Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 28:20

"teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." — Matthew 28:20 (ASV)

Those who are discipled must be taught. The content of this instruction is everything Jesus commanded the first disciples. Three things stand out. (1) The focus is on Jesus’ commands, not OT law. Jesus’ words, like the words of Scripture, are more enduring than heaven and earth (24:35); and the peculiar expression “everything I have commanded you” is reminiscent of the authority of the Lord (Exodus 29:35; Dt 1:3, 41; Exodus 7:11; 12:11, 14). This confirms our exegesis of 5:17–20. (2) Remarkably, Jesus does not foresee a time when any part of his teaching will be rightly judged needless, outmoded, superseded, or untrue: everything he has commanded must be passed on “to the very end of the age.” (3) What the disciples teach is not mere dogma steeped in abstract theorizing but content to be obeyed.

The gospel ends with the promise of Jesus’ comforting presence, which, if not made explicitly conditional on the disciples’ obedience to the Great Commission, is at least closely tied to it. He who is introduced to us in the prologue as Immanuel, “God with us” (1:23), is still God with us every day, to the end of history as we know it, when the kingdom will be consummated.

Matthew’s gospel ends with the expectation of continued mission and teaching. The five preceding sections each conclude with a block of Jesus’ teaching (3:1–26:5); but the passion and resurrection of Jesus end with a commission to his disciples to carry on that same ministry, in the light of the Cross, the empty tomb, and the triumphant vindication and exaltation of the risen Lord. In this sense the gospel of Matthew is not a closed book till the consummation. The final chapter is being written in the mission and teaching of Jesus’ disciples (cf. 2 Timothy 2:2).