In the gospel of Matthew, the Great Commission is the final instruction that Jesus gives to his disciples. They join him on "the mountain" and he sends them out into the world.

v16. There is a strong tradition of Jesus "going before" the disciples to Galilee. Obviously, this was a time of teaching, although presumably direct contact with the risen Lord was limited. It was during this time that Jesus met with his disciples and commissioned them for their missionary task.

v17. The response of the disciples to Jesus is rather difficult to understand. Some "worshipped" Jesus, ie. prostrated themselves before him. By this act they recognized his divinity. Yet, some "doubted", ie. they stood back, not quite sure that this was actually Jesus. It seems that Jesus was not always easily recognizable after his resurrection. eg. Mary Magdalene and the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, failed to recognize Jesus at first sight.

v18. Jesus claims absolute authority and thus, the right to make the following demands of his disciples. Of course, with the right goes the power. What Jesus commands can be done because he enables the doing of it.

v19. Jesus' instruction to his disciples can be divided into three parts:

i] "Go and make disciples of all Nations". It is probably best to translate the phrase as "Go and gather disciples from all Nations." ie. Go and proclaim the gospel, gathering in the lost from the ends of the earth. Jesus is certainly not telling the disciples to Christianize the Nations.

ii] "Baptizing them into/in the name." There are two key words in this phrase: "baptizing" and "the name." Baptizing simply means "immersing", and "the name" refers to the person of God (a person's name represents them). The disciples are to immerse people into the character of God, ie. tell them all about the Lord.

iii] "Of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The "name", the very being of God, is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

v20. Those who respond to the gospel must be instructed in the Christian faith. Jesus concludes with the beautiful words, "I will be with you always to the very end of the age." Here Jesus promises his presence and power to those who have accepted his commission. He will be with us to the completion of this age.

In our passage for study, verse 19 contains a number of substantial truths and it is worth examining two of them in detail.

The word "baptize" is a Greek word which has been brought unchanged into the English language. This has caused some problems, for whereas the Greek word has both figurative and literal meanings, we tend to give the word only a literal meaning. We usually understand the word "baptize" to mean dip or immerse in water. The word would be better translated "immerse", for in the New Testament it carries three figurative meanings: immerse in teaching, immerse in the Spirit and immerse in suffering. Here it probably means immerse teaching, but teaching into what?

The New Testament maintains the tradition of only hesitatingly referring to God's actual name. The reason for this is that a person's name is a reflection of their character, their person. For this reason, the name of God is never spelled out in the Old Testament for fear that the very mention of it would consume the writer, or speaker. Only the consonants were written (YHWH). The English "Jehovah" is a rough guess. The term "I am" is a much less threatening title and so was often used.

So to be "immersed" in the "name" of God, is to be immersed into his very being, his person, his character. The question is, how do we do that? The popular understanding of this phrase is that we do it by dunking or sprinkling water on someone while reciting the words. It is more probable that to immerse someone in the "name" means to flood them with an understanding of God's character through his revealed word. In simple terms it means to teach them about God. In the context of the command "go and gather", it probably means to proclaim the gospel. So Jesus' command is "go and gather, proclaiming the gospel."

The "name", the very being of God, is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is, God is revealed to us as triune, multidimensional, multi-personal. He is triune, while at the same time one. The doctrinal term "Trinity" is used as a tag for this truth. So Jesus gives us a glimpse of the character of God, a glimpse which is beyond our understanding. God is one, but three persons.

The simplest way to gain at least some understanding of this aspect of God's being, is to look at his character. The Bible says "God is love." Here is the most succinct description of his character. A lone individual cannot love, for love demands relationships. God's being, his multi-personal character, allows the development of loving relationships within himself. He is therefore, not dependent on anything or anyone beyond his person when it comes to developing caring relationships.

Our God is one God, but three persons. How do we experience the triune nature of God?