Author : Keith Sharp
Throughout my life some have denied that the commands to preach and teach in the Great Commission apply to Christians other than the apostles. Recently an evangelist confided in me that some preacher friends ridiculed him for going to Africa. I believe and shall affirm it is the duty of Christians and congregations in every generation, including us today, to take the saving message of Christ to the entire inhabited globe. Indeed, “‘Go ye’ means Go me”!
Several objections have been raised to this position. I shall answer them one by one.
Was the Great Commission Command
to “Go” Limited to the Apostles?
It is most certainly true that the Great Commission was primarily given to the eleven faithful apostles of Christ. The context in Matthew, Mark, and Acts indicates the apostles were the recipients of the directions (Matthew 28:16; Mark 16:14; Acts 1:1-3). In fact, the apostles are called “apostles” (“one sent as a messenger or agent, the bearer of a commission, messenger; Mounce. 1094) precisely because Christ specifically sent them.
But Matthew plainly indicates that the Lord broadened the application of the commission to all disciples of Christ when he commanded, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations …, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20). Every disciple must obey all things Christ commanded the apostles. Certainly “all” is limited by its context, but the commands in the context are “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). The Great Commission secondarily applies to every disciple of Christ in every generation.
Mark’s record agrees. Jesus promised, “And these signs will follow those who believe” (Mark 16:17). since “those who believe” are the ones who believe and are baptized through the preaching of the gospel (verses 15-16), this is all baptized believers. But the signs were to confirm the spoken word (verse 20), so the command to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (verse 15) applies to every baptized believer.
Actually, there is nothing in the Great Commission that applies only to the apostles. Yes the apostles were inspired to preach, and by their preaching they forgave sins (John 20:21-23), but prophets were also inspired and did the same thing (1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 28-29). I know of only three works peculiar to the apostles of Christ: ruling the universal church through their word (Luke 22:29-30), bearing witness to the raised Lord (Acts 1:21-26), and imparting spiritual gifts (Acts 8:14-17). None of these works are mentioned in the Great Commission passages.
Certainly no Christian today can or is obligated to preach the gospel to everyone in the world, but neither did any one apostle in the first century go preach to the whole world. Each is responsible for the abilities and opportunities the Lord graciously grants him (Matthew 25:14-30). Some are simply not teachers (James 3:1). Some are best at getting the lost in contact with an effective teacher (John 1:45-46). And women must toil within the gender role the Lord has placed upon them (1 Corinthians 11:3; 14:34-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-12).
This doesn’t mean every Christian must go into foreign fields. Not everyone should go overseas. Philip remained in Caesarea at least twenty years (Acts 8:40; 21:8), and he was an evangelist (Acts 21:8). If James the brother of the Lord ever left Jerusalem it is not recorded (Acts 12:2; 21:18), and it certainly seems he was an apostle (Galatians 1:19). It was the work of the apostles as a body and in the role of ruling the whole church to take the gospel to the whole world. Each has his role. Whereas James remained in Jerusalem, Paul was sent to the Gentiles (Acts 26:17-18; Romans 11:13), and strove to preach where the gospel had not gone (Romans 15:20-21).
God is not with us through miraculous, spiritual gifts today (Mark 16:17-20; 1 Corinthians 13:8-13), but He is with us (Philippians 2:12-13) through His powerful word (Romans 1:16-17; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; James 1:21), His divine providence (2 Peter 3:12), and His answers to our prayers (Ibid). Philip proved his message by working miracles (Acts 8:5-8); I prove my message by Scripture references (1 Peter 4:11). They had the Word of God in inspired men (2 Corinthians 4:6-7); we have the word of God in an inspired book (2 Timothy 3:16-17). With God working in us, we can “do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).
Does “World” Mean the Whole Inhabited Earth
or Does It Mean the Roman Empire?
