Here's Keener, in some text related to the video:
How to Make Disciples in Matthew 28:18-20
The immediate context of 28:18-20 provides us
examples for how to testify about Christ (28:1-10) and how not to testify about Christ (28:11-15). But the context of the whole Gospel of
Matthew further informs how we should read this passage, especially because it
is the conclusion of the Gospel and readers would have finished the rest of
this Gospel by the time they reach it.
The command to “make disciples” of all nations (KJV
has “teach” them) is surrounded by three clauses in Greek that describe how we
make disciples of the nations: by “going,” “baptizing,” and “teaching.” Jesus had spoken of “going” when he had sent
his disciples out even within Galilee (10:7), but here disciples must go to
other cultures and peoples because they will make disciples of the “nations.”
Making disciples of the “nations” fits an emphasis
developed throughout this Gospel. The
four women specifically mentioned in Jesus’ ancestry (1:2-17) appear to be Gentiles:
Tamar the Canaanite, Rahab the Jerichoite, Ruth the Moabitess, and the “widow
of Uriah” the Hittite (1:3, 5-6).
Ancient Jewish genealogies normally emphasized the purity of one’s
Israelite lineage, but this genealogy deliberately underlines the mixed-race
heritage of the Messiah who will save Gentiles as well as Jews.
When many of his own people ignored or persecuted
him, pagan astrologers from the East came to worship him (2:1-12). God and his Son could raise up Abraham’s
children even from stones (3:9), work in “Galilee of the Gentiles” (4:15),
bless the faith of a Roman military officer (8:5-13), deliver demoniacs in
Gentile territory (8:28-34), compare Israelite cities unfavorably with Sodom
(10:15; 11:23-24), reward the persistent faith of a Canaanite woman (15:21-28),
allow the first apostolic confession of Jesus’ Messiahship in pagan territory
(16:13), promise that all nations would hear the gospel (24:14), and allow the
first confession of Jesus as God’s Son after the cross to come from a Roman
execution squad (27:54). Matthew
probably wrote to encourage his fellow Jewish Christians to evangelize the
Gentiles, so the Gospel fittingly closes on this command.
“Baptizing” recalls the mission of John the Baptist,
who baptized people for repentance (3:1-2, 6, 11). Baptism in Jewish culture represented an act
of conversion, so as “going” may represent crosscultural ministry, we may
describe Jesus’ command to “baptize” as evangelism. But evangelism is not sufficient to make full
disciples; we also need Christian education.
“Teaching” them all that Jesus commanded is made easier by the fact that
Matthew has provided us Jesus’ teachings conveniently in five major discourse
sections: Jesus’ teachings about the ethics of the kingdom (chs. 5-7); proclaiming
the kingdom (ch. 10); parables about the present state of the kingdom (ch. 13);
relationships in the kingdom (ch. 18); and the future of the kingdom and
judgment on the religious establishment (chs. 23-25).
But in Matthew’s Gospel, we do not make disciples the
way most Jewish teachers in his day made disciples. We make disciples not for ourselves but for
our Lord Jesus Christ (23:8). This final
paragraph of Matthew’s Gospel fittingly concludes various themes about Jesus’
identity in this Gospel as well. John
(3:2), Jesus (4:17), and his followers (10:7) announced God’s kingdom, his
reign; now Jesus reigns with all authority in all creation (28:18). Further, we baptize not only in the name of
God and his Spirit, but in the name of Jesus (28:19), thereby ranking Jesus as
deity alongside the Father and the Spirit.
And finally, Jesus’ promise to be with us always as we preach the
kingdom until the end of the age (28:20) recalls earlier promises in the Gospel. Jesus himself is “Immanuel,” “God with us”
(1:23), and wherever two or three gather in his name he will be among them
(18:20). To any ancient Jewish reader,
these statements would imply that Jesus was God.
Does the promise that Jesus will be with us “till the
end of the age” (28:20) imply that once the age ends he will no longer be with
us? Such an idea would miss entirely the
point of the text. Jesus is promising to
be with us in carrying out his commission (28:19); that must be accomplished
before the age ends (24:14), so the nations can be judged according to how they
have responded to this message (25:31-32).
Taking this passage in the context of the entire Gospel provides us
plenty of preaching material without even stepping outside Matthew! LINK, Bible in Context pp. 29-30
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