Making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20)

Here is the first mention of Christian baptism in the New Testament. Other forms of baptism are mentioned prior to this occasion but they were not connected to Christian baptism. This occasion is the onset of something new.

The fourfold use of the word ‘all’ has often been pointed: Jesus has all authority, he sends his people to all nations, they are to teach all that he commanded, and he is with them all the days.

Authority

Jesus claims that all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth. An obvious question is when was he given this authority. We might assume that he received it when he ascended, yet when he gave this instruction, he had not yet ascended to heaven. So while his position may have been confirmed when he ascended, the occasion of receiving it occurred before then, indeed long before then. He was given this position in promise, we can say, by the Father before he came into the world. He was given a role to perform, a role that he gladly accepted, which was that he would be highly exalted if he completed the task given to him by the Father. Jesus is aware of what he had been promised by the Father and what he would receive from the Father.

Where is Jesus the king? The answer is everywhere, in heaven or in earth. Is there something that exists in both heaven and earth? The answer is his people or his kingdom, and he rules over them in a certain way. He does have universal authority over every thing and he governs in that way by his providence and through common grace given to help people live together. But he has authority in a special way over his church and part of his power is to adjust or replace some of its features. And he does that here when he instructs his apostles about baptism.

Global discipleship is the purpose of the church

Up until this occasion, discipleship had been mainly limited to Israel. If other people wanted to adopt the revealed will of God, they would identify with Israel by getting circumcised and attending the synagogue and the temple where they would be taught who God is and what he wanted. Who could change that way of doing things? Only a person with divine authority to remove the previous methods and institute new practices. And we can see that Jesus does that here when he says that his future disciples would come from all the nations. This would be how the covenant made with Abraham concerning the ingathering of the nations would be fulfilled.

Many titles or descriptions are given to believers in Jesus in the Bible. For example, they are the children of God, members of his family. They are also called saints, that is those who are set apart to God. In this passage, the followers of Jesus are called disciples. But the word is not confined to them. Other leaders had their own disciples. So what is a disciple? A disciple is a learner. Whose disciples are these Gentiles going to be? Could they be the disciples of the apostles? The apostles would teach them, but the disciples would not be linked to them in the sense of being called by their names. Rather the disciples would be those who would listen to what was told them about Jesus and his teachings as well as about his person and work.

Perhaps there would have been a certain sense of unease here for the apostles. Imagine asking Peter and the rest questions like this: ‘Your Master has instructed you to go and make disciples of all nations. Do you know how many nations there are in the world? Indeed, do you know how big the world is?’ Peter probably would not have known the answers. There is also a sense of urgency here which we can see by the word ‘Go.’ They could not delay obeying the instruction of Jesus. 

Moreover, we know that the task committed to them by Jesus would be left unfinished by them, even although we also know that they spread the faith far and wide during their lifetimes. In fact, twenty centuries later, it is still unfinished, even although the church is much bigger. But we can see that there is real sense in which it was an uncomplicated task because all they had to do was pass on what Jesus had taught them. They had a straightforward task to pass on what they had been told during the years they had spent with Jesus. The Saviour had promised them that he would send the Holy Spirit to help them as they engaged in this work.

In addition, the instruction given to them by Jesus was unique, and we can see the uniqueness in his description of baptism. Baptisms would be the visible signs that Jesus was building his church. He would build his church wherever his disciples took his gospel and passed it on to others. It is good when someone accepts the message of Jesus, but mere acceptance is not sufficient. So we can think briefly about how this is the case.

Baptism is the sign of discipleship

We have mentioned that discipleship involved comprehensive instruction concerning the teachings of Jesus. But Jesus told them that more than a willingness to be instructed was required. In addition, there had to be identification, and the way to become identified with the disciples of Jesus was by baptism. Without taking the step of baptism, they could not claim that they were true disciples of Jesus. That was true back then, and it is still the case today.