Did the Lord really mean for His apostles and disciples to go into all the inhabited earth and to actually preach to every human without exception? Look at the pertinent passages. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations” (Luke 24:47). “You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Now, if the Lord had actually wanted to make the commission universal in destination and recipient, how could He have possibly stated so more plainly or forcefully?
Words have meanings. The meanings are vitally affected by context. Nothing in the context of the passages limits the universal scope of the terms. Only by redefining biblical words to fit one’s predetermined doctrine can we avoid the conclusion that the Lord wants the gospel to be preached to every human in every corner of the globe.
The book of Acts records the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Acts 1:8). In the audience on Pentecost were “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and those dwelling in Mesopotamia” (Acts 2:9), all places east of the Roman Empire. None of those taking the message of Christ to these far flung sites were apostles of Christ. The Ethiopian eunuch carried the gospel outside the Roman Empire (Acts 8:26-40).
The record of the book of Acts by no means exhausts the preaching done by apostles, prophets, evangelists, and Christians of the first century. From chapter 13 on it is primarily a report of the labors of Paul. What about the other apostles? Except for a brief statement concerning Barnabas and Mark at the end of chapter 15, we know next to nothing about the work of other apostles, prophets, evangelists, and Christians.
What was the result of these zealous efforts? Around A.D. 30 the Lord commanded, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Shortly after A.D. 60, one generation later, when Paul wrote to the Colossians from prison in Rome, the gospel had gone into “all the world” (Colossians 1:5-6) and had been “preached to every creature under heaven” (Colossians 1:23). In one generation the first century church fulfilled the Great Commission. They were commanded to go to all their world and did so.
If the term “world” means the world they knew, or the extent of the Dispersion of the Jews, or even the Roman Empire, they still took the gospel to their world in one generation. We are commanded to go to our world and must do so.
But to deny the plain meaning of Colossians one is arbitrary and without basis. Nothing in the context limits the meaning of “world.” It is certainly not absurd to argue that with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 9:23; 10:27; Mark 14:36).
We must accept Scripture statement over uninspired history. It is right to use history to illuminate the meaning of Scripture, to set it in context. It is downright unbelief to employ secular history to negate the plain text of Scripture. Christians were a tiny, insignificant group in the first century, even as true Christians are now, and there is no reason to assume they would have made such an impact on world society that the spread of the gospel would be recorded by uninspired historians. The so-called spread of Christianity throughout the world recorded by historians is in reality the spread of an apostate church and later Protestant denominationalism because they were large, wealthy, and politically powerful enough to leave a traceable impact.
The Great Commission set into motion the complete fulfillment of the divine plan of the ages. The Lord promised Abraham that all the earth would be blessed through his offspring (Genesis 12:3; 22:18). David prophesied that Messiah’s reign would extend to “the ends of the earth” (Psalm 2:8; cf. 22:27-28), as did his son Solomon (Psalm 72:11,17). Isaiah both prophesied the universal scope of the heavenly kingdom and the means by which that reign would be spread (Isaiah 2:2-3; cf. 56:7). “Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). Jeremiah likewise foretold the universal kingdom (Jeremiah 3:17). When the Lord sent His apostles and disciples to “all nations” it culminated the fulfillment of “all things … which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning” Christ (Luke 24:44-47).
The Lord taught His disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). The will of the Lord is that the message of salvation go “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 13:46-47; Isaiah 49:6). It is His will for “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4). The means to accomplish His will is to preach the gospel to the whole inhabited earth (Romans 1:14-17; 10:17).
Does World Mean “Jew and Gentile”?
A brother makes a plausible argument from Romans ten that “world” simply means “Jew and Gentile” (Romans 10:18). The argument flounders on two facts. In the context of Romans 10:18, the apostle Paul is arguing that the Lord always intended to save Gentiles as well as Jews. In fact, the theme of Romans chapters nine through eleven is the place of the Jews in the divine plan of salvation. But none of the Great Commission passages (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:14-20; Luke 24:44-47; John 20:21-23; Acts 1:6-8) even mention the distinction between Jew and Gentile. Context is crucial in determining the usage of a word.
