Is the great commission not for the Church because it's in Matthew?

How do you reconcile Paul saying that part of the mystery is Jew and Gentile being one in Christ? Also, the call was to the Jew first, then the Gentile? Paul always went first to the synagogues to preach. I'm not disagreeing with your points made at all, but trying to see how this all fits together. In addition, are you saying that the great commission is not for the Church today because it is in Matthew? This was a command to the disciples of that day and all succeeding generations of believers for our call is to preach the Gospel (yes, Paul's Gospel 1 Cor. 15:1-4) and to then bring them to maturity (Col. 1:28).

I'm having trouble reconciling every aspect of what you are saying. Please help clarify.

Doug

Dear Doug,
The great commission of Matthew 28:20 Go ye therefore, and teach (make disciples of) 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: and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the sunteleia of the age, Amen (Matt. 28:19,20) deals with the end of the age. There is no reference here to the gospel of the grace of God, indeed, that gospel was not then known. The commission speaks of making disciples of all nations matheteuo, a word never employed in the epistles. The baptismal formula is never used so far as the subsequent record of the Acts and epistles is concerned, and the main feature of this commission is the teaching to observe commandments already given, and whic= h belong to the dispensation of the Kings advent, not to the extension of the gospel of grace among the Gentiles as it is today. Matthew 28:19,20 will have glorious results in its own proper season, but it is a poor substitute for the preaching of the One Mediator which Paul declared was the testimony for its own peculiar season, namely now during the intervening dispensation of grace during Israels blindness.

Just as the end of 1 Corinthians 15:24 transcends everything that the lesser ends of Matthew 24 or 28 can comprise, so the commissions given to the apostles and witnesses at different times deal with narrower or wider phases of the one great purpose and should be kept apart, and not confused. Neither the commission of Matthew 28 nor that of Mark 16, Luke 24 or John 21 are the marching orders of the Church today, these can only come through the one apostle who has been given to the Gentiles today, namely the apostle Paul.

We hope this helps,
The Believers

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