Misunderstanding the Great Commission
What we Christians call the “Great Commission” is a saying of Jesus that is traditionally understood as His call for us to preach the gospel to all of humanity. The problem is we tend to read the idea of Paul’s gospel of “salvation from the power of sin by believing on Jesus as Lord” back into this text when that content is simply not there. We thus assign a different meaning to the “Great Commission” than Jesus originally intended. We find the Great Commission in the Gospel of Matthew. As such, we must understand it within the context of that gospel. Each of the four gospels was written at a different time, to a different audience and for specific theological purposes. The gospel of Matthew is very Jewish in content, and it focuses on Jesus as the New Moses, the Teacher of the ways of God, and as Messiah, the promised Jewish Deliverer. In the gospel, Jesus teaches on the dawning of the Kingdom of God, which is a new way of living in the immediate Presence and Authority of God.