At the occasion of baptism something has to be said. This was the case with all baptisms because if something was not stated, onlookers would not know what was happening. So, for example, when someone was baptised by John the Baptist the explanation given was that they were getting baptised because they wanted to cease living sinful lives or that they were identifying themselves with the kingdom of the Messiah that John declared was about to appear. What is to be said at Christian baptism?

Jesus instructed his listeners that what had to be said was that person was being baptised in the name of the Trinity. That was the confession that they would be making. They would be stating some thing that is true of the Lord. Perhaps if we had been standing there we would have assumed that they would say something about what the Lord had done for Israel. Maybe they could say, I am baptised in the name of the God who took our ancestors out of Egypt. But that is not what Jesus wanted his disciples to say. Instead, he connected baptism to the name of the Trinity.

It is possible to make several clear deductions from what Jesus required to be said when he told his disciples to baptise others in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. First, the new disciples would be affirming that they believed that there is only one God (it is one name, not three names). Second, they would be affirming that while there is only one God there are three persons in the Godhead. Third, being baptised in that name would indicate that they wanted to learn about the one God who exists as three persons. Fourth, they wanted to serve that one God who is three persons.

Imagine a Jewish disciple speaking to a neighbour about baptism. He would say that he believed in one God like all Jews, but he also claimed something about the God that other Jews would not accept, which is that the one God exists as three persons in a relationship where one is the Father, the second is the Son, and the third is the Holy Spirit. His fellow Jew would regard him as a heretic and insist that he could not be serving the true God. He would have been regarded as a blasphemer for doing so. 

Imagine a Gentile disciple speaking to a neighbour about baptism. The neighbour would say, ‘Did you get baptised in the names of three gods?’ His neighbour would assume that the disciple was a polytheist, a person who believes in many gods. And he would say no, there is only one God but there are three divine persons. And right away we can see why Christianity was different from all other religions, and still is.

Getting baptised in this name was a statement of submission as well. It was an indication that from then on the person baptised belonged to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Of course, that is a great privilege, but it is also a solemn responsibility because he or she takes that name wherever they go. They represent that name everywhere, and that is what they indicate they wish to do when they are baptised.

The preposition ‘in’ can also mean ‘into’, which is a reminder that baptism symbolises union with God. Those who are true disciples experience what baptism signifies and points to, that the community of the baptised is composed of those who have contact and communion with the three persons of the Godhead. We have fellowship with the Father as his children, we have fellowship with Jesus as our Saviour, and we have fellowship with the Holy Spirit as he brings the things of Christ to us.

The presence of Jesus

Jesus has claimed universal authority as a reminder to his followers regarding who they are to obey. He promises them his presence because he wants to enable them to make disciples. He organises in his providence, he observes by his presence, and he enables by his power. But how does he manage to be with them since he has ascended to heaven and is no longer on earth in a physical way? Jesus is with his people in one way because as God he is omnipresent. He is with them in another way by the Holy Spirit whom he had promised to his disciples when he told them in the Upper Room that he would send another Helper to be with them forever. So today we have a double sense of the presence of Jesus with us.

Does Jesus mention children here?

The question can also be phrased, does Jesus omit children here? Is a child too young to be a disciple? Is it right only to instruct them and to omit the method of identification? If a child can be instructed about Jesus and his kingdom, then they can also be identified with Jesus and his kingdom. In Old Testament days, children were instructed after they had been identified with God’s people through the ritual of circumcision. Jesus expands the kingdom here by bringing in Gentiles, but he does not say that children have lost the privilege of participation. Since he was changing the ritual that would be used, we would expect him to mention a change of recipients if a change had occurred.

Which disciples are to disciple children? Their parents mainly. That is their responsibility, to do what Paul says when he urges parents to bring them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. The church does it to a lesser extent, but it is never a substitute for what parents should do. That is why parents, and not the church, take vows about bringing the children up in the faith. 

From now on, the child belongs in an external way to the visible church of Christ. Baptism is not a guarantee of salvation. But it is a pointer to its availability, and it places the child within the community of those who hear the gospel and who are encouraged regularly to embrace the Saviour.