The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew28:16–20

The Great Commission

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Matthew 28:16–20 — The Great Commission. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

16

Meanwhile, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had designated.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

de Hoi hendeka mathētai eporeuthēsan eis tēn Galilaian eis to oros hou ho Iēsous etaxato autois

Word by word16 · parsed
δὲdeMeanwhileG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἕνδεκαhendekaelevenG1733
√ ἕνδεκα — one and ten, iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
hendeka: one and ten, eleven A rare numeral (six verses in the New Testament) and here a wound in the text. Barnes and Gill both note the arithmetic: twelve minus Judas. Matthew does not soften it. The company commissioned to disciple all nations is a body publicly short one member, and it will stay short until Acts 1:15-26, which Pulpit notes was not until just before Pentecost.
μαθηταὶmathētaidisciplesG3101
√ μαθητής — a learner, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἐπορεύθησανeporeuthēsanwentG4198
√ πορεύομαι — to traverse, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Plural
poreuomai: to traverse, to go Aorist passive in form. The same verb, in the same aorist passive participle, opens the commission at v. 19. Matthew's narrative motion and Matthew's imperative motion are one word: they are gathered by a going and then scattered by a going.
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ΓαλιλαίανGalilaianGalileeG1056
√ Γαλιλαία — Galilæa (iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
Galilaia: Galilee The despised northern province, and the place twice promised as the meeting point (by the angel and by Jesus himself, per Pulpit and Gill). Benson notes the eleven did not travel there until more than eight days after the resurrection.
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ὄροςorosmountainG3735
√ ὄρος — perhaps akin to G142 (αἴρω)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
oros: mountain Matthew's structural word. Cambridge locates it as the very spot where the New Law was first proclaimed; Gill offers the mountain of Matthew 5:1 or of Matthew 15:29; JFB weighs Tabor against the Mount of the Beatitudes and prefers the latter. Pulpit is the most honest: the locality is unknown and the indefiniteness looks designed. What the brief's voices agree on is the function, not the map: a mountain both for solitude and for sight.
οὗhou. . .G3757
√ οὗ — at which place, iAdverb
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐτάξατοetaxatohad designatedG5021
√ τάσσω — to arrange in an orderly manner, iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
tassō: to arrange in an orderly manner, to appoint Rare (eight verses) and administrative: the word used of a soldier set under authority (Luke 7:8) and of what is appointed for Paul to do (Acts 22:10). In the middle voice here it makes the risen Christ the one who has already drawn up the order of this meeting. Before he says all authority was given to me in v. 18, he has quietly exercised it in v. 16 by fixing the place.
αὐτοῖςautois. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
17

When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai idontes auton prosekynēsan de hoi edistasan

Word by word7 · parsed
καὶkaiWhenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἰδόντεςidontesthey sawG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
horaō: to see, to attend to The aorist participle subordinates the seeing to the worship: the seeing is what produced the prostration. Ellicott presses the difficulty of the glorified body: outlines at first indistinct and scarcely recognised, then the whole form seen as it had been seen in life. Pulpit adds that some may simply have been standing at a distance.
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
προσεκύνησανprosekynēsanthey worshiped HimG4352
√ προσκυνέω — to fawn or crouch to, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
proskyneō: to fawn or crouch to, to do homage The posture owed to a king, and Cambridge is right that Matthew uses it far more than the other Synoptics. Pulpit calls this the first time supreme worship is recorded of the disciples; Gill reads it as divine adoration offered to the Son now declared by resurrection (Romans 1:4). The syntax places the worship before any word of Jesus: they adore before they are commissioned.
δὲdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
de: but, and The lightest of adversatives. It is the hinge on which the verse refuses to be tidy.
οἱhoisomeG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
The bare article standing as subject, the ones, with no matching μὲν clause; Pulpit notes the absence and the commentators divide over whether a second group exists at all.
ἐδίστασανedistasandoubtedG1365
√ διστάζω — properly, to duplicate, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
distazō: properly to duplicate, to waver Two occurrences in the whole New Testament, and both in Matthew: here, and Peter sinking in Matthew 14:31. The rarity is the point. Matthew reserves this word for the divided heart of a disciple who is genuinely coming to Christ. In Matthew 14:31 the wavering is both questioned by Jesus and met by his outstretched hand; here it is met by his approach in v. 18. Neither place treats it as disqualifying, and Cambridge notes that in both the doubt gives way to adoration. The commission is given to worshippers who waver.
18

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ho Iēsous proselthōn autois elalēsen legōn pasa exousia en ouranō kai epi tēs gēs Edothē moi

