KOINONIA:  EVANGELISM

Part II

Koinonia:  Baptizing and Teaching

Matthew 28:19b-20

By

Bishop Thomas L. Hoyt, Jr.

(Note: The first part of this article was in the Fall issue of The Connector, the Fourth Episcopal District Newsletter).

Verses 19b-20 “baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

V -20 Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded to you; and 10, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

The imperative, “go” is for the purpose of making disciples, and the following words, “baptizing” and “teaching” are for the seal and real life of the disciples. Where is one to go? One must go to “all the nation.” Christ, by removing the distinction, makes the Gentiles equal to the Jews, and admits both indiscriminately to a participation in the covenant. Now, “the wall of partition having been broken down” (Eph. 2:14), the Lord commands the minister of the gospel to go the distance, in order to speak the doctrine of salvation in every part of the world. For although the right of the first-born at the very commencement of the gospel, remained among the Jews, still the inheritance of life was common to the Gentiles. Thus was fulfilled that prediction of Isaiah. (49:6).

            It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob

                         and to restore the preserved of Israel

            I will give you as a light to the nation, that my salvation may reach to the

                         ends of the earth.

It is important to see this. Already the relationship to verse 18 and its parallels rules out any limitation of Jesus’ dominion. How could he, to whom all power is given, have ever intended founding a pious little Jewish club? The name of the “Son of Man” is the name of him who ‘all peoples, nations and languages shall serve (Dan. 7:14). The field where the son of Man sows the good seed is the world (Mt. 13:38). The ransom is for many (Mk. 10:45), and the shedding of His blood is, too (14k. 26:28). From the very beginning Jesus called his disciples “the salt of the earth’ and ‘the light of the world’ (Mt. 5:13-14). Already John the Baptist had proclaimed that Jesus was “the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn. 1:29). Jesus himself spoke of the many that will come from the East and the west and sit at the table with patriarchs (Mt. 8:11), and even the testimony that His disciples will bear also before the Gentiles (Mt. 10:18). However, Jesus at first kept this universality of the new community relatively hidden, as he did with the power and authority given him (v. 18), and with the name of Messiah (Mt. 16:20). Why?

The previous, historical, Israel had not yet run its course before Jesus’ death. His life had not yet been spent as a ransom for many. Not everything was ready yet. Of course Jesus Himself preached the Gospel to the Samaritans (Jn. 4), he marveled to see the faith of a Roman centurion (Mt. 8:5-13), and exalted the faith of a Canaanite woman when he vent to Tyre and Sidon (Mt. 15:21-28). But in the very strange passage of Mark 4:l0-12 an even stricter rule is announced. Initially he did ‘not yet” address himself directly and properly to the whole people of Israel, but only to his disciples. But now, he manifests the very revelation: “Make disciples of all nations.” As a recapitulation and anticipation, revealing the hidden reality of the eschatological community, the Great Commission is truly the most genuine utterance of the risen Jesus. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8) - It is the duty and privilege of evangelists to make it known and acceptable in all quarters of the globe.

“Baptizing them.”  The present participle denotes the mode of initiation into discipleship. Baptism is the seal of visible discipleship upon the converts. This is also the Evangelistic Department, just as Philip the evangelist baptized many Samaritans (Acts 8:12f) and an Ethiopian eunuch (v. 38). But this does not say that baptism is not the pastor’s business, for also the pastor should “do the work of an evangelist” (II Tim. 4:5).

Baptizing in a name meant in the Jewish custom of the day, to administer to someone a cleansing bath intended to certify a state attained. A gentile slave, for instance, was administered baptism as a sign of his liberation when he left. To the disciples, therefore, the notion of baptism was no new thing. As a rite typifying the cleansing of the heart and the purpose of leading a new life, it had been long practiced in the case of proselytes to the Jewish faith; they had seen it employed by John the Baptist (Mt. 3:6), and had used it themselves (Jn. 4:lfs). Christ adopts the old rite, gives it a new solemnity, a most sacred formula of administration, a new meaning, new spiritual effects.

