The Great Commission

[B-A-C]

The great commission comes from two passages in the Bible.

Mark 16:14; Afterward He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table; and He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen Him after He had risen.
Mark 16:15; And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
Mark 16:16; "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.
Mark 16:17; "These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;
Mark 16:18; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
Mark 16:19; So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

Matt 28:16; But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.
Matt 28:17; When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.
Matt 28:18; And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Matt 28:19; "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Matt 28:20; teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

If you take this at face value, it's pretty simple. But, as usual, some have different interpretations of what this means.

Now it says in both passages here, that Jesus was only talking to the eleven disciples. ( Judas was already dead at this point )
So some take this to mean, these instructions were only for the eleven disciples.

However if that is true, then how did Christianity spread to the entire world? None of the 11 disciples ever traveled more
than 1,000 miles from Jerusalem. Paul did eventually travel to Rome ( about 4,000 Km or 2,500 miles from Jerusalem )
but he wasn't one of the eleven Jesus spoke to in the passages above.

In Matt 28:20; it says for the disciples to teach others to do everything that Jesus told the disciples to do. This would seem
to include evangelizing ( the great commission ) itself.

In Romans 10. We have what is known as "Paul's great commission". It is very similar to Jesus's version above.

Rom 10:13; for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."
Rom 10:14; How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15; How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!"

This was written to the Gentiles, not the eleven disciples. So even we Gentiles have our own commission from Paul.
Now some will say, not everyone is a preacher. Well, I disagree, you may not be an ordained minster that preaches from the pulpit in a church,
but you can certainly share the gospel with neighbors, friends, family, and co-workers. Sometimes even strangers that you just met.

 

[B-A-C]

I have sometimes wondered about the timing of some of these passages.

Acts 1:2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
Acts 1:3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
Acts 1:4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me;
Acts 1:5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
Acts 1:6 So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"
Acts 1:7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
Acts 1:8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
Acts 1:9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
Acts 1:10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.
Acts 1:11 They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."

Acts 1:9 and Mark 16:19; are particularly interesting to me here.

Acts 1:9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
Mark 16:19; So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

So then... did these two conversations happen at the same time? Where they in fact the same conversation?

What I'm getting at here is... Jesus told ( only ) the eleven disciples they would receive the Holy Spirit shortly after he ascended back to heaven.
.. and so they did in Acts chapter 2. But it wasn't only the eleven apostles who received the Holy Spirit. There were 120 people in the upper room.
They all received the Holy Spirit. Eventually many other people through the book of Acts ( hundreds ) and it continues to this day ( probably millions of people ).

So then, does the things told the eleven disciples.... "only" apply to the eleven disciples?

 

[Brad Huber]

Tradition says the Thomas made it all the way to india. Likewise tradition says Peter died in rome, so there was some that travelled further, never the less I agree that it wasnt meant for just the 11 apostles. Witnessing both by word and by lifestyle, not one or the other, but both.