Word by word17 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
προσελθὼνproselthōncame toG4334
√ προσέρχομαι — to approach, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
proserchomai: to approach, to come near The participle carries the pastoral logic of the passage. Worship mixed with wavering (v. 17) is met by approach, not by exclusion. Pulpit quotes I. Williams on the pattern: we worship him, and then he draws near.
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἐλάλησενelalēsen[and] saidG2980
√ λαλέω — to talk, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
λέγωνlegōn. . .G3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
πᾶσαpasaAllG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
pas: all, every, the whole Feminine singular agreeing with ἐξουσία. This same word will govern the next two verses: all authority, all nations, all things I commanded, all the days. Four occurrences of G3956 bind the unit into one claim, and the first of them is the ground of the other three.
ἐξουσίαexousiaauthorityG1849
√ ἐξουσία — privilege, iNounNominative Feminine Singular
exousia: privilege, right, authority Legitimate warrant rather than mere force. Benson and Barnes both read the grant as mediatorial: given to the incarnate Son as the crown of obedience unto death (Philippians 2:8-11) and for the sake of the church (Ephesians 1:20-23). Pulpit adds that as God nothing can be added to him, so what is given is given to the Son of man. Gill lists the scope concretely: angels sent forth, the Spirit's gifts disposed, kings reigning by him.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
οὐρανῷouranōheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounDative Masculine Singular
ouranos: the sky, heaven Dative of sphere. Gill notes what this concretely includes: the angels subject to him as ministering spirits.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
γῆςgēsearthG1093
√ γῆ — soilNounGenitive Feminine Singular
gē: soil, earth Genitive under epi. Paired with heaven it is a totality formula, and Pulpit connects it to Daniel 7:13-14 and Psalm 8:5-8.
ἘδόθηEdothēhas been givenG1325
√ δίδωμι — to give (used in a very wide application, properly, or by implication, literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
didōmi: to give Aorist passive, and the passive has an unnamed giver: the Father. Ellicott ties the tense to the moment of the resurrection; Poole says the authority was inherent in him as God, given to him as Mediator when he came into the world, and manifested to be given at his resurrection and ascension. The distinction matters, because it keeps the verse from reading as though the Son acquired at Easter what he lacked before.
μοιmoito MeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounDative 1st Person Singular
19

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

oun poreuthentes mathēteusate panta ta ethnē baptizontes autous eis to onoma tou Patros kai tou Huiou kai tou Hagiou Pneumatos

Word by word20 · parsed
οὖνounThereforeG3767
√ οὖν — (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordinglyConjunction
oun: therefore, accordingly The inferential particle that makes v. 19 hang on v. 18. Cambridge reports it is omitted in the leading manuscripts and Pulpit calls it perhaps spurious, yet both agree the logic is present without it: because all authority is his, go.
πορευθέντεςporeuthentesgo [and]G4198
√ πορεύομαι — to traverse, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Plural
poreuomai: to traverse, to go Aorist participle, subordinate to the one imperative. The going is assumed rather than commanded, which is why Poole can say the apostles were obliged to go up and down the world, but not presently: they were first to preach among the Jews, then to disciple all nations.
μαθητεύσατεmathēteusatemake disciplesG3100
√ μαθητεύω — intransitively, to become a pupilVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
mathēteuō: to become or make a pupil Rare, four verses in the whole New Testament (here, Matthew 13:52, Matthew 27:57, Acts 14:21), and only here transitive with a direct object. The single imperative of the Great Commission is therefore a word Matthew has used of a scribe instructed for the kingdom and of Joseph of Arimathea. Pulpit describes the grammar exactly: the aorist imperative is decomposed by the two following present participles, baptizing and teaching.
πάνταpantaof allG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
τὰtaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Plural
ἔθνηethnēnationsG1484
√ ἔθνος — a race (as of the same habit), iNounAccusative Neuter Plural
ethnos: a race, a nation Neuter plural. Ellicott notes that in Jewish usage this phrase points to the Gentile nations as distinguished from Israel, and that it is an emphatic reversal of Matthew 10:5. Gill observes a grammatical constraint the English hides: ἔθνη is neuter but αὐτοὺς in the next clause is masculine, so the ones baptized are the disciples made, not the nations as political blocks.
βαπτίζοντεςbaptizontesbaptizingG907
√ βαπτίζω — to immerse, submergeVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
εἰςeisinG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
eis: into, to the point reached or entered Not the locative in. Barnes develops it by analogy with being baptized unto Moses (1 Corinthians 10:2) and Paul's question at 1 Corinthians 1:13.
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
ὄνομαonomanameG3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounAccusative Neuter Singular
onoma: a name, authority, character Singular, and the singularity is load bearing. Ellicott grounds it in the Old Testament conviction (he cites Exodus 3:14-15) that the Name of God is a revelation of what he is; so baptism into the Name is entry into a revealed identity, not the recital of a title. Benson and Barnes both argue that the joining of three bearers under one name would be blasphemous if the Son and the Spirit were creature or attribute.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΠατρὸςPatrosFatherG3962
√ πατήρ — a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
patēr: father Genitive under the single article. Cambridge notes that Jewish proselytes were baptized into the name of the Father, and that Jesus adds the Son and the Holy Ghost.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΥἱοῦHuiouSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounGenitive Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
ἉγίουHagiouHolyG40
√ ἅγιος — sacred (physically, pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated)AdjectiveGenitive Neuter Singular
ΠνεύματοςPneumatosSpiritG4151
√ πνεῦμα — a current of air, iNounGenitive Neuter Singular
pneuma: a current of air, breath, spirit Governed by its own article and qualified by Ἁγίου (G40, set apart, consecrated). Gill notes that this is the first and only place where the three are named in this order and in these very words, and he is careful to say he cannot substantiate the claim that earlier Jewish sources spoke the same way. That honesty is worth preserving: the formula is presented as new.
20

