Jesus commissions his disciples to go as witnesses to all creation, to the ends of the earth, to the world and to the nations.[i] What does go to all nations, discipling, baptizing and teaching mean? We are to spread the good news, the gospel.
Mt 24:14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.2
What is the gospel? Is it a transaction where I give my heart to Jesus so that I have my “Get Out of Hell, Free Card”? No. Being a disciple, a Christian, is not a one-time decision but a change in who I am. Baptism in the name of Christ is His promise to me that I am His, a new creation, a child of God. As the Christ, the one with all authority, Jesus calls us to share the gospel of the kingdom with others. The gospel is that the kingdom of God is here and now. Jesus is the king who is extending and realizing His kingdom through the work of the Holy Spirit in the church through believers. While we repent and believe to become His, our purpose and meaning in life is to love one another and serve Christ. The goal of being a disciple is what we pray, “Thy Kingdom Come and Thy will be done”. Evangelism is a foundational requirement for us. The gospel is more and about all of life, not just church stuff.
Jesus prays for the disciples in the upper room as He sends them into the world.[ii]
Jn 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. 18 Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world.
As disciples, we are charged with proclaiming the gospel to the whole world. What is the gospel? Jesus begins His ministry with a proclamation of the gospel:[iii]
Mt 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Mk 1:14 Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Jesus identifies the gospel, the good news, as the imminent arrival of the kingdom of God. Christians use the word gospel not simply to mean any good news but to identify Jesus as the Christ, the promised king who has come to rule the world. Jesus declares that He has all authority on heaven and earth in the Great Commission. Luke gives us two clear summaries from Jesus of the gospel after the resurrection. The first is when He is with the disciples in the upper room:
Lk 24:44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “So it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
Jesus teaches the disciples that He is the Christ who fulfills all things written in the Hebrew Scriptures. Disciples are to call all to repent for the forgiveness of sins. They are to be witnesses that Jesus is the risen Christ. Luke expands this account in Acts:
Acts 1:1The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, 2 until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen. 3 To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of things regarding the kingdom of God.
At Pentecost, immediately after Jesus taught them about the kingdom, Peter proclaims the gospel with the primary conclusion that Jesus is the Christ who is Lord of all:
Acts 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.”
Peter calls on all there to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. As disciples, we need to understand what it means for Jesus to be the Christ, what it means to repent, to believe, to be forgiven, to love God, to love one another, to live out the good news of the gospel. We need to understand how baptism and keeping the commands of Jesus is foundational to discipling.
Being a disciple is the core of our identity and our understanding of ultimate reality. Since Jesus is the Christ and we are His, He calls us to work in every area of our lives and in every place to bring His kingdom to Earth as it is in heaven.
[i]One common understanding due to the word, nations, in translation is to miss the full picture. We are obviously to go to all nations, but the concept of a nation is foreign to the Greek Text. The primary idea is likely for the disciples to go, be sent to non-Israelites. The word translated in the KJV as nations is éthnos ἔθνος (G1483S) which is for a group of people, a multitude, a tribe. In the Hebrew text this word is used in the LXX to describe non-Israelites, Gentiles. This word is the source of our term, ethnicity. The core idea from Greek usage appears to be a group or community.1 This term is used to indicate that the work of Jesus as the Christ is for all peoples, Mt 24:14, , 28:19, Mk 13:10, and Lk 24:47.
[ii] Jesus also uses the word, world, kósmos κόσμος (G2889S) as the destination of His sending, Mt 5:14, 13:38, 26:13, Mk 14:9, 16:15, and Jn 1:9, 29, 3:16, 8:12, 12:47, 17:18. The term used in Aristotle’s writing is for everything, all time and space.3 John uses the term the most as we would might expect from his opening section Jn 1:1-14. It would be roughly equivalent to the Hebrew expression, heavens and the earth.
[iii] The term, gospel, is a Greek word meaning good news, euangélion εὐαγγέλιον (G2098S). We get our word evangelical from it. The word was regularly used for proclamations from the king or emperor.4 Jesus is using it in the same way, when He as a prophet declares the good news about the coming kingdom. In Matthew, the proclamation is announcing the kingdom of heaven in sensitivity to the Israelites who did not want to misuse God’s name, Mt 3:2, 4:17, 23, 5:3, 10, 19-20, 9:35 … Jesus instructs His disciples to preach the kingdom, Mt 10:7. He uses parables to teach what the kingdom is like, Mt 13:11, 24, 31, 45, 47. In Mark and Luke, these teachings are about the coming kingdom of God.