Matthew 28

18b All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son

20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I will be with you always,

These verses, when seen in the context of the entire passage in Matthew 28 which has come to be known as the "Great Commission" (vv. 16-20), have become the primary impetus for Christian evangelism since the time of the first Pentecostal event following Jesus' ascension into Heaven. These two verses, particularly v. 19, have also led to considerable confusion in the churches concerning the relationship, manner, and mode of baptism to one's salvation.

To a certain extent, the choice of language employed by Tyndale and the translators employed by King James as the Bible was first translated into the English language, based principally on the limited scholarship of the 16th and 17th centuries, is at fault. However, the divisions which have grown up between the various Christian denominations since the time of the Reformation can also be attributed to the question and problem of baptism. It is well known now that the word baptism is merely a transliteration of the original Greek verb stem ((((?((, employed deliberately to evade the issue of "baptism" by affusion (as in the Roman tradition) or by immersion (as was gaining in popularity amon

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the gospel to them, "and then admit them and theirs into the church, by washing them with water." Clarke contends that "for as the Gospel was, in a peculiar manner, sent to the Gentiles, they must hear and receive it, before they could be expected to renounce their old prejudices and idolatries, and come into the bonds of the Christian covenant." Broadus presents a more conventional Baptist perspective. While some traditions maintain "disciple by baptizing" as the normal course, the Baptist view is that "the general teachings of Scripture do not allow us to think that discipling can be effected by a ceremony and a subsequent course of instruction in Christ's precepts." Meyer dissents, maintaining that baptism is the agency through which discipleship operates, "and through which, accordingly, the introduction into spiritual fellowship with, and ethical dependence upon Christ is brought about, it must be understood as denoting that by baptism the believer passes into a new phase of life . . . ." Lange takes an entirely different position. He first posits that the correct translation of ((((?(((((( is "having baptized them," although the act of discipling is not completed in baptism. With this in mind, he maintains

Category: Philosophy - M