and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

didaskontes autous tērein panta hosa eneteilamēn hymin kai idou egō eimi meth’ hymōn pasas tas hēmeras heōs tēs synteleias tou aiōnos

Word by word21 · parsed
διδάσκοντεςdidaskontes[and] teachingG1321
√ διδάσκω — to teach (in the same broad application)VerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
didaskō: to teach, to instruct A different verb from μαθητεύσατε in v. 19, and Benson, JFB, Cambridge and Pulpit all insist the older English wrongly used teach for both. This is instruction of the already baptized: JFB calls it the pastoral department succeeding the missionary one.
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
τηρεῖνtēreinto obeyG5083
√ τηρέω — perhaps akin to G2334 (θεωρέω))VerbPresent Infinitive Active
tēreō: to keep, to guard, to watch Present infinitive: continuous custody rather than a single act of compliance. Benson draws the consequence that obedience to Christ's laws is not sincere if it is not universal, and Gill extends the content to ordinances, moral duties and relative duties alike. The object is not a code to be admired but a deposit to be kept.
πάνταpantaallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
pas: all, every, the whole The fourth and fifth of the unit's all statements: all things commanded, all the days. The scope of the charge matches the scope of the authority claimed in v. 18.
ὅσαhosathatG3745
√ ὅσος — as (much, great, long, etcPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἐνετειλάμηνeneteilamēnI have commandedG1781
√ ἐντέλλομαι — to enjoinVerbAorist Indicative Middle1st Person Singular
entellomai: to enjoin, to command Aorist middle, first person singular. The middle voice keeps the commanding personal to the speaker, and Benson draws a boundary from it: since Christ commands nothing here that he had not himself taught, everything essential to salvation may be found in what he gave, and the apostles had no right to add to it as necessary.
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἰδοὺidousurelyG2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
idou: behold, lo An imperative of sight used as a particle of arrest. It stands between the charge and the promise, and every voice in the brief that comments on it treats it as the hinge: the courage to obey v. 19 comes from looking at what v. 20 says next.
ἐγὼegōIG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Singular
egō: I, me The pronoun is expressed, which Greek does not need, and JFB notes that the I here is emphatic. Pulpit says every word is emphatic. The one who claims all authority is the one who promises the company.
εἰμιeimiamG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
eimi: I exist, I am Present indicative, not future. Benson makes the whole weight rest on it: not, I will be with you, but, I am with you. Pulpit says the same, I, God and Man, who am (not will be). The ascension is about to remove a visible presence, and the tense refuses to let that count as absence.
μεθ’meth’withG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
ὑμῶνhymōnyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Plural
πάσαςpasasalwaysG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveAccusative Feminine Plural
τὰςtas. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Plural
ἡμέραςhēmeras. . .G2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounAccusative Feminine Plural
hēmera: day Accusative plural of extent of time. The counted days, not an abstract forever. Henry's all days, every day and JFB's without one day's interruption both read the plural rather than the English adverb.
ἕωςheōseven toG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Preposition
heōs: until, of time and place The preposition of continuance, which sets a terminus and fills everything up to it.
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
συντελείαςsynteleiasendG4930
√ συντέλεια — entire completion, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
synteleia: entire completion, consummation A rare noun, six verses in the New Testament, five of them in Matthew (13:39, 13:40, 13:49, 24:3 and here) and one in Hebrews 9:26. Matthew has trained his reader in this word through the harvest parables: the consummation is a defined event of judgment and gathering, not a vague eventually. The Gospel therefore closes on a term it has already loaded.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
αἰῶνοςaiōnosageG165
√ αἰών — properly, an ageNounGenitive Masculine Singular
aiōn: properly, an age Not world. Barnes and Benson both record and resist the narrower reading (the dissolution of the Jewish state), and Cambridge and Ellicott keep the sense as the age begun with the first advent and closing with the second. Ellicott notes that Hebrews 9:26 uses the same phrase of the appearing of Christ in the flesh, so the term's reach depends on the vantage point.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The appointed mountain, and the eleven who are one short — 28:16

Matthew leaves out everything Luke and John record between the empty tomb and this hillside. Henry says he hastens to the most solemn; Ellicott admits the omission is for some reason which we cannot now discover; Pulpit gives the most convincing account, that the evangelist's object is to set forth Christ as King and Lawgiver and so he puts aside all other incidents. ⚙ The grammar supports Pulpit. The middle voice of ἐτάξατο (G5021, a rare verb of drawing up in order) makes the risen Christ the one who arranged this meeting for them, and the article on τὸ ὄρος insists on a named place. JFB says outright it should have been rendered the mountain; Cambridge guesses the highland behind Capernaum and calls it the very spot where the New Law was first proclaimed; Pulpit declines to guess at all and thinks the indefiniteness is designed. Against that arranged and royal setting stands the number: ἕνδεκα, eleven. Barnes and Gill both pause over it, and Pulpit notes the college was not filled up until just before Pentecost. Matthew does not hide the gap.

ii. Worship and wavering in the same breath — 28:17

The verse gives two aorists with nothing between them but δέ: they prostrated themselves, the ones wavered. ἐδίστασαν (G1365) occurs in only two verses in the New Testament, and Cambridge names the other: Peter on the water, Matthew 14:31, where the doubt is likewise followed by adoration. Here the commentators divide, and the division is worth recording rather than resolving. JFB says certainly none of the Eleven; Cambridge assigns the doubt to some of the five hundred; Pulpit says the doubters cannot have been apostles and suggests they were at a distance or failed to recognise a glorified form. Gill and Poole allow the plain reading, that the eleven themselves are meant, Gill offering two possibilities: that they had doubted earlier in Jerusalem, or that they doubted now whether what they saw on the mountain was he or a mere phantom. Barnes turns the difficulty into evidence, arguing that men who examined the evidence slowly and then died for the conclusion were not deceived. ⚙ The syntax leans slightly toward Gill and Poole, since Pulpit himself observes there is no οἱ μὲν to set a first group against a second.

iii. The authority that was given — 28:18

Then he closes the distance: προσελθὼν, having come up to them, which Cambridge corrects from the bare came and Pulpit reads as a deliberate approach so the doubting could see him closely. The claim that follows is a claim of right, not of force. Benson quotes Beza's distinction between authority and power and Cambridge simply substitutes authority for power; ἐξουσία (G1849) is warrant. Ellicott fixes the tense: was given, an aorist of a definite moment, which he ties to the same tense in Philippians 2:8 and to the resurrection as the crown of obedience unto death. Barnes, Gill, Poole and Pulpit all read the grant as mediatorial rather than as an increase in deity, and Pulpit names the Old Testament expectation it answers: psalmist (Psalm 2:8, Psalm 8:5-8) and prophet (Daniel 7:13, 14). Gill is the most concrete about scope: angels sent forth, the Spirit's gifts disposed, kings reigning by him, even the wicked made to subserve his kingdom. Cambridge catches what is peculiar to this Gospel: St Matthew, who is essentially the historian of the Kingdom, alone records these words.

iv. One imperative, two participles — 28:19 to 28:20a

Almost every voice in the brief corrects the same mistranslation. Ellicott, Barnes, JFB, Cambridge, Poole and Benson all replace teach all nations with make disciples of all nations, and Pulpit supplies the grammar: the single aorist imperative μαθητεύσατε is decomposed by the two present participles, baptizing and teaching. πορευθέντες is a participle too, the same verb that carried them to the mountain in v. 16. ⚙ So the commission has exactly one command, and it is reproductive: μαθητεύω (G3100) is rare, four verses in the New Testament, and built on μαθητής, learner. They are told to make others what they themselves are, wavering and all. On the formula, JFB, Cambridge, Benson and Pulpit insist on into the name, and Barnes explains the force from 1 Corinthians 10:2 and 1 Corinthians 1:13: to be baptized unto someone is publicly to be given over to him. One ὄνομα, three articles. Benson and Barnes both argue the joining would be blasphemy if Son and Spirit were creature and attribute; Gill notes this is the only place where the three are named in this order and in these words, and honestly declines to substantiate the claim that earlier Jewish sources spoke the same way. Ellicott and Cambridge both raise the real difficulty, that the baptisms in Acts are into the name of Jesus alone, and Ellicott's solution is that Israelites already knew the Father, while the heathen did not. Geneva adds the necessary guard: the efficacy of these things depends not on the ministers but on the Lord. Poole, against Benson's paedobaptist reading of the order of the verbs, says he cannot be of the mind of those who think persons may be baptized before they are taught, then argues for infant baptism on other grounds.

