Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 28:19

"Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:" — Matthew 28:19 (ASV)

Teach all nations — More accurately, make disciples of all the nations. The Greek verb is the same as the one translated as “instructed” in Matthew 13:52 and is formed from the noun for “disciple.” The words recognize the principle of a succession in the apostolic office. The disciples, having fully learned what their Master, their Rabbi, had to teach them, were now to become, in their turn, scribes of the kingdom of heaven and teachers of others.

It is, to say the least, suggestive that in this solemn commission, stress is placed on the teaching, rather than on the sacerdotal element, of the Christian ministry. However, the inference that the priestly element is altogether excluded must be balanced by a careful study of the words of John 20:23, which seem at first sight to point in the opposite direction (see the note on John 20:23).

The words translated “all nations” are the same as those in Matthew 25:32, and, as commonly used by the Jews, would point to the Gentile nations of the world, as distinguished from the people of Israel. They are therefore an emphatic expansion of the commission given in Matthew 10:5. It is especially interesting that this full declaration of the gospel’s universality is specially recorded in the Gospel written, as we see throughout, for a Jewish audience.

Baptizing them in the name of the Father — Here we must consider two things: the form and the substance.

1. Regarding the form, we must explain why, with this command so recently given, the baptisms recorded in the book of Acts (Acts 2:38; Acts 10:48; Acts 19:5) and referred to in the Epistles (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27) are performed in (or rather, into) “the name of the Lord Jesus,” or “of Christ.” The true meaning of the word “nations,” as noted earlier, seems to be the best solution to the difficulty that arises. For converts from the house of Israel, who were already part of God's family, it was enough to be baptized into the name of Jesus as the Messiah as the condition for their admission into the Church He had founded. By that confession, they gave new life to doctrines they had partially received before; belief in the Father and the Spirit was virtually implied in their belief in Jesus as the incarnate Son. For the Gentiles, the case was different. They had worshiped gods many and lords many (1 Corinthians 8:5) and had been without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12), and so they had not known the Father.

2. Regarding the substance, the question remains: What is meant by being baptized “into a name”? The answer is found in the prominent Old Testament fact (e.g., Exodus 3:14–15) that the Name of God is a revelation of who He is. Baptism was no longer to be merely a symbol of repentance, as it had been in the hands of John the forerunner. Instead, it was the sign that those who received it were brought into an entirely new relationship with Him who was thus revealed to them. The union of the three names in one formula (as in the benediction of 2 Corinthians 13:14) is in itself a proof of both the distinctness and the equality of the three Divine Persons. We cannot conceive of a command given to, and adopted by, the universal Church to baptize all its members in the name (not “the names”) of God, a merely human prophet, and an impersonal influence or power.