The Great Commision

The Great Commission is the last command or marching orders of the Lord Jesus Christ to his soldiers – the church of God. Where can we find the great commission for the church today? It is commonly known and widely taught in Christianity that the great commission is found in Matthew 28:18-20, when Jesus said to his disciples

“All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you, alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

But some theologians and groups such as the Mid-Acts grace dispensationalists argue that the great commission for the church today is found in Pauline epistles, for the apostle Paul is “the apostle of the gentiles” (Romans 11:13). This commission according to Paul is “the commission of reconciliation”.

“All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them and HATH COMMITTED UNTO US THE WORD OF RECONCILIATION”. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20)


The argument is that the last marching order of Jesus is not in Matthew, but even after his ascension, he gave the last marching ORDER TO PAUL. And remember, to Paul was committed “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Ephesians 3:2) and to him was made known “the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:2), “the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ” (Colossians 2:2). This mystery which “hath been hid in God” (Ephesians 3:9), “kept secret since the world began” (Romans 16:25), is NOW REVEALED to Paul (Ephesians 3:3), and also to other apostles and prophets (Ephesians 3:5).

This mystery is about the “Body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27), the church of God – that “the gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel” (Ephesians 3:6). It means that Israel and the gentiles are now merged and joined as ONE BODY – there is no more “middle wall of partition” (Ephesians 2:14) between them. They are ONE IN CHRIST NOW. This is the message that the ascended Lord Jesus Christ revealed to Paul the apostle and not only to him but also to other ministers and to us his saints.

The people and the disciples of Christ, during the time of Jesus crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and ascension did not know about this message, for what they knew was that Christ, the messiah would die and shed his blood only for the Jews, and many people, would be saved through the Jews. They didn’t know that the cross of Christ is the beginning of a new dispensation, the New Testament; that redemption and forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ, is not only “for many ” (Matthew 26:28), but “FOR ALL” (2 Corinthians 5:15). This is OUR GREAT COMMISSION today “ the commission of reconciliation” – the message of total forgiveness and justification to all men through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 28 great commission says “Go and teach all nations…”. Yes, Jesus sent them to all nations “Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8) This discipleship ministry includes water baptism. Yes, they baptized because of Israel. Jesus was baptized “that he should be made manifest to Israel” (John 1:33), as also there were signs because “Jews require signs” (1 Corinthians 1:22). But now, that the dispensation of grace is now manifested, there is no more need for water baptism. Why? Because there is no more Israel. Yes, there is no more gentile, also, there is no more distinctions “IN CHRIST” (Galatians 3:28). NO MORE ISRAEL, NO MORE BAPTISM IN WATER. Why need water baptism if it is the Holy Ghost doing the baptizing now? Why compete with him? There is only ONE BAPTISM and it is SPIRITUAL BAPTISM. Second reason: there is now the revelation of the cleansing blood of Christ for all (Hebrews 9:14,22). During the early Acts period, they the apostles practiced water baptism “for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38), but now, it is the Blood of Christ that washes all our sins. If there was a revelation of the blood before, it was the remission of sins of Israel and not of all men. But now, this is the revelation: “CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS” (1 Corinthians 15:3)

If we are going to take the Matthew commission for today as ours, then we can follow that except baptizing – which means we can “Go and disciple all nations and teach them to obey Jesus words, as ambassadors for Christ”.