Hi pastor John,
What does “great commission” mean in Matthew 28:16-20?
Thank you,
Leika
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Hi Leika.
There is no “great commission” in Matthew 28:16-20. That is a phrase Christians invented and applied to those verses to use as a tool of manipulation, to pressure people to donate to their evangelistic enterprises.
In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus is only ordaining the ones with him then, the ones to whom he was then speaking – his disciples – to preach and to spread the gospel. He was not speaking to you. If Jesus ever tells you or me to go preach and to spread the gospel, then we should go do that, too. In the meantime, we have no authority to do so, and we are under no obligation to support Christians who claim to have a commission to spread the gospel just because they read those verses in Matthew.
Only those whom Jesus personally anoints and sends have authority to preach and to spread his gospel. Now, if Jesus DOES anoint and send a man, that is indeed a “great commission”. But such a commission belongs only to those whom the living Jesus sends. No scripture has the power to anoint and send men to preach the gospel of Christ. “The scripture kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
Let us pray that Jesus will anoint and send many men to preach his gospel. It is very much needed. Whenever he does that, the difference is enormous between those holy men and the Christian missionaries who claim to have a “great commission” to evangelize, based on Matthew 28.
Thank you for the question, Leika.
Pastor John