10 of 12 Christian Basics: With You

“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.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

These words are called “The Great Commission” because they are a clear statement by Jesus about his purpose in leaving his disciples, and of the purpose of the church: to make disciples of all nations.

The task of making disciples of all nations surely must have seemed daunting, even impossible, to his followers who heard him speak these words. In fact, the task has, if anything, become more daunting and seemingly impossible with the passing centuries. In some ways, the world is so much bigger and more complex now in the twenty-first century than it seemed in the first century. An estimated 8 billion people inhabit our planet.

Jesus commanded his disciples to reach “all nations,” or, in Greek, “ta ethne,” that is, all ethnic groups. Conservative estimates suggest that more than 11,000 ethnic groups exist today. The Bible has been translated into 756 languages, the New Testament into 1,726. An estimated 3,756 languages have at least some scripture. A total of 7,396 languages exist in the world; of these all but about 1,000 have some scripture in their language. Put another way, under 1,000 languages have yet to start a translation of the Bible.

Perhaps the enormity of the task prompted Jesus to promise “surely I am with you always.” His encouraging and energizing presence has made a difference in the church making progress in achieving its enormous purpose to make disciples of all nations.

He did not abandon us to simply solve the problem of reaching the world. It’s not simply up to us, with our own devices and cleverness.

Jesus taught 12 basics of theology in his Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). The twelve are: Jesus’s authority; Jesus’s divine compassion; heaven and earth; reason and faith; go; all nations; make disciples (the basic in this article); Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; all that I have commanded; with you; surely; and the end of the age. The first article in the series is here. To follow all of the articles in the series, click on the word “Philosophical” at the beginning of any of the articles.

You can see the entire study on the 12 basics of Christian theology here.

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