Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. – Matthew 28:19, 20 (ESV)

Most believers know the verse above by heart and can quote it at the drop of a hat. At the same time, I find it very interesting how often some aspect of it is misunderstood. Sometimes, when you begin studying a subject, it seems the “digger you deep” into it, the more you discover. I’ve found that to be true with every verse of Scripture I have looked at – especially in the language of the Greek New Testament.

I know, few church members are interested in the finer details of an ancient language long considered dead. Well, it’s not, and you should be interested.

Here is a perfect example why:

The main verb in the commission is ‘make disciples’. It is the explicit command in the passage. Without getting too technical, suffice it to say that ‘Go’, ‘baptize’ and ‘teach’ are participles modifying the imperative verb ‘make disciples’. In fact, let’s just give you the literal translation of the passage:

Then having gone, disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the completion of the age. Amen. – (LITV)

Now, the point I want to make is this: in the literal transliteration of this passage, ‘disciple all nations’ is the emphatic, explicit command. Traditionally, especially among Southern Baptist, the emphasis has been placed on ‘Go’, but it shouldn’t be. Our great business as Christians is to make disciples, or better, disciple the nations. That is the emphasis of the entire passage. Now, the question arises, how are we to make disciples of these nations, and more specifically for our purposes today, how far do we carry that discipleship?

Surprise – the answer is in the Greek text itself.

You see, the Greek word for ‘disciple all nations’ is matheteusate. It is a Greek aorist active imperative of mathateuo. What does that mean? It means that, being in the aorist tense, it is not in the present tense. That is important, because if it were in the present tense, then our goal in fulfilling the great commission should be spending our time making disciples instead of, as the aorist tense signifies, completing or accomplishing discipleship of those people groups being discipled!

Do you see? The command to disciple the nations is to accomplish or complete the discipling of all nations. We are to accomplish it, not begin, then run off somewhere else and begin another discipling program elsewhere. No!

The point here is simply that in order to fulfill the command of discipling the nations given by our Lord Jesus requires a level of commitment with the goal of completion in mind. We are not to simply begin a program then replicate that program across multi-site campuses, nor begin a good work in one country then begin in another. No, that is not fulfilling the great commission as I understand it.

Fulfilling the great commission, as I understand the Greek text, is to so disciple a nation that it is doctrinally rock-solid. The people of that discipled nation are are to be so taught, so instructed, so discipled that they are impervious to erroneous doctrine and built up in the faith to such a degree they may withstand attacks from Hell itself.

How far are we to take discipleship? All the way brethren, all the way.