On The So-Called "Great Commission"

[jeremiah1five]

What is the "Great Commission?"
It is the teaching in the church that every new born-again baby in Christ (neophyte) MUST now go and preach Jesus to people at large, and to do it everywhere.

Here is the passage upon which this teaching stands in the Church:

Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV)
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 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.

Now, I don't know about you, but I fully understand what Paul was talking in First Corinthians 12 where he quotes God as being the One and ONLY One who baptizes into the Body of Christ and possessing of at least one spiritual gift and a pound in order to accomplish the call and ministry God has placed in their lives.

1 Corinthians 12:13-14 (KJV)
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.

Paul adds...

1 Corinthians 12:15-18 (KJV)
15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

Having said that, in order to understand the error of the so-called "Great Commission" one needs understand and accept that when we are born again, it is at that moment, that split-second, that God is the One who baptizes a person into the Body of Christ - NOT men - and gives the person everything that person is to become as God grows that new child of God in this life. One must understand the various spiritual gifts, how they work, when to work it and to do it in fellowship/Church where and when instructed by God.


Just as everything comes with instruction in Scripture - love comes with instruction of WHO to love and when to love them, as well as the knowledge that love comes with profit.


In Matthew 28:19 Matthew records Jesus instructing His 11 disciples and giving THEM this ministry of going out to the four cardinal points of the compass to where the children of Israel had been scattered by God with a three-word gospel message.

A Promise Fulfilled.

God has KEPT His Promise to Abraham and the children of Israel. But how does God get this truth to His people scattered throughout the then-known world? He does it as before, by word of mouth. But take note in verse 19. Jesus uses the emphatic "Go ye" , which when rightly divided translates to Jesus saying, "You Go!" and NOT everyone who becomes a Christian.
Jesus Christ gave this apostolic ministry to the 12, and then later, to the 11 as Matthew states. This ministry of heralding that Israel's Messiah had come the 11 disciples to whom this ministry is bestowed.

In Scripture the hand represents "service," or "service rendered." Each digit of the hand corresponds to each of what is called the "Five-Fold Ministry" of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. The apostle is the thumb. The prophet is the index or "pointing finger" because the prophet 'pointed' the way for the children of Israel to follow.


Jesus Christ did not apostle-ize every new Christian that becomes saved. God, the One who baptizes into the Body of Christ does not baptize every new-born Christian to be an apostle to preach Jesus everywhere they go.


It is an error in the Church which teaches that based on Matthew 28:19 we are all apostles and that we must now go and love the world and preach Jesus to every creature. It is error. And it's a big one right next to Apostolic Succession.


We are not all apostles in the Body of Christ.

We are NOT all thumbs in the Body of Christ.

If so, then where will be the ear, or the eye, or the foot?

Jesus was speaking to His eleven disciples in Matthew 28:19. Jesus gave this ministry of preaching God's Fulfilled Promise to the twelve tribes of Israel scattered throughout the world. Jesus was emphatic. He said...

"YOU (the eleven) GO!"

[Realworldjack]

[Replying to post 1 by jeremiah1five]

You are absolutely correct to say, "the command to go into all the world and preach the gospel" was directed to the Apostles, and to them alone. While there may be those today, who are compelled, and have the talents, and the ability to do this today, it cannot be said, that all of us as Christians, are commanded to, "go into all the world, and preach the Gospel."

[jeremiah1five]

Tongues is my secondary language.

Which language do you speak when you practice tongues?

If you can't answer that, you aren't speaking a language.

What? You think God and His Christ speak English?

Or Spanish?

My secondary language comes from God. It is His language I speak. It is not of the earth.

[Tcg]

Tongues is my secondary language.

Which language do you speak when you practice tongues?

If you can't answer that, you aren't speaking a language.

What? You think God and His Christ speak English?

Or Spanish?

Trust me, I don't think they speak English or Spanish.

My secondary language comes from God. It is His language I speak. It is not of the earth.

In Acts chapter 2, they didn't speak gibberish, but rather a language that others could comprehend even though they spoke different languages "of the earth".

You have answered my question concerning your "secondary language" though. Thanks.

[jeremiah1five]

Tongues is my secondary language.

Which language do you speak when you practice tongues?

If you can't answer that, you aren't speaking a language.

What? You think God and His Christ speak English?

Or Spanish?

Trust me, I don't think they speak English or Spanish.

My secondary language comes from God. It is His language I speak. It is not of the earth.

In Acts chapter 2, they didn't speak gibberish, but rather a language that others could comprehend even though they spoke different languages "of the earth".

You have answered my question concerning your "secondary language" though. Thanks.

I agree. There were at least 17 different languages/dialects, etc., represented in the tongue of the eleven disciples.

[jeremiah1five]

Tongues is my secondary language.

Which language do you speak when you practice tongues?

If you can't answer that, you aren't speaking a language.

What? You think God and His Christ speak English?

Or Spanish?

Trust me, I don't think they speak English or Spanish.

My secondary language comes from God. It is His language I speak. It is not of the earth.

In Acts chapter 2, they didn't speak gibberish, but rather a language that others could comprehend even though they spoke different languages "of the earth".

You have answered my question concerning your "secondary language" though. Thanks.

I agree. There were at least 17 different languages/dialects, etc., represented in the tongue of the eleven disciples.

Let me put it like this....
the first time I spoke a tongue was in jail in a dorm of 99 men (where I'm sure there were many backslid, out of fellowship Christians) and what I heard in my 'ear' and being was a language I never heard nor learned but what the men in the dorm heard.....