the Gentiles over that of the Galilean Apostles who grew up in a Hellenistic environment? ## Salvation, Faith and Baptism Mark 16:16 is the only verse in the Synoptic gospels which speak of salvation by faith. It reads somewhat like John 3:18 "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." Concerning baptism, we should be careful to not go beyond what is written here.
|  | Believes
|  | Yes | No
Baptized | Yes | Saved | Unsaved
No | Doesn't Say | Unsaved
The text here only deals with the situation in which one believes and is baptized, and when one disbelieves. It says nothing about the case when one believes but has yet to get baptized. For that case we must refer to other scripture like John 3:18 above which state that upon belief one is not condemned, making no reference to baptism. Nonetheless I would say that water baptism simply accompanies faith in Christ as naturally as repentance does, but I would dissuade those who have a "get wet to the get saved" ritualistic mentality. (See Baptism) ## Miracles The key to understanding verse 17-20 is found in the phrase "the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." The purpose of the miracles was to confirm the message was from God. Jesus applied this even to his own miracles saying, "The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me" John 10:25 For how does one know whether God has spoken unless proven by miracles. (This is a major weakness of Islam). Now some people ask, "How can I know God has spoken?" Just read His word and I'm not jokin. Raising the dead and healing the blind. Oh, there's lots of proofs, you'll find. In the presence of thousands, both friend and foe. things not done in secret, don't you know. For when God speaks His word, He understands we need proof it's His and not man's. Just as the authors of the Old Testament were affirmed by miracles, so too the authors of the New Testament. But the Bible having been finished and confirmed by miracles, there was little logical need for such in post-Biblical times. For the message is one of faith and not of sight. "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29 Thus today while there are perhaps pockets of miracles here and there, we no longer see that parade of miracles characteristic of Jesus' ministry and that of the apostles. For they fulfilled their purpose. However there are even Christians who run from place to place desperately seeking miracles so as to affirm their weak faith. Or they call something a miracle which is not. And just as the bronze serpent of Numbers 22 later became an idol, and the ephod that Gideon made became an idol (Judges 8:27), so can the search for such "miracles" become an idol and detract from the truth and distract from Christ, not to mention the divisiveness and elitist attitude which have resulted in the Christian community from such obsession with miracles. But at the time these kinds of things indeed did follow the apostles. Demons were driven out. The disciples spoke in other tongues at Pentecost in which foreigners could understand. Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake and survived unharmed. The apostles layed on hands and the sick got well. Peter even had occasion to raise the dead. ## The Ascension In being taken up to heaven, Mark mentions that Jesus sat on the right hand of God. The writer of Hebrews mentions, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." Heb 1:3 Sitting indicates finished work. It's like after you get home from work, the first thing you want to do is sit down. The right hand is a hand of power. Jesus was God's right hand man.
## The Great Commission Luke 24: 44 He said to them, "This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. 46 He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send forth the promise of my Father on you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high." ## The Ascension 50 He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 It happened, while he blessed them, that he withdrew from them, and was carried up into heaven. 52 They worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
## Comments ## Repentance In preaching the gospel, the message should include repentance and forgiveness of sins. And this we see also in the examples in Acts. However some today having been influenced by incorrect theological view points preach Christ without including repentance and forgivness. They may try to get people to pray Jesus into their hearts even provoking unbelievers to do so in an experimental fashion, and fail to mention repentance and forgiveness of sins with the excuse that such would "turn people off" or that it is too negative. As a result you end up with nominal Christians who are quite comfortable living a lifestyle of sin and introduce a good deal of yeast into the Christian community. There are those of a "do nothing" theology who cry out "legalism" if the message includes an application oriented faith as opposed to their own message of a dead non-application oriented faith. To such "repentance" has nothing to do with a change of behavior. Let me say emphatically that if a person's sinful behavior doesn't change, such a person will not inherit the kingdom of God. "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." 1Cor 6:9,10 And so Peter preaching the gospel proclaims, "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out." Acts 3:19 Don't listen to those who say that men are incapable of doing these. Just do it because that's what the Bible says. ## Starting in Jerusalem They indeed started in Jerusalem. But it appears they got too comfortable there, as I mentioned above and they seemed to lose the point of view that Jerusalem was only the starting place. So to with us that when we lose the vision of the big picture and stagnate in ministry, people perish. Many do well in parachurch ministries at college, but stagnate and end up doing very little ministry the rest of their lives. Most institutional church contribute to such stagnation, as does the burdens of married life. And yet there often seems a contemptuous pride that those of the Jerusalem ministry have towards those who go beyond the bounds of such a ministry. Their one city is more important that those of the rest of the world, and so they chose 11 to minister there, while 1 person goes to the rest of the world. ## The Holy Spirit At this point none of the apostles had received the Holy Spirit. John writes, "By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified." John 7:39 This was a dispensational transition. The event Jesus spoke of would be realized at Pentecost. The final miracle they viewed was the Ascension. Thus having had their faith strongly affirmed by all these miracles, they returned to Jerusalem with joy and confidence. This in contrast to their fleeing the garden of Gethsemane. Before they were awakened to a nightmare. Now they are awakened to life. ## The Change in the Apostles I have heard from many Bible skeptics, but for many even of them, though they attempt to get around the miracles, there is one thing that they find most convincing is the change in the apostles. Something must have happened else the church would never have begun. Indeed the transformation in the apostles as the book of Acts records, is perhaps the most convincing of miracles in this day and age.

Verses quoted from the NIV version
The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources