Our Marching Orders
His last command must be our first concern.
Barton writes: On the basis of his authority, Jesus told his disciples to go and make disciples as they preached, baptized, and taught.
“Making disciples” means instructing new believers on how to follow Jesus, to submit to Jesus’ lordship, and to take up his mission of compassionate service. To be a disciple means entering a relationship of learner to Master (Teacher) with Jesus.
The church must not merely evangelize, but it also must show new converts how to obey Jesus’ commands. Discipleship must be stressed without neglecting evangelism. “Baptism” is important because it unites a believer with Jesus Christ in his or her death to sin and resurrection to new life. Baptism symbolizes submission to Christ, a willingness to live God’s way, and identification with God’s covenant people. To baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit affirms the reality of the Trinity, the concept coming directly from Jesus himself.
He did not say baptize them into the “names,” but into the “name” of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While the word “Trinity” does not occur in Scripture, it well describes the three-in-one existence of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (See also Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 12:4–6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:4–6; 2 Thessalonians 2:13.)
Matthew 28:19–20New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update
“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.”