Christ enjoins that those who have submitted to the Gospel, and professed to be his disciples, shall be baptized; partly that their baptism may be a pledge of eternal life before Cod, and partly that it may be an outward sign of faith before man and woman, repenting of their sins (Acts 2:38). For we know that God testifies to us the grace of adoption by this sign, because God ingrafts us into the body of the Son, so as to reckon us among God’s flock; and therefore, not only our spiritual washing, by which God reconciles us to God’s self, but likewise our new righteousness, are represented by it- Just as God, by this seal, confirms to us his grace, so all who present themselves for baptism do, as it were, by their own signature ratify their faith. “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27), and the Bible says “He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mk. 16:16).

“Into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” “In the name” probably implies the name was used as a means of baptism ceremony. “Into the name,” on the other hand, lays stress on the result of the ceremony. The text, therefore, means “causing them to submit to a rite which results in their becoming disciples of God, and confers upon them fellowship with, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This passage shows that the full and clear knowledge of God, which had been darkly shadowed out under the Law and the Prophets, is at length fully discovered under the reign of Christ. “It is to be observed that the term is ‘name’, not ‘names’, thus denoting the unity of the Godhead in the Trinity of Persons.” There are good reasons why the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are expressly mentioned; for there is no other way in which the efficacy of baptism can be experienced than when we begin with unmerited mercy of the Father, who reconciles us to Himself by the only begotten Son; next, Christ comes forward with the sacrifice of His death; and at length, the Holy Spirit is likewise added, by whom he washes and regenerates us (Tit. 3:5) and in short, makes us partakers of his benefits.

It is true that we read, in the early church, of persons being baptized “in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Name of the Lord” (Acts 8:16; 10:48), but this expression by no means assumes that the name of the other Divine Persons were not used; it denotes that the converts were admitted into the religion which Jesus instituted, in fact, were assimilated in Christian community. The above formula, has from primitive times, been considered indispensable for the valid administration of this sacrament.

The Pastoral Department. v. 20a

“Teaching them” is the second necessary condition for discipleship. “As baptism constitutes the existence and the nature of discipleship, teaching constitutes the ways and works of the disciples. In the New Testament, “pastor,” means, the same as teacher, because there is no comma between “Pastor” and “teacher” (Eph. 4:11). Teacher is the third calling that God has appointed in the church (I Cor. 12:28). Teaching was the function of the priests in Old Testament times (Neh. 8:1-8). “The priesthood of the New Testament consists in slaying men, as a sacrifice to cod, by the spiritual sword of the word. Hence it follows, that all are but pretended and spurious priest who are not devoted to the office of teaching. The teaching commanded involves instruction, but that is not the emphasis in the text. The command is to teach them to obey what our Lord instructed.

“To observe all things which I commanded you;" By these words Christ shows that, in sending the apostles, he does not entirely resign his office, as if he ceased to be the Teacher of his Church; for he sends away the apostles with this reservation, that they shall not bring forward their own inventions, but shall purely and faithfully deliver from hand to hand what he has instructed to them. Teaching has to be supplemented subsequently in order to build up the convert in the faith and make him perfect. All must be taught all that Christ commanded, both in doctrine and morals, all that he had taught and enjoined during the three years.

To keep, observe, fulfill, pay attention to, come from the same Greek verb. The apostles are called to teach in the church. What they have been commanded they must teach without omission, the whole content of the order of service.

I am sure the risen Jesus trusted that his disciples would obey his Great Commission. Really they went to all the nations with his Gospel, made disciples, baptized them, and taught them to observe the instruction of their Lord. And the listeners from the disciples of Jesus have done the same way repeatedly with all generations according to history.

We generally seem to believe that the Great Commission of our Lord was concerned only with preaching the Gospel on foreign mission. But when Jesus instructed the “laymen” assembled before Him, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations”, He envisioned more than the simple task of soul winning or introduc­tion of Himself. The dear Lord’s burden is for growing Christians, people, who after meeting Him, want to be like Him. The evangelism in the New Testament does not stop with reaching people with the Gospel, nor with the proclamation of the Gospel, nor with public professions of faith in the Gospel, or even with relating them to the church through baptism and teaching. The evangelistic goal is not fulfilled until these new converts become reproducing Christians who complete the cycle and guarantee the continuous process of evangelism and church growth.

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