The Great Commission, the Core of our Ecclesiology
By Jay Wegter
The Great Commission mandate to make disciples is at the heart of biblical ecclesiology (Col 1:28-29).
The Great Commission is not only Christ’s mandate for world missions it is His authoritative pattern for the local church (Acts 14:21-22). “After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God’” (Acts 14:21-22).
The overarching purpose of the church is “that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). For the church to carry out this divine purpose, two essential demands are required: a) first is that the individual members are connected to Christ, in living union with Him, and second, b) God’s pattern for His church—of making disciple-making disciples must be taken seriously.ⁱ
The Body of Christ is uniquely composed for disciple-making, for its members have been given spiritual gifts that are complementary. Body life is defined as the edification of the members of the Body of Christ through the exercise of each believer’s spiritual gift(s). But a distortion of this divine template came early in church history. For, the Corinthian church was abusing this unique dynamic by showcasing certain gifts and discounting other gifts. Consequently, they were overturning the whole purpose of God. For in mutual edification through the exercise of gifts, God’s intent is to make the virtues of Christ through the supernatural community of the church a revealer to angels of ‘His manifold wisdom’ (Eph 3:10).ⁱⁱ
Body life is not a special, super-charged form of fellowship, it was the normative biblical ecclesiology of the early church.
Paul begins his exposition of life in the Body with a corrective, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware” (1 Cor 12:1). “And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another” (1 Cor 12:21-25).
The Body of Christ is the corporate expression of the grace, or virtues of Christ (1 Jn 4:17). The gifts of the Body at work make Christ’s character visible through the mutual edification of the saints. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:34-35). “By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world” (1 Jn 4:17).
Christ’s character is made known by both the truth of the gospel, proclamation, and by the members of Christ’s Body functioning in harmony, fellowship. “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” (Jn 17:20-23). Therefore, ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church must not be reduced to personal taste, or to pragmatics, for the revelation of Christ’s character is at stake.
The fellowship of the members of the Body is proof of the divine power of Jesus, for God through the Son has formed a new humanity.
Believers have been granted a marvelously high calling because of their position in Christ, but also have been called to a lowly walk of preserving unity through sacrificial service. “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph 4:1-7).
For the church to reveal Christ, she must live upon Christ, her glorious Head
and live out her connection with Him and with the brethren (Eph 4:7-16). The Holy Spirit actualizes our vital connection to Christ. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him” (Jn 14:18-21).
Out of this new humanity formed by union with Christ issues forth ‘deep’ supernatural community among Christ’s members. They love one another, defer to one another, count the other as more important than self, they live to edify one another. “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom 12:4-5). “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another” (Eph 4:25).
To fulfill the Great Commission, we must regard Christ’s command to ‘make disciples’ to be the overarching purpose of Body life.
Body life or spiritual fellowship involves translating vertical fellowship with the Lord into horizontal fellowship with the brethren (1 Cor 1:9-10). That is the precise aim of meeting for fellowship in our gatherings. Christ’s Body is supplied with all it needs for life, health, growth, and unity as it holds fast to its Head (Col 2:19). The Colossian church had strayed from Christ as their only source of spiritual life. Notice how the apostle identifies their problem and urges the divine solution. “. . .and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God” (Col 2:19).
As to the translation of the vertical to the horizontal, Christ is building His church and commands us to build with Him. “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification” (Rom 15:1-2). This is only possible if close relationships are pursued for the purpose of mutual spiritual nurture.
Christ’s Body is the context for the believer’s sanctification and maturity; our fellow believers are the divinely appointed agents of our change. This reality is central in a biblical ecclesiology.
God’s grace flows through social bonds in the Body of Christ which is why its members ought to form close relationships with their brethren. “Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Heb 10:23-25).
In our age of consumerism and individualism, it will require a biblical shift in our thinking to begin seeing ourselves as the Lord’s chief agents of change. “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever as a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col 3:12-16).
The communal nature of the church manifested in the mutuality of its members helps us understand the church’s function (1 Cor 12:12-28).
The church is a community of people who are committed to doing spiritual good to one another. That’s biblical ecclesiology in action, not a bare statement or theory. “Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:1-5; 1 Thess 4:9-12).
The life of the church is defined by the true nature of the church—a group of individuals who have life in Christ in common who live to edify one another. “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:24-27). ‘Christ in you’ becomes visible through mutual edification—biblical ecclesiology champions this ethic and therefore makes spectatorship unthinkable.
