003 - The Great Commisson and Acts

The use of the word “nations” and the structure of how the Great Commission was given are also vital to understanding the intent behind the commission and where it fits within Biblical history. As the flow of Scripture is covenantal, we can understand the application and context of the Great Commission by realising its covenantal significance. When God establishes a covenant, the sovereignty of the covenantant maker (God) is established first (i.e. transcendence) – “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him” (Matthew 28:16- 17a). God establishes His new name – Jesus, who is the sovereign and must be worshipped. Symbolically, the establishment of Jesus as the sovereign King of kings was done on a mountain top, the place “where heaven and earth meet” and where God met many old covenant priests, kings and prophets. Christ received His sovereign kingship after He accomplished His redemptive work and resurrected (Acts 13:33-34 , cf. Psalm 2 and Acts 2:30-35 ). The second person in the Trinity had emptied Himself of glory to redeem His people through serving them, the He resurrected and was given back His glory and a kingdom (i.e. all authority in heaven and on earth). The transcendent King then sets forth the covenantal hierarchy in Matthew 28:18- 19a – “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” All authority is derivative, it flows from the Trinity (i.e. it was given from God), and the church is commissioned to promote obedience to that authority (i.e. Jesus delegates His authority by saying “go therefore”). Submission to this authority is to be universal (i.e. make disciples of all the nations). Jesus then proceeds to set forth the pattern of life (i.e. ethics) in this new covenant – “Go therefore make disciples of all the nations…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28: 19a, 20a). The nations are to be discipled to use the ethical blueprints, found in God’s Word, as the standard for individual and corporate life and faith. Christ then sanctions His people by oath to live according to the stipulations of the new covenant – “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28: 19b). This sanction reveals that the Great Commission is not primarily or initially oriented towards cultural transformation. Rather it is the worship/redemptive power that flows to brining all of life under the reign and rule of Christ. The Lord then states the continuance of His sovereignty – “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28: 20b). This covenant continuity displays the outcome of the Great Commission; Christ will be with His people until they have accomplished discipling the nations (people and their cultures). It is only then, according to 1 Corinthians 15:25 ,  that Jesus will return to defeat the final foe (death – 1 Corinthians 15:26 ) and then hand up a full/completed kingdom to God the Father on the last day (Gentry Jr, The Greatness of the Great Commission, 1993, pp. 27, 31, 34, 41, 45, 65, 71, 79-80, 91). Thus the Great Commission is covenantal, individual and corporate in structure and universal in application.

The outworking of the Great Commission in the extension and progression of the kingdom from the Jews to Gentiles is significant in the flow of Biblical history. At the Tower of Babel men sought to glorify themselves, they were unified in religious tongue (i.e. lip/confession) and would have accomplished all that they set their hearts upon (Genesis 11 ). Unity in religious confession (Genesis 11:6 , cf. John 17:11 , Philippians 1:27-30 ) brings dominion. This unity must be lodged in the truth. In confusing their tongues, at Babel, God created diverse languages and religious confessions. The unfolding of the Great Commission through the Book of Acts can be seen symbolically as a reversal of the Tower of Babel. Through the New Covenant God brings a multitude of tongues (i.e. languages and peoples from all nations) into the kingdom of His Son. True worldwide religious unity is thus found only in the body of Christ, “we believe in one holy, catholic and Apostolic church.” It was in this unity, grounded in the Truth, that the early church went out to the known world. Pentecost symbolised God bringing the great light to the Gentiles and fulfilling the covenantal promise to produce a faithful seed of the woman, who will crush the serpent’s head. Jesus is that true Second Adam, the Seed of Abraham. As the Book of Acts unfolds the structure of God’s Kingdom transforms from the Jews being (relationally/position) close to God and the rest of humanity further away (i.e. God fearers were closer than Gentile heathen) to a worldwide unified body of believers (i.e. all as close as we can be to God in Christ). In fact “the nations on every shore will worship him, everyone in his own land” (Zephaniah 2:11 ). Starting in the Book of Acts, we see the Great Commission, taking of Trinitarian salvation (individual and societal) to the four corners of the world. The way in which the kingdom expands is described in the words of the ascending Jesus, “you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8 ). Within this overarching fourfold structure, the expansion of the kingdom was cyclical; seen in the body of Christ tracing the footsteps of her Master. The book of Acts typologically outlines “a reliving by Christ of all that he began both to do and to teach in the Gospel; four main sections, each displaying the pattern of Christ’s life; and the fourth itself sub-divided into four journeys, each with the same underlying patter. As Christ lived and died and rose again, so does his Church; so do his apostles; so does Paul in his mission…The basis of Jesus’ incarnate life is the basis of the inevitable Christian cycle: election, inspiration, proclamation, miracle, persecution, deliberation, betrayal, passion, death, resurrection.” (Goulder, 1964, p. 110). Maturity is gained by the church faithfully walking in the footsteps of her Lord. Experiences, trials, and tribulations (i.e. death) brings maturity, which in turn brings new life and expansion. This cycle of kingdom expansion can be seen in the church as a whole and also in the lives and experiences of individual, key, people/leaders. Table one illustrates this expansion of the kingdom, as seen in Acts:

Table one is adopted from the Fourfold Structure – Progress through Death & Resurrection (Meyers, 2009).

It is clear from the Great Commission that; “we should be missionary minded. Since God has promised that the nations shall become Christ’s disciples, then we must prayerfully support every effort to take the gospel to the ends of the earth”(Ritchie, 2009, pp. 74-75). We ought to understand the Great Commission through the Trinitarian lens of Scripture, God is in the process of redeeming individuals, families, societies and nations back to Himself through the (Spirit enabling) work of the Church.

Works sited:

Chilton, D. (1994). ParadiseRestored : a Biblical Theology of Dominion. Tyler: Dominion Press.

Gentry Jr, K. L. (2010, July 11). Great Commission or Mission Impossible? Retrieved 09 21, 2010 from Theology Explained: http://theologyexplained.com/2010/07/11/great-commission-or-mission-impossible/

Gentry Jr, K. L. (1993). The Greatness of the Great Commission (Revised edition ed.). Tyler: Institute for Christian Economics.

Goulder, M. D. (1964). Type & History in Acts. London: S.P.C.K.

Jordan, J. B. (1996, October). Concerning the Nations. Retrieved September 22, 2010, from Biblical Horizons: http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/open-book/29/

Jordan, J. B. (2007, May). How To Do Reformed Theology Nowadays, Part 3 . Retrieved September 21, 2010 from Biblical Horizons: http://www.biblicalhorizons.com/biblical-horizons/no-194-how-to-do-reformed-theology-nowadays-part-3/

Jordan, J. B. (1988). Through New Eyes - Developing a Biblical View of the World. Brentwood: Wolgemuth & Hyatt Publishers Inc.

Meyers, J. J. (2009). Fourfold Structure - Progress through Death & Resurrection. Bucer Institute Lectures on The Acts of the Apostles (p. 1). Monroe: Bucer Institute.

Ritchie, D. F. (2009). The Victory of Christian Culture - An Exposition of Isaiah 65:17-25 . Saintfield: Reformed Worldview Books.