The Last Commission
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20 NASB
Of all nations – Perhaps we need to rethink the “Great Commission.” Even if we realize that it isn’t about Christian missionary evangelism, we are still victims of exegetical assumptions that color our views on the meaning of Yeshua’s last command. We have assumed that whatever this means, it is at the very least an instruction to bring the Gentiles into alignment with the Jewish Messianic assemblies. And we most likely also believed that this command applied to those Jewish who did not yet recognize Yeshua as the Messiah. Yes, we know that Jews did not “convert.” They were, after all, already worshipping the God of Israel and already looking for the Messiah. They did not need a “new” religion in the same way that pagan Gentiles did. But maybe even this assumption needs to be re-examined. Let me explain.
Paula Fredriksen pointed out that the apocalyptic vision of the apostles is the foundation of their inclusion of the Gentiles as Gentiles into the Messianic community. “But it was the subsequent turning of the gentiles—a biblically prophesied but socially unprecedented phenomenon—that proved so successful, so widespread, and so long-lived. These ex-pagan pagans further and continuingly reinforced the apostles’ convictions, compelling some of them to press ahead with outreach to pagans, to make disciples of all nations. It was over these nations that the triumphant returning of Christ would rule (Rom 15.10; Isa 11.10 LXX). These ex-pagan pagans represented, indeed embodied, both the final Davidic messiah’s staged victory over foreign gods and the confirmation of God’s ancient promises to Israel.”[1] When the gospel of Matthew was written, decades of Gentile transitions had already occurred. Ex-pagan populations were significantly present in the Messianic assemblies. If the apostles believed that the Kingdom of God would soon become an earthly reality, then the prophecy that this Kingdom would consist of Jews and “all the nations” appeared to be fulfilled in the present day. With this in mind, Yeshua’s instructions take on a different tone.
First, notice that these instructions are not directed toward Jews. Jews are not “all the nations.” There is no sense in which Yeshua’s command can be understood as a directive to reach out to the Jews. Of course, you already know that it is not a “command.” The translation, “Go,” isn’t correct. The verb is an aorist, passive, participle, that is, something already done as a continuing action to someone. The sense is more like, “As you have been going.” A continuing action in the past that is still operative but almost as if some other force were motivating it. As if you have been swept up into something that has had a life of its own for a while.
In this “swept away” state, you and I are to do something. We are to “disciple”— mathēteúō. “Intransitively this word means ‘to be or become a pupil.’”[2] Do you find this odd? We usually read this verse as if it is an instruction to do something to someone else, namely, to make someone else a disciple, that is, a learner. Most Christian commentators treat this as if it means to make someone else a “Christian” through evangelism, but the word doesn’t imply that. It only means to enter into a state of learning, to become a true listener, a pupil. And the most amazing thing about this instruction is that it is about us, not them.
“As you are being swept away in this state of involvement [with me], be listeners, be true students,” implying both hearing and doing. But there is nothing here that says our job is to get others onboard. When you think about it, how could we do that? Doesn’t Yeshua himself say that no one comes to him unless the Father drags that person along? When did we decide that we could play that role?
Topical Index: great commission, nations, ethne, Matthew 28:19-20
[1] Paula Fredriksen, Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle (Yale University Press, 2017), p. 168.
[2] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (p. 562). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