Furthermore, the term “world” in Romans 10:18 doesn’t just mean individuals from among both Jew and Gentile. Romans 10:18 quotes Psalm 19:4, a beautiful statement that God declares to all people throughout the entire inhabited earth His existence by His creation (cf. Psalm 19:1-6). The quotation is in proof of the fact that salvation in Christ is for “whoever calls on the name of the Lord” (Romans 10:13; cf. Joel 2:32). The “world” of Romans ten includes every person in the entire inhabited earth until the end of the age.
Did They Just Go Home to Evangelize?
I don’t have to go to a Bible dictionary or lexicon to know that “go” never means stay and build up your home congregation.
Divine wisdom is obvious in the selection of the Day of Pentecost for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, the going forth of the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, the establishment of the church/kingdom, and the beginning of the New Testament age (Acts 2). Thus, “there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven” (Acts 2:5). When those who were converted from among these descendants of Abraham returned home, the gospel was spread far and wide.
But this by no means exhausts the evangelistic work of apostles, prophets, evangelists and Christians recorded with approval in the New Testament.
The Jerusalem church is a model for us in the fulfillment of the Great Commission as in other matters. This congregation is the preeminent example of success in local evangelism (Acts 2:41,47; 4:4; 5:14; 6:7). They were staying home and building up their own area magnificently. But the brethren in Jerusalem were guilty of spiritual nearsightedness. The Lord directed the apostles to preach, not only “in Jerusalem,” but also “in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
It took a great persecution to cause the bulk of the disciples to go beyond Jerusalem (Acts 8:1). The Lord could have prevented this fiery trial even as He had delivered the apostles earlier (Acts 5:17-42). But when this tribulation occurred, the disciples, but not the apostles, “went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4). Philip, who was not an apostle, took the word of the Lord to Samaria (Acts 8:5-25). Samaria certainly wasn’t his home. They traveled “as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word” (Acts 11:19). Thus “the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21). None of those who went out at this time were apostles.
The Jerusalem brethren also sent out the evangelist Barnabas, a native of Cyprus (Acts 4:36) who was not an apostle of Christ, “to go as far as Antioch” in Syria. His preaching greatly encouraged the new converts to faithfulness. Thus, “a great many people were added to the Lord” (Acts 11:22-24). Only when the brethren in Jerusalem zealously took the gospel into other places were they truly and completely obeying the Lord.
The congregation at Antioch followed the example of the church in Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas were eminently productive in their preaching efforts in Antioch (Acts 11:25-26). But the Christians at Antioch were taught by the Holy Spirit not to be selfish in the use of the enormous abilities of these inspired evangelists. Rather, the Spirit directed them to send these men out to take the gospel afar (Acts 13:1-3).
Upon the return of the preachers from foreign lands, the brethren at Antioch were anxious to hear of their work and assembled for this purpose (Acts 14:26-28). How many churches today are too selfish to share their evangelist with others and too unconcerned to hear reports about preaching in far away places?
Later, Paul and Barnabas left Antioch again, this time separately, to preach abroad, each taking with him another evangelist from Antioch (Acts 15:30-41). Priscilla and Aquila, who were simply dedicated disciples, worked with Paul (Acts 18:1-3) and taught Apollos (Acts 18:24-26). Various companions who were not apostles traveled with Paul and were themselves sent by Paul (Acts 20:4; cf. also 2 Timothy 4:10-12,20).
Five Keys
How was the New Testament church, beginning with a little band of twelve “uneducated and untrained men” (Acts 4:13) able to preach the gospel throughout the world to all mankind? There were four keys involving human activity that led to their success. The holy, loving, faithful lives of the disciples were a living demonstration of the effects of the gospel (Acts 2:42-47). They were so zealous to reach the lost, they preached everywhere even in the face of bitter persecution (Acts 8:1-4). The only tool of evangelism they employed was the gospel (Acts 11:19-21). And the only organization they formed for evangelism was the independent local congregation (Acts 11:22).
