Go and make disciples of all nations — the commission's main verb is make disciples (matheteusate), not go; the going is assumed. The scope — all nations (panta ta ethne) — fulfills the promise made to Abraham (Genesis 12:3) and the vision of Isaiah and the Psalms: the covenant people's task was always to be the instrument through which God's blessing reached every nation. The baptizing formula — in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit — is the most fully Trinitarian statement in Matthew's Gospel and the foundational New Testament text for Trinitarian theology. Baptism is the entry rite into the discipled community; the Trinitarian name into which one is baptized is the community's confession. The commission's scope (all nations) and the baptismal formula's scope (the full name of the triune God) are deliberately matched.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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