v. The last word is not a command — 28:20b

ἰδοὺ is an imperative of sight, and Benson and Pulpit (quoting Chrysostom) agree it is there to raise courage after a charge too large for the hearers. Then four things the English blurs. The ἐγὼ is expressed, and JFB notes the I is emphatic. The verb is εἰμι, present: Benson hammers it, not, I will be with you, but, I am with you, and Pulpit says the same. The duration is πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας, all the days counted one at a time, which Henry renders all days, every day and JFB without one day's interruption. And the terminus is συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος, the consummation of the age, not the end of the world; Barnes and Benson both record and reject the attempt to shrink it to the fall of the Jewish state. Cambridge notes that the Gospel's last words fall solemnly on the ear and that the sense of continual presence is not broken even by an account of the ascension, and that the Amen is absent from the leading manuscripts. Henry's line on this promise is the one worth carrying: the Saviour is sometimes a God that hideth himself, but never a God at a distance.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read only against itself, this unit is built so that every large thing rests on something small and unflattering. The company is eleven, not twelve. Some of them are of two minds, and the rare verb Matthew chose for it (ἐδίστασαν, used elsewhere only of Peter sinking) is his own word for a disciple's divided heart rather than for an unbeliever's refusal. The response to that division is προσελθὼν: he comes nearer. Then comes the only imperative in the commission, and it is not go and not baptize and not teach, but μαθητεύσατε, make learners, which is to say, make more of what these men already are. ⚙ We take the grammar to be the argument. Authority is not distributed to the apostles; it is claimed by Christ (Ἐδόθη μοι) and then expressed as a task assigned to people who are still recovering from doubt, and underwritten by a promise in the present tense from someone who is about to become invisible. The four occurrences of πᾶς mark the shape: all authority, all nations, all things commanded, all the days. Remove the first and the other three are absurd; keep the first and the other three are simply the consequence. Where we would under-claim: the brief's voices divide sharply over who doubted, whether the five hundred of 1 Corinthians 15:6 were present, and whether the order of the verbs settles anything about infant baptism, and we do not think this text settles any of the three. What it settles is that the commission was given on a hill to a body with a hole in it, and that the Gospel ends on a promise rather than on an ascension.

The one imperative in the Great Commission is to make more learners, which is the one thing the eleven were already qualified for. (This line is machine synthesis, not Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

Two minds, twice only: the sinking of Peter and the doubt on the mountain verbal / quotation: confirmed

ἐδίστασαν (distazō, G1365) occurs in only two verses in the whole New Testament, and both are Matthew's: the eleven on the mountain here, and Peter sinking on the water in Matthew 14:31. Cambridge draws the link explicitly and adds the shape they share: there too the doubt is followed by adoration, Matthew 14:33. ⚙ In both scenes the answer to wavering is proximity, a hand put out in one and προσελθὼν in the other. Matthew appears to have reserved this verb for the divided heart of a disciple who is nonetheless coming.

Matthew 14:31 · Matthew 14:33

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1365 διστάζω, which occurs in only 2 verses in the New Testament (Matthew 28:17 and Matthew 14:31). A maximally rare shared lexeme within a single author, so a real verbal link; not a quotation. Matthew 14:33 is added as the immediate context of the parallel, on Cambridge's authority, not on a shared lexeme.

Make disciples: a rare verb, and the three other men who wear it verbal / quotation: confirmed

The single imperative of the commission, μαθητεύσατε (mathēteuō, G3100), is rare: four verses in the New Testament. The other three are the scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:52), Joseph of Arimathea who was a disciple of Jesus (Matthew 27:57), and Paul and Barnabas at Derbe who made many disciples (Acts 14:21). Cambridge flags the same mistranslation at Acts 14:21 and cross-references Matthew 13:52 and Matthew 27:57 directly. ⚙ The vocabulary keeps the commission modest and concrete: not an office created but a relation propagated, and Acts 14:21 is the one place where someone other than Jesus is the subject of the verb, which is to say the one place where the command is shown being obeyed in the same word it was given in.

Matthew 13:52 · Matthew 27:57 · Acts 14:21

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3100 μαθητεύω, rare at 4 verses total in the New Testament (Matthew 28:19, Matthew 13:52, Matthew 27:57, Acts 14:21). Rare shared lexeme, all New Testament refs, no quotation claimed.

The consummation of the age: Matthew's own harvest word closes his Gospel verbal / quotation: confirmed

συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος (synteleia, G4930, with aiōn, G165) is rare, six verses in the New Testament, five of them in Matthew: the harvest and the burning of the tares (Matthew 13:39, 13:40), the sorting of the net (Matthew 13:49), the disciples' question on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:3), and this promise. The sixth is Hebrews 9:26, where the same phrase names the appearing of Christ in the flesh. Ellicott cites Matthew 13:39-40, 13:49 and Hebrews 9:26 by name and notes the widening and contracting sense; Cambridge sends the reader to Matthew 13:39; Pulpit sends him to Matthew 24:3. ⚙ Matthew therefore closes on a term he has already defined by parable: the promise I am with you all the days runs precisely as far as the harvest, and no further, because at the harvest there is nothing left for the promise to cover.

Matthew 13:39 · Matthew 13:40 · Matthew 13:49 · Matthew 24:3 · Hebrews 9:26

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4930 συντέλεια (rare, 6 verses total) and G165 αἰών (97 verses). The rarity of G4930 carries the link. All refs are New Testament and no quotation is claimed; the named parallels are recorded by Ellicott, Cambridge and Pulpit.

The eleven: a number the resurrection accounts keep counting structural / thematic: confirmed

ἕνδεκα (hendeka, G1733) is rare, six verses in the New Testament, and it clusters almost entirely in the resurrection narratives: the women reporting to the eleven (Luke 24:9), the two from Emmaus finding the eleven gathered (Luke 24:33), a further appearance to the eleven (Mark 16:14), this mountain, and then the casting of the lot that ends the deficiency (Acts 1:26). Benson cites Luke 24:9 and Luke 24:33 in arguing that others went up to Galilee with them; Pulpit cites Acts 1:15-26 for when the college was refilled. ⚙ The word is a bookkeeping term that keeps the loss visible from the tomb to Pentecost. We claim no more than that: the shared word is a numeral, so what these passages share is a situation rather than distinctive diction, and we have tiered the link structural for that reason.

Luke 24:9 · Luke 24:33 · Mark 16:14 · Acts 1:26

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1733 ἕνδεκα, rare at 6 verses total in the New Testament; Acts 1:26 also shares G1325 δίδωμι (378 verses, not probative). Deliberately under-claimed: the rare lexeme is a numeral, whose scarcity follows from the referent rather than from distinctive diction, so we decline the verbal tier and record the link as a shared post-resurrection situation. All refs New Testament, no quotation claimed.

Dominion given to one like a son of man structural / thematic: confirmed

Pulpit, commenting on Ἐδόθη, names the prophetic text this verse answers: the authority was foretold in the Old Testament, by psalmist (Psalm 2:8; Psalm 8:5-8) and prophet (Daniel 7:13, 14). In Daniel's night vision dominion is given to one like a son of man, over all peoples, and it shall not pass away. ⚙ The parallel is not a quotation and cannot be shown by shared vocabulary, since one text is Aramaic and Hebrew and the other Greek. What it is, is a matching structure: a passive giving, an unnamed giver, a recipient designated as a man, and a scope defined by totality. Matthew's Jesus makes the claim in the passive voice (was given to me) rather than in the active, which is the same reticence Daniel's vision uses.

Daniel 7:13 · Daniel 7:14 · Psalm 2:8 · Psalm 8:5

basis: Cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible and no verbal tier is available. The recorded basis is the pattern of a passive grant of universal dominion to a human figure, and the identification is Pulpit's own at Matthew 28:18, which cites Daniel 7:13, 14 and Psalm 2:8 and Psalm 8:5-8 by reference. No formal quotation is claimed.

I am with you: the old formula of commissioning structural / thematic: confirmed

Pulpit, on ἐγὼ μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰμι, records the precedent directly: Often had God made an analogous promise to his servants under the old dispensation, to Moses (Exodus 3:12), to Joshua (Deuteronomy 31:23), to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:8). In each of those the promise of presence is attached to a commission the man thinks himself unequal to. ⚙ The same attachment holds here, and the difference Pulpit himself insists on is that this presence is Christ's own and is promised in the present tense by one about to be withdrawn from sight. Geneva's gloss supplies the mode: it refers to the presence of his Spirit, by which he makes us partakers of himself, even though he is absent from us in body.

