Even though we have seen convincing evidence that The Great Commission does not include a command to go, let's assume that it does.
Arriving in Nogospel, Goodmissionary sets out to fulfill The Great Commission. Before long, one person, whose name is Firstbeliever, has responded to the Gospel. Goodmissionary baptizes Firstbeliever and starts the process of teaching Firstbeliever to "observe all things" that Jesus has commanded.
After about a year of being discipled, Firstbeliever, being determined to obey what he believes to be command "to go," obtains a passport and embarks for one of the evangelized countries. Absurd, isn't it, to leave an unevangelized country to spread the Gospel in a country that is already evangelized?
If Firstbeliever believes that The Great Commission includes a command to go, what should he do? If there is a command to go, then how far? For Firstbeliever, it might be a command to go across the street. Obviously, it is not a command for him to leave an unevangelized country.
If there were a command to go a great distance, since all believers are to obey The Great Commission, all believers would have to tear up their roots and move to a distant land. Then every American believer will disciple someone in a foreign land, and Americans will be discipled by foreigners.
Thus, we conclude that, even if there is a command to go in The Great Commission, reason tells us that for some, obeying a command to go will take them across the street, not around the world.
If there is a command to go, since all are to make disciples who will be reproductive, and since all can't go long distances, "going" may be across the street.
If there is not a command to go, there is still a command is to make disciples who will make disciples.
Therefore, after presenting arguments that The Great Commission does not include a command to go, we conclude that it doesn't matter.
The thing that Jesus was commanding was evangelizing the world through a process in which each believer is to have a part in making reproductive disciples.
The Scriptures do not tell us that these New Testament believers discipled their new converts to a state of completion in which they would be reproductive. But, church history implies that they did make disciples that were reproductive.
While the New Testament does not tell us about discipleship training in the New Testament church, Church history seems to indicate that discipleship training must have resulted in highly reproductive Christians.
Philip Schaff says, "There were no missionary societies, no missionary institutions, no organized efforts in the ante-Nicene age; and yet less than 300 years from the death of St. John the whole population of the Roman empire which then represented the civilized world was nominally Christianized" (History of the Christian Church, Philip Schaff, Volume II, page 20, copyright 1910).
This growth of Christianity in the first three centuries provides graphic evidence that many believers, who had been won by other believers, then went on to win others. Obviously, to an extent that produced profound results, the command of Matthew 28:19-20 to make disciples was obeyed.
Copyright 1997 by Wendell E. Miller
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