The Great Commission Is in ALL Four Gospels
Did you know the Great Commission isn't just Matthew 28? Each of the four Gospels has a commissioning scene, PLUS Acts 1:8. Five different sending texts, each with a distinct emphasis. Together they form the NT's comprehensive missional theology.
The Five Commissions:
Matthew 28:18-20 — the familiar one. "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."
Emphasis: authority + disciple-making + Trinitarian baptism + teaching all Christ commanded.
Mark 16:15 — "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."
Emphasis: proclamation to all creation (universal scope).
Note: Mark 16:9-20 is textually disputed (see earlier episode on "last 12 verses of Mark"). But the passage is preserved in most manuscripts and captures Mark's mission emphasis.
Luke 24:46-48 — "that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."
Emphasis: gospel content (repentance + forgiveness) + witness role.
John 20:21 — "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
Greek: kathōs apestalken me ho patēr kagō pempō hymas (καθὼς ἀπέσταλκέν με ὁ πατήρ κἀγὼ πέμπω ὑμᾶς).
Emphasis: Trinitarian mission pattern — the Father sends the Son; the Son sends the church. Reformed missiology grounds the church's mission in the intra-Trinitarian sending.
Acts 1:8 — "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Not a Gospel, but Luke's second volume — completing Luke's commission theme with Spirit-empowered witness + concentric geographic expansion.
Five Commissions, One Mission:
Each of the five texts adds distinct emphasis to the church's calling:
— Matthew — authority, disciples, baptism, teaching
— Mark — proclamation to all creation
— Luke — repentance, forgiveness, witnesses
— John — Trinitarian mission pattern
— Acts — Spirit-power, geographic expansion
Missional theology is not built on one proof-text. It is woven through the entire post-resurrection NT.
The Reformed Reading:
NT is comprehensively missional. Reformed missiology reads the entire NT as missionally oriented, with each Gospel contributing distinctive emphases. Christopher J.H. Wright's The Mission of God traces the missional narrative from Genesis through Revelation.
Trinitarian mission (John 20:21). John's commission grounds the church's mission in the intra-Trinitarian sending: the Father sent the Son; the Son sends the church. This is a foundational Reformed doctrine (David Bosch, Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret).
Luke-Acts as unified missiology. Luke 24:47 and Acts 1:8 form one theological program — Luke's two-volume work presents a unified missional vision that carries the church from Jerusalem to Rome.
Missional discipleship. Reading all five commissions together frames every believer's calling: authority + disciple-making + baptism + teaching + proclamation + repentance/forgiveness + witness + Trinitarian sending + Spirit-empowered geographic expansion.
Sources: Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God; David Bosch, Transforming Mission; Lesslie Newbigin, The Open Secret; Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics vol. 4; John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad.
The Pastoral Implication:
If your view of the Great Commission is one Matthew verse, expand it. All four Gospels + Acts commission the church, each with distinct emphasis. The whole NT is missionally oriented — not just one verse in Matthew.
Five commissions. One mission.
📖 Passages: Isaiah 49:6, 52:7-10, Matthew 28:16-20, 24:14, Mark 13:10, 14:9, 16:9-20, Luke 24:44-49, John 17:18, 20:19-23, Acts 1:1-11, 2:1-47, 10:34-48, 13:47, Romans 10:14-17, 15:14-21, Ephesians 3:1-13, Colossians 1:24-29, 2 Timothy 4:1-8, Revelation 5:9-10, 7:9-10