But the most important key to their success was dependence upon God and His wisdom and power. The message they preached and we preach is of divine origin and is the divine power to save (Romans 1:16-17). The organization they employed was divinely revealed (Acts 11:22). Their proofs were of divine origin (Acts 8:5-8) as are ours (Romans 1:19-20; 2 Peter 1:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17). It was the Lord Who sent them out and opened doors of opportunity (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 8:26-28). The Lord likewise sends us and opens doors through which we must walk (Colossians 4:2-4). We must proclaim His message, employ His organization, use His message, and depend upon His divine power, guidance, and protection. The fatal mistake of denominations and institutional brethren is the failure to believe: to believe in the message, the organization, and the methods He revealed. To Him be the glory (Ephesians 3:20-21).
A Samoan lady in Baytown, Texas was washing her husband’s work clothes at a laundromat in 1973. The lady who worked there invited her to services. That Samoan lady has been a Christian for 39 years now. Two of her sons started the only faithful church of Christ in the Samoan islands and are elders there. Her other son is the faithful preacher in Beaver Dam, Kentucky. The Lord God opens doors. We must walk through them.
Application
The call to become a disciple of Christ is the call to “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men” (Mark 1:16-18). We can’t all be teachers (James 3:1), but we can all, as Philip did for Nathanael, direct those whom we meet to someone who can teach them (John 1:45-46). Men who love to fish talk about fishing, even if they don’t know much about it, and encourage their friends to fish. Women who love crafts love to talk about crafts and encourage others to become involved. Christians who love the Lord talk about the Lord and encourage others to come to Him.
Preachers should take advantage of opportunities presented to spread the gospel. When Barnabas was sent to Antioch, he went and preached, and much good resulted (Acts 11:22-24). When Barnabas and Saul were sent out from Antioch, they went (Acts 13:1-3) and “opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27).
Local congregations should follow the examples of Jerusalem and Antioch and aggressively evangelize their own area. But they should also follow the example of these congregations and diligently spread the gospel in the regions beyond when they have the resources to do so. All should follow the example of the congregation in Thessalonica.
And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything (1 Thessalonians 1:6-8)
Pray that the Lord will open doors for you (Colossians 4:2-4). Never be content to build up your own little area and ignore the rest of the world. If Skip Sebree had not repeatedly driven four hours one way to study with one young dairy farm wife, the congregation in Northern New York, that now has an attendance around 50, would probably not exist.
Our Opportunity
If first century Christians could take the gospel to the known world in one generation without the use of automobiles, airplanes, radio, television, the printing press, the world wide web, etc., what should we be able to do with the aid of all these means of swift, easy, safe transportation and mass communication? If the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) enabled evangelists to travel throughout the Roman Empire with the gospel in the first century, what should the collapse of the barriers of tyranny do for us? If the Koine Greek language as the lingua franca (international language of commerce and trade) provided first century disciples a medium through which to preach to the world, what should the English language occupying the same position provide for us today? It is yet “God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). He is even now “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” (Ephesians 3:20). The gospel has the same power to save today it had almost two millennia ago (1 Peter 1:22-25). If we will use the same keys first century disciples employed, they will open the door to the salvation of a lost world now, as they did then.
Conclusion
The Master urged the twelve, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest” (John 4:35-36). Brothers and sisters, look at all the poor, lost souls where you live, in your country, and throughout the world. Let us take them freedom from sin in our time.
The Great Commission is the basis for the work of a disciple of Christ, a preacher, and a local church. It is the summation of the will of the Lord for His servants when He left to “go into a far country,” and He will hold us accountable for our effort to fulfill it when He returns. Little ability is not an excuse for no effort (Matthew 25:14-30).
Let us make it the aim of our lives to use our abilities and opportunities to fulfill the will of God, “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Yes, “‘Go ye’ means Go me” – and you.
Works Cited
Mounce, William D., Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.
