Matthew 28:19

28:19 Therefore go ¹  and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ² 

Mark 16:15-19

16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16:16 The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned. 16:17 These signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new languages; ³  16:18 they will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not harm them; ⁴  they will place their hands on the sick and they will be well.” 16:19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

Luke 24:45-49

24:45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures, ⁵  24:46 and said to them, “Thus it stands written that the Christ ⁶  would suffer ⁷  and would rise from the dead on the third day, 24:47 and repentance ⁸  for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed ⁹  in his name to all nations, ¹⁰  beginning from Jerusalem. ¹¹  24:48 You are witnesses ¹²  of these things. 24:49 And look, I am sending you ¹³  what my Father promised. ¹⁴  But stay in the city ¹⁵  until you have been clothed with power ¹⁶  from on high.”

[28:19]  ¹ tn “Go…baptize…teach” are participles modifying the imperative verb “make disciples.” According to ExSyn 645 the first participle (πορευθέντες, poreuqentes, “Go”) fits the typical structural pattern for the attendant circumstance participle (aorist participle preceding aorist main verb, with the mood of the main verb usually imperative or indicative) and thus picks up the mood (imperative in this case) from the main verb (μαθητεύσατε, maqhteusate, “make disciples”). This means that semantically the action of “going” is commanded, just as “making disciples” is. As for the two participles that follow the main verb (βαπτίζοντες, baptizontes, “baptizing”; and διδάσκοντες, didaskontes, “teaching”), these do not fit the normal pattern for attendant circumstance participles, since they are present participles and follow the aorist main verb. However, some interpreters do see them as carrying additional imperative force in context. Others regard them as means, manner, or even result.

[28:19]  ² tc Although some scholars have denied that the trinitarian baptismal formula in the Great Commission was a part of the original text of Matthew, there is no ms support for their contention. F. C. Conybeare, “The Eusebian Form of the Text of Mt. 28:19,” ZNW 2 (1901): 275-88, based his view on a faulty reading of Eusebius’ quotations of this text. The shorter reading has also been accepted, on other grounds, by a few other scholars. For discussion (and refutation of the conjecture that removes this baptismal formula), see B. J. Hubbard, The Matthean Redaction of a Primitive Apostolic Commissioning (SBLDS 19), 163-64, 167-75; and Jane Schaberg, The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (SBLDS 61), 27-29.

[16:17]  ³ tn Grk “tongues,” though the word is used figuratively (perhaps as a metonymy of cause for effect). To “speak in tongues” meant to “speak in a foreign language,” though one that was new to the one speaking it and therefore due to supernatural causes. For a discussion concerning whether such was a human language, heavenly language, or merely ecstatic utterance, see BDAG 201-2 s.v. γλῶσσα 2, 3; BDAG 399 s.v. ἕτερος 2; L&N 33.2-4; ExSyn 698; C. M. Robeck Jr., “Tongues,” DPL, 939-43.

[16:18]  ⁴ tn For further comment on the nature of this statement, whether it is a promise or prediction, see ExSyn 403-6.

[24:45]  ⁵ sn Luke does not mention specific texts here, but it is likely that many of the scriptures he mentioned elsewhere in Luke-Acts would have been among those he had in mind.

[24:46]  ⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[24:46]  ⁷ tn Three Greek infinitives are the key to this summary: (1) to suffer, (2) to rise, and (3) to be preached. The Christ (Messiah) would be slain, would be raised, and a message about repentance would go out into all the world as a result. All of this was recorded in the scripture. The remark shows the continuity between Jesus’ ministry, the scripture, and what disciples would be doing as they declared the Lord risen.

[24:47]  ⁸ sn This repentance has its roots in declarations of the Old Testament. It is the Hebrew concept of a turning of direction.

[24:47]  ⁹ tn Or “preached,” “announced.”

[24:47]  ¹⁰ sn To all nations. The same Greek term (τὰ ἔθνη, ta eqnh) may be translated “the Gentiles” or “the nations.” The hope of God in Christ was for all the nations from the beginning.

[24:47]  ¹¹ sn Beginning from Jerusalem. See Acts 2, which is where it all starts.

[24:48]  ¹² sn You are witnesses. This becomes a key concept of testimony in Acts. See Acts 1:8.

[24:49]  ¹³ tn Grk “sending on you.”

[24:49]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the promise of my Father,” with τοῦ πατρός (tou patros) translated as a subjective genitive. This is a reference to the Holy Spirit and looks back to how one could see Messiah had come with the promise of old (Luke 3:15-18). The promise is rooted in Jer 31:31 and Ezek 36:26.

[24:49]  ¹⁵ sn The city refers to Jerusalem.

[24:49]  ¹⁶ sn Until you have been clothed with power refers to the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. What the Spirit supplies is enablement. See Luke 12:11-12; 21:12-15. The difference the Spirit makes can be seen in Peter (compare Luke 22:54-62 with Acts 2:14-41).