Exodus 3:12 · Deuteronomy 31:23 · Jeremiah 1:8

basis: Cross-Testament, so shared Strong's numbers are impossible and a verbal tier is excluded. The basis is the recurring commissioning formula (charge plus promise of accompanying presence), with the three parallels named by Pulpit at Matthew 28:20. No quotation is claimed.

All the nations: the promise to Abraham and the light to the Gentiles structural / thematic: confirmed

Ellicott notes that πάντα τὰ ἔθνη is the same phrase as at Matthew 25:32, that in Jewish usage it points to the Gentile nations as against Israel, and that it is an emphatic expansion of the restriction in Matthew 10:5. Barnes puts it plainly: the Jews had expected the offers of life to be confined to their own nation, and Jesus broke down the partition wall. ⚙ Behind that expansion stand the promise that in Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3) and the servant given as a light to the Gentiles, that salvation might reach to the end of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). We offer those two as motif, not as citation: Matthew quotes neither here, and the Gospel's own internal marker is the reversal of Matthew 10:5.

Matthew 10:5 · Matthew 25:32 · Genesis 12:3 · Isaiah 49:6

basis: The Matthew 25:32 and Matthew 10:5 links are recorded by Ellicott as the same and the reversed phrase respectively, within one author. The Genesis and Isaiah refs are cross-Testament, where no shared Strong's lexeme is possible, and no quotation formula appears in Matthew 28:19; the basis there is the motif of blessing reaching the nations. Tiered structural, never verbal, because the refs mix Testaments and no citation is claimed.

Never will I leave you: a promise of presence with a disputed address flagged: verify source

The promise of v. 20 belongs to a family of covenant assurances that includes the assurance given to Joshua that God would not fail him nor forsake him, and Hebrews 13:5, which grounds contentment in a quoted promise of that kind. ⚙ We flag rather than assert this pair. The provenance of the Hebrews 13:5 quotation is genuinely debated: the wording has been traced to Deuteronomy 31:6 and 31:8, to Joshua 1:5, and to Greek forms differing from both, and nothing in this brief settles it. Note also that Pulpit, listing the Old Testament precedents for I am with you, cites Deuteronomy 31:23 for the promise to Joshua rather than Joshua 1:5. The thematic family is real; the specific chain from Joshua 1:5 through Hebrews 13:5 to Matthew 28:20 is not something we can source here.

Joshua 1:5 · Hebrews 13:5

basis: Contested provenance: the Old Testament source of the Hebrews 13:5 quotation is disputed (Deuteronomy 31:6 and 31:8 versus Joshua 1:5, with textual variation in the Greek), and the brief supplies no basis for the chain. Cross-Testament in any case, so no shared Strong's lexeme is available and no verbal tier is possible. Flagged for a human to verify against a critical text.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The crown of obedience: authority received, not seized ancient/widely-held

⚙ The governing verb of v. 18 is a passive with an unnamed agent: Ἐδόθη, it was given. Ellicott fixes the tense as the aorist of a definite moment and connects it to the same tense in Philippians 2:8, so that the exaltation came, the authority was given, as at the moment of the Resurrection, and as the crown of His obedience unto death. Benson expands the same chain from Philippians 2:7-11 and Ephesians 1:20-23; Barnes reads the universe placed under him more particularly as Mediator, that he might redeem his people; Gill lists the achievements that make the grant just, that he finished sin, abolished death, overcame the world; Poole distinguishes what was inherent in him as God from what was given to him as Mediator and manifested at the resurrection. Pulpit adds the prophetic anchor, Daniel 7:13-14 and Psalm 8:5-8, and is careful to say the grant is not made to him as Son of God, since as God nothing can be added to him. Cambridge notes that Matthew alone records these words, which fits a Gospel that opened with a genealogy of a king. So the redemptive-historical reading is not an overlay: the passive voice, the aorist tense, and the mediatorial framing are all in the sentence.

