The Great Commission

Introduction:

The ending of Mark’s Gospel has sparked debate among Christians and scholars alike, which we will tackle this morning. Regardless of the textual debate, these verses align with the broader teachings of Scripture and contain essential truths about Christ’s resurrection, His appearances, and the Great Commission. As we study this passage, we will focus on obedience and the call to proclaim the gospel to the Word. Lets pray.

Do these verses belong?

In most of the Bible translations we have, this last portion of the Gospel of Mark is footnoted in some way, indicating it did not exist in some Greek manuscripts of the gospel of Mark. This has troubled Christians regarding the reliability of God’s Word, wondering if this passage belongs in our Bibles or not.

The argument against including this passage in our Bibles.

The two oldest existing Greek manuscripts do not contain this section and neither do about 100 other manuscripts translated into other languages. There are even a few of the manuscripts which put an asterisks next to this passage to indicate it was an addition to the original text.

According to their writings, almost all the Greek manuscripts know to Eusebius and Jerome (two early church fathers) did not have these verses.

In a few other manuscripts there are two other endings—one shorter, one with some additions.

About one-third of the vocabulary is totally different from the rest of the Gospel of Mark and there is a very awkward grammatical transition between Mark 16:8 and 16:9.

Most contemporary scholars reject these verses as original.

The arguement for including this passage in our Bibles.

Many early Christian writers refer to this passage in their writings. This shows the early Christians knew about this passage in the Gospel of Mark and accepted it as genuine.

Papias refers to Mark 16:18. He wrote around 100 AD.

Justin Martyr’s first Apology quoted Mark 16:20. 151 AD.

Irenaeus in Against Heresies quoted Mark 16:13 and remarked on it. 180 AD.

Hippolytus in Peri Charismaton quoted Mark 16:18-19. In his homily on the heresy of Noetus, he refers to Mark 16:19. HE wrote while he was the Bishop of Portus. Between 190–227 AD.

Vincentius, Bishop of Thibari, quoted from 2 of the verses in the 7th Council of Carthage held under Cyprian. 256 AD

Augustine, a century and a half later, in his reply, recited the words again.

The apocryphal Acts of Pilate contains Mark 16:15–18. Thought to be written somewhere around 200 AD.

The Apostolic Constitutions clearly allude to Mark 16:15 in two places and quote Mark 16:16 outright. Thought to be written somewhere around the late 3rd century or the early 4th century.

The overwhelming majority of ancient manuscripts do include this passage.

My thoughts:

It would be highly unlikely for this gospel to end so suddenly with Mark 16:8, with the women simply being afraid but seeing no concrete evidence of the resurrected Jesus, only of an empty tomb. I don’t think we can completely rule out the possibility the original ending was lost rather early.

Importantly, the earliest testimony we present have, from writers like Irenaeus and others, argues for the acceptance of this passage as genuine.

I believe this is the inspired Word of God and that God preserved His Word for us today. This passage doesn’t contradict any other portion of Scripture. As we will get into it, there are some poor interpretations of this passage which has lead to some more interesting Churches.

vv. 9–11) Appearance to Mary Magdalene

These verses turn to Mary Magdalene’s return visit to the tomb while it was still early the same morning. Though mentioned three times previously in Mark (15:40, 47; 16:1), she was described here for the first time as the Mary out of whom Jesus had expelled seven demons (cf. Luke 8:2). Jesus appeared, made Himself visible, to her first. suggesting people could not recognize Jesus in His resurrected state unless He deliberately revealed Himself to them:

Luke 24:16 NKJV

16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

Luke 24:31 NKJV

31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

Mary went and told those who had been with Him she had seen Jesus. “Those who had been with Him,” probably refers to Jesus’ disciples in general, not just the Eleven. They were mourning and weeping over Jesus’ death. On hearing Jesus was alive and had been seen by Mary, the disciples refused to believe her report. In that day, her testimony would not be considered reliable because she was a woman. Yet, Jesus trusted her, even though the disciples did not.

vv. 12–13) Appearance to the two on the way to Emmaus

This remarkable encounter with the risen Christ is described more fully in Luke 24:13–27. The words “two of them,” indicate they were part of the group who disbelieved Mary’s report. While they were out walking, going from Jerusalem into the country, Jesus appeared to them in a different form.

This could mean He took on a different form in which He appeared to Mary Magdalene or, more likely, He appeared to them in a form different in which they had previously recognized Him as Jesus. When they returned to Jerusalem and reported the event to the rest of the disciples, they didn’t believe their report either.

Apparently, despite affirmative statements:

Luke 24:34 NKJV

34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

the disciples initially seemed to regard Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances as apparitions:

Luke 24:37 NKJV

37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.

vv. 14–18) The rebuke and commission.

[14] Later on the evening of the same day Jesus appeared to the Eleven themselves while they sat eating. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they refused to believe the testimony of eyewitnesses to His resurrection earlier in the day.

