What is a Disciple? Part 5: The Commission by Dan Roach

In-built within the call to discipleship is a command from Jesus himself, which was issued to the first disciples and has been issued to all disciples since. We call it the Great Commission.

Jesus didn’t just call his disciples to follow him. He promised to do something in and through them. He said: ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’[1] Jesus spoke these words to ordinary fishermen who would have understood the picture he used: he would help his disciples call other people to himself, just as fishermen catch fish. As Jesus had been sent from God the Father to make disciples, so too would the disciples be sent out by Jesus to make further disciples.[2] While expressed in seed-form throughout the Gospels, the clearest articulation of this commission to the disciples comes at the end of Matthew, after Jesus’ resurrection:

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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.”[3]

English translations can sometimes mean that we miss the point here. The main verb is to ‘make disciples’ (matheteuo, literally ‘to disciple’). This is the only command in the Greek and everything else hangs off it. ‘Going’, ‘baptising’ and ‘teaching’ all explain what is involved in this call to make disciples.

This is the Great Commission. It is of central importance to discipleship.

Colin Marshall and Tony Payne write, ‘The Great Commission…is…the basic agenda for all disciples. To be a disciple is to be a disciple-maker.’ Disciples make disciples. Measuring our success as a community of disciples is thus relatively straightforward. As Marshall and Payne have commented, ‘To be a disciple is to be called to make new disciples. Of course, Christians will receive and exercise differing gifts and ministries…But because all are disciples of Christ, standing in relation to him as teacher and pupil, master and follower, all are disciple-makers. Thus the goal of Christian ministry is quite simple, and in a sense measurable: are we making and nurturing genuine disciples of Christ?’

The reproduction and multiplication of disciples was and still is Jesus’ plan to reach this world. Robert Coleman issues this challenge to us: 

Jesus intended for the disciples to produce his likeness in and through the church being gathered out of the world. Thus his ministry in the Spirit would be duplicated manyfold by his ministry in the lives of his disciples…His whole evangelistic strategy…depended on the faithfulness of his chosen disciples to this task. It did not matter how small the group was to start with so long as they reproduced and taught their disciples to reproduce…He had no other plan…Here finally is where we must all evaluate the contribution that our life and witness is making... Are those who have followed us to Christ now leading others to him and teaching them to make disciples like ourselves?... Our work is never finished until it has assured its continuation in the lives of those redeemed by the Evangel.

As we seek to make disciples everywhere, we must remember that in Matthew, Jesus promises us two things. Firstly, it will be difficult. We are being sent out like sheep amongst wolves. We will suffer for it. Jesus does not promise us an easy life. He calls us to take up our crosses and follow him.[4] Secondly, we will see much fruit. This encourages us to keep going. The harvest is plentiful! We have his word on it.[5] All Jesus wants is followers who are committed to bringing it in for him. Over the course of our lives, we can trust that, as we go into our schools and workplaces and spend time with our friends, neighbours, colleagues, families and children, we will together see many people become disciples of Jesus through us as individuals and through our churches. This is what discipleship is all about.

[1] Matt 4:19; Mark 1:17; see also Luke 5:1-11.

[2] John 20:21.

[3] Matt. 28:18-20; see also Mark 16:14-20.

[4] Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 14:27

[5] Matt. 9:35-10:23.