Philippians 2:8 · Ephesians 1:20 · Daniel 7:14 · 1 Corinthians 15:25

One name, three bearers: the Son inside the divine Name ancient/widely-held

⚙ The most Christological thing in v. 19 is a piece of morphology. ὄνομα is singular; the article is repeated three times, τοῦ ... τοῦ ... τοῦ. Benson insists on into the name, not names and calls the clause a proof in all ages of the Christian Church not only of the personality and deity of the Father but of the Son and the Spirit. Barnes argues from absurdity: to unite the name of a creature with the name of the living God in this rite would be blasphemy. Gill counts three persons but one name and adds that baptism is worship, which would never be offered in the name of a creature. Ellicott grounds the force of name in the Old Testament (he cites Exodus 3:14-15), where the Name of God is a revelation of what he is, so that being baptized into the Name is entry into a revealed identity. Henry gives the pastoral form of the same doctrine: the sinner applies to the mercy of the Father, through the atonement of the incarnate Son, by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. Gill's honesty deserves keeping: he notes this is the only place where the three are named in this order and in these very words, and he declines to substantiate the claim that earlier Jewish sources did so.

Exodus 3:14 · 2 Corinthians 13:14 · Romans 1:4

The presence that replaces the body novel

⚙ The Gospel ends without an ascension, and Ellicott admits the question cannot be fully answered, offering as one possibility that the promise of perpetual presence seemed, in its grandeur and its blessedness, to be the consummation of all that Christ had come to accomplish. Cambridge says the sense of continual presence is not broken even by an account of the ascension. Read redemptively, the tense carries the doctrine: εἰμι, present indicative, which Benson turns into a refusal (not, I will be with you, but, I am with you) and Pulpit into an identification (I, God and Man, who am, not will be). Geneva specifies the mode, the presence of his Spirit, by which he makes us partakers of himself though absent in body; Barnes draws the inference bluntly, that no finite creature could be thus present with people scattered over the world, and so this proves Christ divine. ⚙ Our own additional observation, offered to be tested: Matthew opened with a name, Emmanuel, God with us, and closes with I am with you all the days, so that the first chapter's title and the last chapter's promise say the same thing in different grammar. None of the voices in this brief states that inclusio, and we therefore mark this particular framing as novel here rather than claiming ancient support for it.

Matthew 1:23 · Matthew 18:20 · 1 Thessalonians 4:17

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. Text. Three readings are flagged by the brief's own voices. Cambridge says the closing Amen of v. 20 is omitted in the leading manuscripts and Pulpit calls it an interpolation. Cambridge reports the inferential οὖν of v. 19 is omitted in the leading manuscripts and Pulpit calls it perhaps spurious; the logic stands without it. Pulpit also notes the relative in v. 16 is οὗ (where) rather than οἷ (whither). Our notes keep the words but record the doubt.

What is unknown. The mountain is unidentified. JFB prefers the Mount of the Beatitudes over Tabor, Cambridge suggests the highland behind Capernaum, Gill offers Matthew 5:1 or Matthew 15:29 and says there is no proof, and Pulpit concludes it is best to lay aside conjecture. We have not chosen. Likewise the identification of this appearance with the five hundred brethren of 1 Corinthians 15:6 is held by JFB, Benson, Gill and Cambridge, but Pulpit calls it a mere conjecture, probable, but not certain and Poole says we have no guidance of Scripture to conclude it. Our synthesis treats it as unsettled. One transmission slip in our source should be recorded: Benson's citation of the five hundred brethren appears in this brief as 1 Corinthians 16:6, which is an error for 1 Corinthians 15:6; we did not correct the quotation and did not rely on the number.

Live disputes we did not resolve. Who doubted in v. 17: JFB, Cambridge and Pulpit exclude the eleven, Gill and Poole allow them. Whether the order of the verbs in vv. 19 to 20 bears on infant baptism: Benson and Pulpit build a case for baptizing before instructing in the case of infants, Poole explicitly refuses that inference and argues for infant baptism on other grounds, and Geneva and Gill restrict the subjects of baptism to those made disciples. We have recorded the dispute rather than adjudicating it. Whether συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος means the fall of the Jewish state or the close of the present age: Barnes and Benson both record the narrower reading and reject it, and we followed them while noting that Ellicott says the term's reach varies with the vantage point.

Sources. All interlinear data, parses and Strong's glosses, all thread bases (shared lexemes and their frequencies) and every quotation come from the unit brief. Several commentary entries in that brief are truncated (Benson at vv. 18, 19, 20; Barnes at v. 19; Gill at v. 19; Poole at v. 20; Pulpit at vv. 19, 20; JFB at v. 20), and we did not retrieve the full text of any of them, so claims resting on those entries reach only as far as the visible portion. Cross-Testament threads in this unit carry no shared Strong's basis and could not, since the lexicons differ; every such thread is tiered structural, typological or flagged, and says so. One thread, the Joshua 1:5 to Hebrews 13:5 pairing, is flagged for human verification because the provenance of the Hebrews quotation is genuinely disputed and this brief contains nothing that settles it. The ⚙ layer throughout is fallible synthesis and is marked as such.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)