Matthew 28:16-20, with parallels in Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:46-48, John 20:21, and Acts 1:8. After His resurrection and before His ascension, Jesus gave His disciples their definitive marching orders: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Five elements structure the commission: authority (His, not ours), mandate (make disciples), scope (all nations), method (baptize + teach), presence (always with you).
The Great Commission is the Church's primary marching order until Christ returns. Five observations. (1) Grounded in Christ's authority. "All authority... has been given to me." The Great Commission is not the Church's self-asserted project; it is the outworking of the King's established reign. He sends because He rules. (2) The main verb is "make disciples" — not "go," not "baptize," not "teach." In Greek, only matheteusate (make disciples) is imperative; "going" (poreuthentes), "baptizing" (baptizontes), and "teaching" (didaskontes) are participles modifying it. Disciples are made through the process of going-baptizing-teaching, but the goal is disciples, not merely decisions or conversions. (3) All nations (panta ta ethnē — all peoples/ethnic groups). Not all persons (universalism) but representatives from every people group on earth. Revelation 7:9 pictures the harvest: "a great multitude... from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages." The unfinished task of missions is to reach every people group. (4) Baptizing and teaching. Baptism is the boundary marker of disciple-making. Teaching all that Christ commanded is the content. Neither evangelism-without-discipleship nor discipleship-without-evangelism fulfills the mandate. (5) With you always. The promise that closes the commission is its fuel. Missionaries in impossible places, pastors in unresponsive cultures, parents in difficult homes — Christ has authority, gives the mandate, provides the method, and comes with.