World Christian Leadership | Does It Matter if the Great Commission says "Go" or "As You Go?"
Jesus commissions all Christians to go into all the world to preach all the Gospel. As you go about your life, make disciples of all nations. Go and make disciples of all nations.
I was recently seated at a BBQ dinner with a collegiate ministry leader and asked about my thoughts on the "as you are going" interpretation of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20.
Some read "Go, therefore" as "as you go" or "as you are going." This is because the word for go is an aorist passive participle, meaning that is not "officially" an active verb.
Does it matter whether the English translation says "Go" or "As You Go?"
No. The grammatical differences do not matter as much because the point is the same either way. The issue comes when some use this as evidence to allow them to say, "I am a missionary wherever I go, in my backyard, in my house, etc."
But if we claim "going" is optional, then we also have to conclude "baptizing" and "teaching" are optional as well because they exist in the same form? They can be translated to "as you go," "as you baptize," and "as you teach."
This is not the point.
Jesus commissions every follower to "make disciples of all nations." This is the subject of the text.
How does one make disciples of all nations?
- Going to all nations.
- Baptizing them in God's name.
- Teaching them to obey all Jesus commanded.
There is an expectation for all these activities because they are all core components of making disciples. Why would Jesus use the specific, directional language of "all nations" and "Jerusalem, all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8)?
Because Jesus expected the disciples to be intimately involved in spreading the Gospel to the nations.
It is not as much about how it looks in English. It is about what Jesus meant when it was written in Greek and spoken in Aramaic.
Jesus commissions all Christians to go into all the world to preach all the Gospel. As you go about your life, make disciples of all nations. Go and make disciples of all nations. Neither are an excuse to not make disciples of all nations.