In Scripture, a commission is an authoritative mandate given by a superior to an agent — with full backing, resources, and accountability. The supreme commission is The Great Commission: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19–20). It is the mission statement of the Church, issued by the risen Lord. To receive a commission is to receive both an assignment and an authority — the One who sends stands behind the one sent. Every believer is a commissioned agent of the Kingdom.
COMMIS'SION, n. [L. commissio.] 1. The act of committing, doing, or perpetrating. 2. The act of committing or entrusting. 3. A warrant or authority given to a person to execute some office or trust. 4. A trust; a charge committed to any person. 5. A body of persons authorized to perform certain duties.
Contemporary Christianity has largely treated the Great Commission as optional — a calling for full-time missionaries rather than a mandate for every disciple. The comfortable church has substituted attendance for obedience, programs for proclamation, and church growth metrics for actual disciple-making. Meanwhile, secular culture uses "commission" merely as a sales incentive. The word has been both over-professionalized (only clergy) and trivialized (sales commission). Scripture knows neither restriction: every follower of Jesus has been sent with authority to make disciples.
Matthew 28:18–20 — "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..."
Acts 1:8 — "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
John 20:21 — "As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
Romans 10:14–15 — "How are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?"
Isaiah 6:8 — "And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here I am! Send me.'"
G649 – apostellō (ἀποστέλλω) — to send out with authority and on a specific mission; root of "apostle" — a commissioned envoy
G3992 – pempō (πέμπω) — to send; used interchangeably with apostellō but emphasizing the act of sending from the sender's perspective
H7971 – shālach (שָׁלַח) — to send, to commission; used when God sends prophets on His behalf (Isaiah 6:8, Jeremiah 1:7)
• A Marine officer receives a commission not merely as a title but as an assignment — with authority, resources, and accountability to higher command. So does every Christian.
• The Great Commission is not a suggestion for the spiritually gifted; it is the marching orders of every disciple of Christ.
• To be commissioned is to be entrusted. The question is not whether you have been sent — Christ has already sent you — but whether you are faithful to the mission.