Each believer is a ‘temple’ of the Lord individually (1 Cor 6:19), and collectively, or corporately (Eph 2:19-22; 1 Pet 2:9). “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9). Thus, as a member of a royal and holy priesthood, the believer cannot truly offer up sacrifices to God without also serving his fellow brother and building up the community in so doing. Therefore, can you see why the priesthood of the believer is an indispensable pillar in biblical ecclesiology? “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Heb 13:15-16).
To fulfill the Great Commission, the local church must practice intentional Body life with a view to nurturing disciples to maturity.
Scripture is clear, deliberate, utterly intentional Body life is how we are to do church. The aim of making obedient disciples is central to fulfilling the Great Commission. Christ’s pattern for the Body has a very specific purpose: “. . .until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13). Mutual edification has the great goal of spiritual maturity—this is the beating heart of biblical ecclesiology—it is how we are to do church (Col 1:28-29). Spiritual growth takes place in the context of a growing corporate knowledge of Christ. “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Eph 4:14-16).
Intentional Body life means that the church builds itself up in love as each individual part of the Body makes the Body grow with a growth from God. Out of the corporate knowledge of Christ flows fruitfulness and spiritual maturity (Eph 4:12-13). “. . . and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God” (Col 2:19). “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God” (Phil 1:9-10).
The church is a Body with Christ as its Head and life source. Under the direction of their Head the members of the Body are to operate in an interdependent manner—mingling their gifts in mutual edification (Rom 12:3-5; 1Cor 12:20-28). “For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine” (Rom 1:11-12).
The ministries of Body life exist in order build up and nurture disciples to maturity. Ecclesiology must reflect that end. “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone” (1 Thess 5:14). “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God” (Rom 15:5-7).
To fulfill the Great Commission the local church must seek an ‘every member’ ministry (1 Cor 12:6-7; Col 2:19).
Each believer is a steward of God’s grace appointed to build with Christ so that each member will ultimately be presented as spiritually mature (Col 1:28-29; 1 Pet 4:10-11). We are entrusted with a spiritual gift which is to be employed in serving the Body of Christ. “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen” (1 Pet 4:10-11). “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly, . . .” (Rom 12:6). Believers need to develop the habit of regarding themselves as Christ-appointed agents of change—as instruments in the Redeemer’s hands. “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph 4:7). Each believer has a crucial part to play in the discipleship ‘growth continuum’: gifted men equip; members of the Body are to minister; as each joint supplies = it results in growth from God (Eph 4:16; Col 2:19).
Every member is to contribute to the nurture of disciples—every member is called to invest in disciple-making. “. . .but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love” (Eph 4:15-16).
Each believer, without exception, has received a spiritual gift, designated “the manifestation of the Spirit” (1 Cor 12:7). “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor 12:4-7). Spiritual gifts are specified ‘the manifestation of the Spirit’ because their exercise reveals the Holy Spirit and makes known the reality that the Body of Christ is a divinely created community—animated by Christ the Lord. “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you” (1 Cor 14:24-25).
To fulfill the Great Commission, we must regard disciple-making to be the priority of the church.
Disciple-making is the calling of the entire Body of Christ. A true disciple of Christ is a disciple-maker. The teaching that Christ’s disciples are to do, reproduces what Christ has done in them. “A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Lu 6:40). “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also” (Jn 15:19-20).
As disciple-makers, we major in the gospel which keeps growing people after initial salvation. “Just as you learned it [the gospel] from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bondservant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light” (Col 1:7-12).
We edify one another with the confidence that the Spirit is at work through every stage of growth in the disciple. The gospel by which we were saved is the source of being built up daily. “Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth” (Col 1:5-6; Acts 20:32). Paul’s approbation here is to laymen—the opposite of an ecclesiology which regards ministry output to be derived from a professional clergy.
Jesus commissions His disciples to make disciples of all the nations.
In the Great Commission passage, the main verb is not ‘go’—instead the emphasis is on the command ‘make disciples’. “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. 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’” (Mt 28:18-20). The subordinate participles are ‘hanging’ upon the command ‘make disciples’. The sense is make disciples—going (or as you go) baptizing and teaching. Baptizing, and teaching Christ’s followers to observe Christ’s commands is how disciples are to be made.
Teaching obedience to Christ’s commands through personal instruction, admonishment, soul care, and example is the heart of disciple-making (1 Thess 2:5-14). It is inescapably clear that this is the ecclesiology our Lord intends, this is the biblical doctrine of the church.
Is it possible for an Evangelical church to have a heretical ecclesiology?
