Baptizing them in the Name of the Father the Son and The Holy Spirit

The Message

 

Baptizing them in the Name of the Father the Son and The Holy Spirit

 

The message is clear in verse 19 that we are to “make disciples”. But it does not stop there. We are to signify that they are disciples by “baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”. This is a significant thing to consider. The Bible is clear that baptizing is not required for salvation but as the first public act of a believers testimony. There is no mention of baptism in John 3:16 which is probably the most important gospel proclamation in the Bible. I talked about God’s greatest gift with much more detail in “Born to Die for Our Sins”.

Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you

 

This second part of the message is the most difficult and probably the reason that many Christians are simply Sunday Christians and do no reflect the glory of God in their daily personal life. The word didaskontes (διδασκοντες) is present participle active voice verb which literally means to keep teaching. So what does this mean for us? The implication of teach in this case is to continue to build on the principles of obedience which Christ Himself taught. the result could be a complete believer that could share the Gospel with others and teach them in the same manner as they have been and are being taught. There is no ending point of teaching or maturity that qualifies a believer as having completed the course but a process of maturity that spurs them on to share the Gospel more and more with greater confidence each time.