CHAPTER I.

THE MEANING OF THE COMMISSION GIVEN TO THE

APOSTLES.

HAVING now ascertained that Christ has commanded his ministers to immerse disciples, and has commanded his disciples to be immersed, let us further examine the meaning of this command as developed by the commission itself.

Before our Lord ascended to his glory, he said to his Apostles, "Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."

The word areúv, here translated "to teach," is sometimes used in that sense, as Matt. xiii. 52; but here it means apparently "to make a disciple" (Liddell), " to train or teach as a disciple" (Robinson), "to draw any one to the Christian religion" (Schleusner), as Acts, xiv. 21. Three acts are therefore enjoined,—to disciple the nations, to baptize them, and to teach them obedience to all Christ's laws.

Now there are three ways in which these words may be understood, supposing the meaning of the separate terms to be ascertained. First, We may understand that the second and third commands are explanatory of the first. "Baptizing the nations and teaching them to obey my commands, make disciples of them:" in other words, "Make disciples of the nations by baptizing them and by teaching them obedience." According to this construction of the sentence some maintain that persons are to be baptized, not after they are become disciples but in order to their becoming so; they are not to be made disciples that they may be baptized and taught, but to be baptized and taught that they may thus be made disciples. All serious applicants, they think, ought to be baptized at once, and then instructed that they may become disciples: the nations are to be baptized and then taught, there being no other limit to the duty than the practicability.

There are serious objections to this interpretation. 1. Without previous knowledge of Christ and faith in Christ, the nations would not be baptized; and to command the disciples to baptize the nations before they were converted was to command what was impracticable. How, for instance, would the missionaries now on the coast of China be able to baptize the people of Canton, Amoy, or Shanghae, before leading them to believe in Christ? By baptism a Hindoo renounces caste, connexions, property: will he do this before he understands and believes the Gospel?

2. If baptism precedes discipleship, so does the instruction in all the details of obedience; for the second and third commands being both participles present must be synchronical; and if the one must precede discipleship so must the other. Hence no man can be a disciple till he is instructed in all the details of obedience as well as baptized, which is contrary to the common use of language, and contrary to fact.

3. According to this interpretation, men are to be taught to obey all the commands of Christ before they become his disciples, which is impossible; for till men become disciples of Christ they will not listen to his commands.

4. The most serious objection to this interpretation is, that no man is made a disciple by being baptized and being taught the details of obedience, but by hearing and receiving the doctrine of Christ.

5. In various places in the New Testament discipleship is stated to be different from baptism, and to precede it. Thus, in John, iv., we read, "When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, he left Judea." Jesus therefore made disciples, and then baptized them. The baptism was different from the discipleship, and succeeded it.

6. This interpretation is refuted by the practice of the Apostles, who led men to believe the gospel before they baptized them.

But there are not wanting passages in the New Testament which show that these three commands

may mean, "Make disciples of the nations by leading them to believe in me, then baptize them as disciples, and then teach them as baptized disciples to obey all my commands."

Present participles thus, sometimes, in the New Testament, express actions which immediately follow the action of the verb with which they are connected, and are accessories to it. Thus (Matt. viii. 27), "The men marvelled, saying," &c. When the wonder preceded the language and caused it (Matt. ix. 33), "The multitudes marvelled, saying," &c. See, also, Matt. xix. 25; xxi. 10, 20; xxvi. 8, &c. In all these cases the emotion described preceded the words. So, when Jesus said, "Go ye and disciple the nations, baptizing them," the discipleship might precede the baptism, and be its cause. Present participles are connected in a similar manner with words of approaching, as (Matt. xvii. 14), “Then came to him a man, kneeling down to him," Matt. xix. 3, "The Pharisees came to him tempting him." In the one case the man came before he knelt, and in the second the Pharisees came before they tempted. So when it was said to the Apostles, "Disciple baptizing," they might disciple before they baptized. In these and similar instances we may observe, too, that the verb and the participle may refer to different acts, and that the participle may describe something additional to the principal action; as, for instance (Luke, vi. 36), "Lend, hoping for nothing again;" again, "Lend, and when ye lend hope for no return." So here the command

is, "Make disciples, and as you make disciples baptize them." There are some instances in which, if I mistake not, three consecutive actions are expressed precisely as the three acts are in the commission. Thus (Eph. v. 18-20), 1. "Be filled with the Spirit;" 2. "speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things;" 3. " submitting yourselves one to another."1 As here the perpetual thanksgiving and the submission to each other are consequences of being filled with the Spirit, so in the commission baptism and instruction are to be consequences of discipleship.

Eph. vi. 17, 18. 1. "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;" 2. "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit," 3. " and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints."1 The soldier takes his armour first in a time of danger, and then watches; the Christian is called to assume Christian tempers and the word of God as his armour, and then to pray and to watch. Just so, according to the commission, the sinner is called to become a disciple first, and then to profess discipleship in baptism, and to receive instruction in the details of a Christian life. The construction of

· Πληροῦσθε ἐν Πνεύματι, λαλοῦντες ἑαυτοῖς, ᾄδοντες καὶ ψάλλοντες, εὐχαριστοῦντες, ὑποτασσόμενοι ἀλλήλοις, &c.

2 Τὴν περικεφαλαίαν δέξασθε, προσευχόμενοι ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ, καὶ ἀγρυπο νοῦντες ἐν πάσῃ προσκαρτερήσει.