Yes, it is possible states John Stott, “Our static and inflexible self-centered structures are heretical structures because they embody a heretical doctrine of the church.” “Our structure has become an end in itself, not a means of saving the world. It is a heretical structure.” The theologian’s point is that a heretical ecclesiology causes the church to become unhinged from its mission as declared by Christ. Similarly, Paul Zahl states that the church in principle is in its ideal expression the coming together of two realities: the cross of Christ and Christian freedom. These two ideas jointly create families of love repeatedly through time. Thus, to overestimate church as a value in itself is to objectify the non-objectifiable and thus to possess that which can never be possessed. Church in its ideality touches down in history, like a Texas tornado, with the appearance of caprice, making contact with time and space, yet withdrawing almost as quickly as it came.ⁱⁱⁱ Zahl is reminding us that the church is created, sustained, fed, and defined by the gospel. Christ is its living directing Head, its Source, and Lord. When the church in any way is detached from Christ its source, and its life as exhibited in the gospel, she begins dying an institutional death.ⁱᵛ Keeping disciple-making at the center of our ecclesiology exalts Christ’s preeminence in His church, and protects the church from the deadening effects of turning inward on itself.
How did the Great Commission slip from view, reaching a point wherein disciple-making came to be viewed as elective for Christians?
Church became a spectator event, allowing members to relinquish their roles as evangelists and disciple-makers. Everything became consumer easy and comfortable. Evangelism was left to the pastoral staff—the norm became, bring the unsaved to church to hear the gospel. Let the paid staff do the discipleship via church programs. But what does Scripture say? Believers are to do the work of evangelism; we go where the unsaved are, outside of the church rather than attempting to bring unbelievers to the church to be evangelized. In the biblical pattern true believers attend church to be discipled and to disciple one another. And in building up believers, members discover what it means to carry the DNA of a disciple-maker. Just as a small tree seed carries the DNA of multiplication—the potential to make an entire forest, so also, a true Christ-follower possesses the spiritual DNA to reproduce himself spiritually. Are these biblical truths inherent and central in your church’s ecclesiology? If not, why not?
Consider that a majority of church members have never been personally challenged along the lines of Christ’s command to make disciples. Why has disciple-making become the exception? The narrow way described by Jesus is not ‘the higher spiritual life’; it is the way of life and salvation. The way Jesus described has no spectators, no passengers, and no consumers. Every true believer is a disciple and a disciple-maker who pursues relationships of closeness to imitate the godly and be imitated (Lu 6:40). This is what Christ meant when He said a true disciple ‘denies himself’ and ‘loses his life for His sake and for the sake of the gospel’ (Mk 8:35).ᵛ
Christ clearly and fully lays out the terms of discipleship—namely that living the life of a disciple is how we follow Him. A true believer is a Christ-follower who seeks to obey the Lord Jesus Christ in everything—in unconditional surrender to His rightful Lordship. This is what it means to be a true believer. This begs the question, has a believer accepted certain truths, or an actual Christ?ᵛⁱ For a disciple is both a learner and a follower. He is called to a life of self-denial. This removes all middle ground and sets forth what a commitment to Christ looks like. But, where the Great Commission no longer defines a church’s ecclesiology, its knowledge of Christ suffers. For Christ Himself becomes captive to that assembly’s heretical ecclesiology. Consequently, the church turns in on itself and becomes non-missional. In such a condition, the church shrinks Christ’s authority while enlarging its own, so that any challenge to its policies is considered challenging God.ᵛⁱⁱ
The mind shift which moves the church into an ecclesiology which fulfills the Great Commission won’t occur through superficial change.
Developing a new biblical mentality which is intent on obeying Christ’s last command depends upon several factors. 1) Church leaders must cast the vision for discipleship in tandem with visibly modeling disciple-making—by raising up shepherds within the Body. 2) Each church member must recognize his calling to live as a disciple-making disciple of Christ. 3) The training needed for the above must be the ongoing as the normal ‘rhythm’ of the Body, and not a temporary program. 4) Every church ministry must be able to describe its role in deliberately nurturing disciples toward maturity. 5) And lastly, in obedience and conscious submission to Christ there must be a full embrace of Christ’s pattern for His Body, with the aim of an ‘every member ministry’ that is designed to bring every member to maturity.
End Notes:
i Charles E. Jefferson, The Building of the Church, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1913).
ii Ibid.
iii Paul Zahl, A Short Systematic Theology, p. 88
iv Ibid.
v Von Trutzschler, Clairemont Immanuel Church, San Diego, CA
vi Ibid.
vii Tom Wadsworth on the content of the early church, “Has the Church got Worship wrong?”
https://cr101radio.com/podcast/has-the-church-got-worship-wrong-tom-wadsworth