I recently had a friend suggest that the Great Commission was solely a command for the apostles. The key verse under discussion is:

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

His suggestion was that this command was given specifically, and solely, to the Apostles and that the command was not given to any other believers. I agree that the command was actually spoken to the Apostles, but I question his suggestion that it was meant solely for the Apostles.

Jesus set many examples for us through His life. Although He shared the Gospel with everyone around Him, He made intentional time to make disciples who knew and followed Him faithfully. He trained them in knowledge and in how to share the Gospel with others. He trained them by sending them out while He was still with them. He set an example of preparing the next generation of Christians to spread the Gospel to the ends of the Earth.

He had His closest disciples (Peter, James, and John) who got to experience the closest relationship with Him and received the most training. They received special encouragement through events like His transfiguration (Mark 9:2) and seeing Jesus raise Jairus’s daughter from the dead (Luke 8:51-55).

He then had His 12 apostles, who traveled with Him everywhere. He prepared them all for ministry by sending them out in pairs to share the Gospel with the people.

And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; … They went out and preached that men should repent. (Mark 6:7,12)

Sometimes, we think this is as far as His discipleship goes, but it is not. The Bible also talks about the 70 disciples who were also sent out.

Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. (Luke 10:1-2) {emphasis mine}

These also were trained and sent out to share the gospel.

Jesus set an example for all of His followers. We need to tell everyone about Him. Some will listen; some won’t. Of those who trust Jesus, some will seek to grow in faith while others will limp along doing the minimum. We should help those we work closely with to grow their faith. Others we will help, but we won’t spend as much time with them as with those with whom we are closest.

It is true that a brand new Christian is not ready to disciple others. They need to be discipled themselves.

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. (Hebrews 5:12-14) {emphasis mine}

Here, the writer of Hebrews assumes that all of them “ought to be teachers.” We all need to study, learn, and grow, so we are able to teach and disciple young believers in the faith.

We see multiple examples of believers discipling new believers in the knowledge of Jesus and in the way to grow the body of Christ.

This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. (Acts 18:25-28) {emphasis mine}

Priscilla and Aquila discipled Apollos in the Scriptures, and this enabled Apollos to become a useful defender of the people and the Scriptures. They discipled Apollos in the knowledge he needed to make a difference for Jesus and to grow the church.

The book of 2 Timothy, written from prison when Paul expected to be put to death soon, is basically an entire book discipling Timothy on how to disciple others in order to grow the church.

The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2)

This is how the church grows and how the Gospel spreads. We teach faithful men and women, so they will be able to teach others, and those will be able to teach even more. If new believers are not taught God’s word and trained to share it with others, the church fails to grow. Verses like this may not use the word “disciple,” but it is clearly describing discipleship.

If the Apostles made disciples, but didn’t teach their disciples to make disciples, would we even know Jesus? Very few Christians become productive teachers, evangelists, or disciple-makers unless they were discipled themselves.

One of the big problems with some of the big evangelists is that they win lots of people to faith in Jesus, but frequently these new Christians are not plugged in to a church or discipled by mature believers. They believe in Jesus, but never grow because they have no way to learn. If they are not given a Bible, taught, and trained, they never multiply. They are first-generation Christians who never produce spiritual children. When we disciple new believers, they will also disciple new believers, who will disciple new believers, growing the church exponentially.

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” (Romans 10:14-15)

Our goal should be to grow in our faith, knowledge of the Bible, and relationship with God, so we are able to share the Gospel with unbelievers and grow their faith, knowledge of the Bible, and relationship with God. I will agree that our gifts may lean towards evangelism, teaching, prayer, etc., but we should all be working to grow others in Christ. Some may preach or lead big evangelical assemblies. Others may travel to foreign nations as professional missionaries. Some may just disciple their own children, but we are all called to draw those around us into a closer relationship to Jesus.

Yes, I think all mature believers are called to disciple immature believers in some way, but how we disciple may look different depending on our personal gifts, skills, and interests.

My husband and I seek to find someone to disciple us, someone to come alongside us as an accountability partner, and someone to disciple. When we are new Christians, we probably won’t be truly discipling anyone. When we are mature in our faith and have been Christians for a long time, we may no longer be discipled by another, but even then we still need a fellow believer to come alongside us. We think this is a great goal, so we can grow and so others can grow with us. It isn’t easy to do today. We must be intentional about it. Some seasons, it may not really work out, but it is a wonderful goal.

Let’s not sit comfortably, but actively seek the growth of the church — both the winning of new souls for Jesus and the growth of existing believers, so they can become productive workmen in Christ.

May God bring someone into your life to disciple you in the knowledge of Jesus, so you can know Him better, grow your faith, and be prepared to share with others. May God bring you someone to come along beside you, learn with you, and hold you accountable before God. May God bring you someone who either needs to know Jesus or someone who has trusted Jesus, but who has little knowledge of Him, so you can have the honor of growing them in Jesus.

What a wonderful gift to be used by God for His holy purpose!

Trust Jesus

FYI, I recently bought an editor (ProWritingAid) to help me edit my book. I had been relying on friends and family, but it was taking so much time, and it is hard to find every nitpicking error. I don’t fret over minor errors in a free blog post, but feel anyone who spends money on a book deserves a well-polished book. Some suggestions, however, turn personal writing into efficient, vanilla prose. I’m trying to take the useful suggestions and ignore the ones that cause my writing to lose my personal flavor or that harm my intended meaning. Please let me know if you notice a difference and whether that difference is good or bad, so I know whether I should continue using it on my blog posts.

All verses are NASB unless otherwise noted.