And Jesus coming up spoke to them, saying, All power has been given me in heaven and upon earth.
The risen Jesus meets His eleven disciples on a mountain in Galilee. Before He sends them out, He tells them what He now holds. Everything He commands next rests on this one sentence. What has He received, on what ground, and what does it mean for His people?
Older English translations render the word "power," which can suggest raw strength. One writer points out that the Greek word here is not the word for the power that went out of Jesus in healing.
The Bible TreasuryWhen Christ speaks of "virtue" going out of Him, in the case of the woman who had been bleeding, the word in the Greek means "power" (dunamis). It is not the same word as in Matt. 28:18, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." There it should be "authority."
The word chosen for their own task is just as exact.
Frederick W GrantWhen the Lord is risen from the dead, and the kingdom is ready to be proclaimed, He says, "All authority" — not power — "is given unto Me, in heaven and in earth: go, and disciple all nations." It is plain He would not say "Make children of God": this was within His own power only. "Disciple" was the suited word in reference to the kingdom.
Authority that is given implies someone who receives it. What is new here is the place He has taken as a risen Man.
J. N. DarbyThe Lord speaks to them from the place that now belonged to Him. He will take that place fully in power later on. It belonged to Him as the risen Lord, and it was His by right of the new place He had entered as man. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Not everything is finished yet, and all things are not yet put under His feet. But this is His place as the risen Man who has glorified God and completed the work given Him to do.
He came to that place by going low first. The same words also say why the gift was given.
J. N. DarbyWe see that power has been given Him "in heaven and in earth." This power was given Him because He humbled Himself. This is very precious. It could be given to Him because He was man, and it was His as Son. It was in order that He might give life to all those whom the Father gave Him, and that He might claim His right for them.
Matthew's Gospel presents Jesus to Israel as their Messiah, and Israel refuses Him. When He speaks on that mountain, the footing has changed.
The Bible TreasuryThen Jesus met them, and as He spoke He stated the completely new ground on which His present commission to them rested. It was not Messiah's authority over the Jewish people, whatever gathering there may have been to that. It was the wide, universal authority of the risen Son of man. That authority was His because of His death, which alone redeemed them to God and vindicated His character.
So the mission now reaches past one nation, and the baptism changes with it.
The Bible TreasuryHere we have Messiah raised to all power in heaven and earth, and the commission that follows from it: to disciple all the nations. This stands in contrast with the mission in chapter 10. His exaltation came through His rejection, and it now took a wider scope, the result of Israel's rejection of Him. So they were to baptise the nations, not into John's baptism or even Messiah's, but into what His death and resurrection fully revealed — the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
If His authority covers heaven and earth, no kingdom and no shut door stands outside it. That changes how a servant of Christ meets obstacles.
W. H. WestcottWhatever wall stands in front of you, go forward in simple confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. All authority is given to Him in heaven and on earth. No kingdom has the power to resist what He decrees... So we need not go outside of Christ to gain authority to enter any place or to do any service. We may appeal to Him directly, with no one in between, and we may do this among all nations.
One writer turns the point back on the reader, and on how we size up other people's needs.
William KellyHow we measure out what others need, forgetting Him who has all power in heaven and on earth — the One who, in the same breath that assures us of it, has sent us out to meet the deepest needs of sin-darkened souls!
- All authority — the word means right, not raw force. He holds it over heaven and earth alike, so nothing lies outside it.
- All given — it belongs to Him as the risen Man who humbled Himself and finished His work. He received it so He could give life to those the Father gave Him.
- All nations — Israel refused Him, so His exaltation widened the mission past Israel. Baptism is now into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
- All discipled — "disciple" is the fitting word: they can enrol people under His rule, but only He can make children of God.
- All obstacles — no kingdom can resist what He decrees, so we may appeal straight to Him for any place and any service, instead of measuring people's needs as though He had no power.
Go [therefore] and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;
The chapter closes with the risen Jesus meeting His eleven remaining apostles on a mountain in Galilee, and sending them out to every nation on earth. Two things stand out: He commands on the strength of authority just given to Him, and He names God in a way no one had heard before.
The word "therefore" points back to what He had just said. One writer notes the exact word He uses for His position and the exact word He uses for the task, quoting an older translation that reads a little differently from the ESV:
Frederick W GrantThe Lord has risen from the dead, and the kingdom is ready to be announced. He says, "All authority" — not power — "is given to Me, in heaven and on earth: go, and disciple all nations." Clearly He would not say, "Make children of God." Only He Himself could do that. "Disciple" was the suited word in reference to the kingdom; and this brings us to the commission.
Earlier in this same Gospel Jesus sent out His twelve first followers under a far narrower order. The change here is deliberate, and one commentator traces it to the cross:
Leslie M. GrantHe sent them not to Gentiles, and not to any Samaritan town, but only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Such a commission is plainly not applicable today... in Matthew 28:19-20 the change is emphasized, for all nations are now to hear. The cross made this great change. There Israel rejected the mercy offered to her, and the door of mercy opened to Samaritans and Gentiles.
People had known God by other titles before. Matthew's ending replaces them, and one writer holds this form of words to be essential to the act itself:
William KellyNow they were to baptize them to the name of the Father, and so on. It was not a question of the Almighty God of the fathers, or the Jehovah God of Israel. The name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit is what marks out Christianity. Let me say that this is the true formula of Christian baptism.
Another writer draws out what that one name says about God:
Frederick W GrantThis baptizing is "to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." The name, not the names, of Father, Son and Spirit. This is the Christian revelation of God; and what is not done in this way is not Christian. The "name" in Scripture gives the real character of what it stands for.
One writer explains what the act declares:
C CrainThe risen Lord... authorizes them to mark out the disciples of Christ by the confession of "the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." So baptism is plainly a token, or mark, or badge, of discipleship to Christ. Baptism puts on the badge of discipleship.
A badge worn is a claim to be lived up to:
Frank Wallace...one name, three Persons - and all the dignity and worth of that name rested on those who received baptism. This is where we are... the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is upon us. We are to be true to that name, true to those Persons. Then the world sees some expression of the glory and dignity that name carries.
The grammar of the sentence matters. Some have argued that baptism itself is what makes a person a disciple. Kelly reads the order of the words differently:
William KellyClearly the Lord tells His servants to disciple all the nations, baptizing them and teaching them. Both follow the act of making them disciples. Baptism comes at once, as the start; teaching runs on through their whole life.
One writer measures how far this commission reaches by the promise attached to it:
H J VineIn His commission to these brothers, He tells them to make disciples of all the nations, and says He will be with them to the end of the age. This commission plainly belongs to the kingdom, and it runs on longer than the church does.
- Authority. He does not ask for a hearing; He states that all authority in heaven and on earth is His, and the going out rests on that.
- Reach. The cross lifts the earlier limit to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel," and all nations come into view.
- Name. Not Almighty, not Jehovah, but Father, Son and Holy Spirit — one name, three Persons, the revelation that marks out Christianity.
- Mark. Baptism puts that name on a person as the badge of discipleship; teaching then runs on through the whole of life.
- Promise. The commission runs to the end of the age, and He promises to be with them the whole way.