By hearing about Jesus’ resurrection they learned what it was like to believe the testimony of eyewitnesses. This would be necessary for all those to whom they would preach in their coming missionary outreach.

He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart: They could have done better. There are countless times in our own lives in which we could do better too. For the disciples, they did not understand all of what was going down; however, they could not escape responsibility.

Unbelief is a bloody sin, Hebrews 10:26; a heavy sin, John 3:19; a most ungrateful, inexcusable sin, such as shuts a man up as a close prisoner in the dark dungeon of the law, unto unavoidable destruction, Galatians 3:23.”–Trapp

We are going to see the Great Commission given in verse 15. Family there are two major hindrances to the Great Commission—unbelief and hardness of heart. Standing before the apostles, Jesus rebuked them.

They deserved the rebuke and scolding they got from Jesus. Their unbelief and hardness of heart were inexcusable.

They had witnessed Jesus’ power throughout His minsitry. They had seen His power over both nature and disease, and they even witnessed His power over death when He raised up Jairus’ daughter and a young man and Lazarus.

They had witnessed His life, His purity and holiness and sinlessness. They had been taught sin caused death, which is, a man dies because of sin (which the rest of scripture also testifies of). Jesus was without sin, death could never hold Him and enforce its power over Him either. Scripture states

Psalm 16:10 NKJV

10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

Romans 1:3–4 NKJV

3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

They also had been taught month after month He was to die and be raised again.

They had rejected the testimony of His resurrection. He had sent them word by Mary Magdalene and the other two disciples.

This was a serious matter Jesus was addressing. And His rebuke of their unbelief and hardness reveals that to us. It had to be dealt with if the Great Commission were to be carried out.

Jesus dealt with the matter of unbelief and hardness of heart. How much more should we! When we begin to believe souls are lost and doomed unless they hear and receive Jesus, then we will take the Great Commission seriously and preach the gospel to the whole world.

Family it has now been over two thousand years, and a place as small as our world hasn’t been fully reached. Unimaginable, when we have had the means of transportation and communication as well as the resources at our disposal to do the job.

The root cause of unbelief and harness of heart was simply the misinterpretation of Scripture and of Jesus’ words. The disciples had been told Jesus was to die and arise from the dead. Jesus had told them time and time again, yet the disciples refused to believe the word of Christ: instead they

refused to see the Messiah as a suffering Savior/Servant, choosing instead to think in terms of conquering King.

refused to see the Kingdom of God as a spiritual kingdom, choosing instead to think in terms of a physical kingdom, a kingdom on earth.

refused to see the death and resurrection of Jesus as a literal fact, choosing instead to think of it in symbolic terms.

I pray unbelief and hardness of heart are inexcusable within our local church. It truly has no place amongst us.

Hebrews 3:13 NKJV

13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Hebrews 4:11 NKJV

11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Proverbs 29:1 NKJV

1 He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

[15] The Great Commission is a straightforward command. It is brief, yet forceful and uncompromising: go—preach. Jesus gives two critical points.

It is the gospel which is to be preached. We are not to preach our own thought and ideas, humanistic and man-centered beliefs, world religious and philosophies. We are to preach the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the news which the world desperately needs to hears.

[example: J.W.s and nonessential doctrines]

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 NKJV

1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

Romans 1:1–4 NKJV

1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God 2 which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4 and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

The gospel is to be carried “into all the world” and preached “to every creature.” The gospel is the news which everyone needs to hear:

The Great Commission was given to the whole church, to every believer. It is a permanent commission given to the church of every generation, not only to the first disciples. Verse 16 states, “He who believes, and in verse 17, “those who believe. After a person believes and is baptized, Jesus says the person goes forth with power and signs while he preaches the gospel. Every believer who is genuinely saved is to preach the gospel.

The Great Commission doesn’t consider difficulties, dangers, or barriers to be reasons for not going. Jesus didn’t discuss excuses for not sharing the gospel. His command was an uncompromising demand. The issue of eternal life vs eternal damnation is too critical an issue to allow anything to stop the gospel from going forth. The gospel has to be carried forth. No land is to be neglected, no people are to be ignored. The believer is to be undaunted and un-swerved from the Great Commission. The believer is commanded: Go into all the world.”

“Interest in missions is not an elective in God’s university of grace. It is something in which every disciple is expected to major.”–Ironside

While the idea of the gospel being carried into all the world wasn’t part of the Jewish thinking of the time. It wasn’t part of the pagan thinking either. This was a revolutionary idea.

The command was not obeyed immediately; for many years, the disciples stayed in Jerusalem, and it was only until the church started to receive persecution it began to spread out to the world.

