The Great Commission
Matthew 28:18-20
"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"
There you have it!
Let's take some time and break it down!
1. Jesus has all the Authority in Heaven and on Earth. It was given to Him, not that He didn't already have it.
2. Go and make disciples is the First command....go and tell others about me, I called you to follow me, now you go call others in the same way! Tell the World who I am, Tell them that I am the Christ and if they choose to follow me as you did then.....
3. Baptizing them in the Name of the Trinity.....Once they make the choice to follow me, baptize them with the Trinity (baptism of Spirit) then......
4. Teach them all that I have commanded.....If they accept me and are baptized in Spirit, teach them all of my commands that they may follow me.
5. I will always be with you, you have no need to fear!
This is so Awesome, Christ right here told us exactly how evangelism works!
People need to choose to follow, be baptized in Spirit, then learn all they can about what God has chosen to reveal to us through His Son, and His written Word!
AMAZING!!!!!!
"Then Jesus came to them and said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"
There you have it!
Let's take some time and break it down!
1. Jesus has all the Authority in Heaven and on Earth. It was given to Him, not that He didn't already have it.
2. Go and make disciples is the First command....go and tell others about me, I called you to follow me, now you go call others in the same way! Tell the World who I am, Tell them that I am the Christ and if they choose to follow me as you did then.....
3. Baptizing them in the Name of the Trinity.....Once they make the choice to follow me, baptize them with the Trinity (baptism of Spirit) then......
4. Teach them all that I have commanded.....If they accept me and are baptized in Spirit, teach them all of my commands that they may follow me.
5. I will always be with you, you have no need to fear!
This is so Awesome, Christ right here told us exactly how evangelism works!
People need to choose to follow, be baptized in Spirit, then learn all they can about what God has chosen to reveal to us through His Son, and His written Word!
AMAZING!!!!!!
posted by Mark 1:17 at 11:46 AM
3 Comments:
I'm a bit confused and concerned about your definition of Trinitarian Baptism. Why do you put in brackets "baptism in Spirit"? Maybe it's my Pentecostal upbringing, but that phrase was generally reserved for the secondary blessing of a greater yielding to the Spirit's power, often accompanied by one or more of the charismatic gifts of 1 Corinthians 12. All well and good, but that's not the same as the baptism that Jesus is commanding His followers to do when "go[ing] out into all the world." He's referring to water baptism, as indicated in the Book of Acts, particularly chapter 8, as well as John 3:5, Titus 3:5, Romans 6, and many other places, as well as the universal witness of the earliest Church to now.
While it is true that we do recieve the Spirit in baptism, as Jesus tells us in John 3:5--bringing about the new birth of John 3:3 and Titus 3:5--I'm not sure that that is what you had in mind.
Maybe I misunderstood...
The question is really what is the agent of Salvation? Is one saved by the act of baptism? No. Is one saved at the very point that he/she accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior? Yes. Romans 10:9 "because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Once Christ enters your heart, you have been baptized by the Spirit, You have been Saved.
Baptism by water is an outward expression of an inward commitment. It is the same as circumcision. Paul talks about this earlier in Romans. Is circumcision that of the heart or merely physical? Paul was circumcised, but he counted it as rubbish compaired to Christ. His salvation came through his relationship with Christ. Abraham was credited with Righteousness before he was circumcised.
It is all about Christ nothing more and deffinately nothing less.
I have to disagree. Well, partly. Our faith is necessary, of course, but the actual act of baptism is itself powerful and effective for washing away our sins and saving us.
1 Peter 3:18-21: "For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that He might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, He was brought to life in the spirit. In it He also went to preach to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not the removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." (emphasis mine) St. Peter is telling us that just as the flood waters saved Noah and his family, baptism saves us--not because it cleans us of physical dirt, but from the dirt of sin as we ask God for a clean conscience based on Jesus' sacrifice.
You're right in comparing it to circumcision. St. Paul does that. But the deal with "prefiguration" and its fulfilment, is that the fulfilment is always greater than its prefiguration. Animal sacrifice prefigured the forgiveness of sins by the shedding of blood, but as the book of Hebrews makes clear, animal sacrifices weren't sufficient, so they had to be done over and over. They prefigured Jesus' ultimate sacrifice for us, which is once for all. Just like Jesus is greater than anything in the OT that prefigures Him, any NT thing prefigured by the OT is greater than its OT type. So Mary is greater than Eve, The Church is greater than the Old Covenant, and baptism's saving power is greater than the flood, or the crossing of the Red Sea, or of Circumcision--all of which were mere shadows of this sacrament.
I'm not trying to say that Baptism works independent of faith, but we also must not say that faith works independent of baptism, except in the extreme cases where a person is unable to be baptised (like the Thief on the Cross) or where they are not sufficiently instructed in the necessity of baptism--but where, had they known of its importance, they would have been (which, of course, only God knows).
But God pours out His grace to us in physical, tangible ways, just like His ultimate plan of salvation involved Him taking on a physical tangible body, and spilling physical, tangible blood. God doesn't just want to save our souls, but our bodies as well. And so He reaches out to us, body and soul, through the sacraments, physical signs of spiritual realities, that actually convey the grace that they signify.
Thus, baptism really washes away our sinful old life, and births us anew with the Spirit (John 3:5, Romans 6:1-11, Colossians 2:11-12, Titus 3:5).
Because, ultimately, it's not about our faith or our works, but only God's Grace, which is the very thing that gives us the ability to believe or to work.
God bless
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