The Great Commission: The Central Thought

Word of the Week

July 26, 2025

The Great Commission: The Central Thought

 

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. . . .

Matthew 28:18-19a NASB

 

Early in our marriage, I learned how much could be packed into a simple instruction.

“Honey, would you wash the dishes after supper?” my dear wife asked.

“Sure, no problem” I replied.

I washed the dishes and felt like a remarkably helpful husband . . . until she came back and saw the kitchen.  Then I discovered that “wash the dishes” really meant “wash the dishes, dry the dishes, put them away, wipe off the counter, clear the crumbs off the table, and scrub the sink”!

It was a simple request, but it included a lot of details.

Since then, I have noticed that the same phenomenon occurs frequently in the New Testament.  The Bible gives a single command but surrounds it with several added phrases that flesh out the details.  This pattern shows up most clearly when you look at the original Greek grammar.

The New Testament writers liked to use a very common pattern to communicate this kind of command:  a central command (or “imperative”) linked to one or more secondary ideas (in the form of participles).

We saw this pattern in a recent study of 1 Peter 1:13, where the central command was “Fix your hope” on the promises of God.  Peter added two participles to clarify the idea: “having prepared your mind for action” and “being sober.”  The combination made it clear that Christians are not unrealistic dreamers, but people who are in touch with reality, choosing to trust God because they have good reasons to believe His promises.

The imperative gives the main command; the participles add the details.

There are many passages that employ this pattern, but we will look at one of the most common instances: the “Great Commission” in Matthew 28:18-19.

It’s a familiar passage:

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. . . .

English translations often start with two commands: “Go” and “make disciples.”  However, there is only one imperative verb in the Greek, hooked to three participles.  Let’s view the verse in its original form.

Main command: “make disciples”

In the original Greek, “make disciples” is the only imperative.  Everything else – going, baptizing, and teaching – explains how that command is carried out.  Jesus left His followers with one central task: to make disciples of all nations.  This was the one thing that He expressed as a command.  Everything else spins off of this mandate.

We recently devoted an article to mathētēs, the Greek word for disciple.  We learned that a disciple is someone who is linked to a teacher, learning how to live and following that pattern of behavior for a lifetime.

That’s what Jesus calls His church to do: help people link their lives to Christ.

Secondary idea: “having gone”

“Go” is vitally important, but it is grammatically secondary in this sentence.  It’s an aorist participle, which often describes action that happens before the main verb.  Logically, that makes sense here.  You have to go to the target audience before you can start helping them become disciples of Jesus.

The Lord mentioned “all the nations,” so we know that He wants His people to push outward, reaching more and more people with the gospel.  But going is not the main goal; making disciples is the reason we go.

Secondary idea: “baptizing”

Jesus added two present participles (which usually describe actions that accompany the main verb of a sentence).  These participles explain two key activities included in disciple-making.  The first one is “baptizing.”  All through the book of Acts, baptism was the instinctive expression of faith.  From the Ethiopian eunuch to the Philippians jailor, folks who heard the good news of salvation through Jesus believed what they heard.  And the next thing that happened was to look for water.

When Jesus orders His hearers to baptize, He is describing the initial time when a person turns to Christ for salvation, committing themselves to Him as Savior and Lord.

Secondary idea: “teaching”

Becoming a disciple of Jesus is more than just a moment of decision.  It leads to a lifetime of obedience and growth.  That’s why the Lord added the second requirement: “teaching.”  Once a person chooses to follow Jesus, he or she enters a relationship where they spend the rest of their lives walking with the Teacher, learning from Him and becoming more like Him.

How gracious of the Lord to spell out the details of His commission for His church!  We know the main objective and the component parts of His plan, so that even the slowest among us can stay on target with confidence.

 

Study Hint:

There are many other New Testament passages that use this pattern of one main command linked to one or more participles.  To see one other instructive sample, you can go to Ephesians 5:18-21.  In this passage, there are two imperatives:  “don’t be drunk” and “be filled with the Spirit.”  Paul doesn’t expand the prohibition against being drunk, but he adds a series of participles that demonstrate what happens when a person is filled with the Spirit.  The list includes (1) “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; (2) “singing”; (3) “making melody”; (4) “giving thanks”; and (5) “submitting to one another.”  Take time to meditate on how all these ideas go together to describe a Spirit-controlled believer.

 

Coming Up

Nobody likes a sneaky person!  But we have all encountered people who are basically deceitful.  Next week we will look at the Greek word that describes such rascals!

Ezra Project 2025