“An army chaplain once said to the Duke of Wellington, ‘do you think it is of any use our taking the gospel to the hill tribes in India? Will they ever receive it?’ The duke replied, ‘What are your marching orders?’ That was the only answer he gave. Stern disciplinarian as the great soldier was, he only wanted marching orders, and he obeyed; and he meant that every soldier of the cross must obey the marching orders of Christ, his great Commander.”–Spurgeon

[16] “Baptism” this was a combined promise of salvation and a warning. A superficial reading of this passage suggests sinners must be baptized to be saved, this is a misinterpretation disappears when you note the emphasis is on believing. If a person doesn’t believe, they are condemned, even if they had been baptized.

Lets talk about it:

There are two essentials here in this passage in regards to salvation—belief and baptism. There are two basic positions on baptism: there are those who believe you must be baptized to be saved (baptismal regeneration). Second, baptism is a symbol or sign one believes and has been saved (what we hold too as a church).

Perhaps what is often overlooked by both positions is this: belief is an act of obedience to God’s demands if a person wishes to be saved, and baptism is an act of obedience to God’s demands if a person believes.

Baptism is an act of obedience to God’s demand just as belief is an act of obedience to God’s demand. Very simply, if a man wishes to be saved, God says (demands that he) believe; and if a man believes, God says (demands that he) be baptized.

I believe a legitimate and straightforward question needs to be asked: “How can a person honestly be saved if he immediately rebels against being baptized? How can a person really believe, be genuine in his confession, if he rebels at obeying His Lord about baptism?”

Facing the reality of the situation, Scripture is strong; a person who truly believes in the Lord will not refuse to follow His Lord in baptism or anything else:

Luke 9:23 NKJV

23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

Belief and obedience are closes tied together.

Hebrews 5:9 NKJV

9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

Another way to say the same thing is this. There is no such thing as faith alone, not without works or fruit. Faith without obedience is not what the Scripture means by faith. In the Scripture, faith is the movement of the heart which embraces the Lord, the Lord who is the fulfillment of the law. Faith is:

Hebrews 11:6 NKJV

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Faith, biblical faith, diligently seeks to obey the Lord. Therefore, the man who truly believes will follow the Lord in baptism and in everything else.

This doesn’t mean the person will be perfect or will never fail. Far from it. He will fail, but he will not continue in sin. HE will get up out of his sin, ask God to forgive him, and begin to follow the Lord even more diligently. His faith works and bears fruit, for He knows God exists and He is a rewarder of them which diligently seek Him.

James 2:14 NKJV

14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?

James 2:17–18 NKJV

17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

James 2:20–24 NKJV

20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

I believe too often within the church today, we try and find loop holes rather than being obedient to the Word of God. I will admit there are some cases where people were ignorant of the mandate, however, once they know there needs to be obedience.

Concluding this though: the thrust of Scripture seems to be a person who is genuinely believes is baptized and will not fail to be baptized unless it is physically impossible, nor will he fail to live righteously.

To reiterate the moment of salvation is not at baptism nor at any other act or work of doing good. It is at the moment of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

When a person really believes and really entrusts their life into the hands of Christ, God knows the moment, the very second of trust. Therefore, at that very moment God quickens his spirit, causing him to be born again, and making him alive spiritually. After the person arises from confession, they are to be baptized, and begin to follow the Lord in righteousness.

[17–18] Jesus here describes certain miracles which would accompany those who believe the gospel. Family here is a great rule of the spiritual life; signs are to be given to those who believe, not primarily in order that they many believe. This was the ceaseless battle between the Pharisees and Jesus, with the Pharisees reiterating their demands for a sign, and Jesus equally adamant that no sign would be given to unbelief.

All of these signs also are fulfilled in the book of Acts leading some people to believe these signs ceased.

Cast out demons (Acts 8:7; 16:18; 19:11–16)

New tongues (Acts 2:4–11; 10:46; 19:6)

Handle serpents (Acts 28:5)

Drink poison without harmful effects—not recorded in Acts but attributed to John and Barnabas by the church historian Eusebius.

Laying hands on the sick for healing (Acts 3:7; 19:11; 28:8-9).

This promise is to be understood in the context of the dangers inherent in the worldwide spread of the gospel, as Paul was bitten by a snake and preserved on the island of Malta. Jesus never intended drinking poison or handling venoms snakes to be a specific test or measure of faith.

vv. 19–20) Jesus’ ascension and the disciples getting to work.

Jesus had to ascend—so that confidence would be put in the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit, not in the geographical presence of Jesus.

Jesus went ahead to prepare a place for you (John 14:3); to make intercession for you (Romans 8:34); and give gifts to men (Ephesians 4:8).

[20] This means they didn’t remain together to bless each other, they went out. We need to understand this… As followers of Jesus we need to come together, not forsaking the assembling of our selves (Hebrews 10:25), these times we have together are to properly equip us to go our and care for a needy world.

Family I want you to come and hear my sermons to be edified and encouraged to seek after the Lord. But we can’t stop there. You all have a role to play within the our local church, so long as this is your church. You have the light of Christ and I promise it is incredible to be able to take that light out into a dark and dying world and lend someone a light.

Numbers 6:24–26 NKJV

24 “The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; 26 The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” ’