{5} Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them {f} in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:

(5) The sum of the apostleship is the proclaiming of the doctrine received from Christ throughout all the world, and the ministering of the sacraments: the efficacy of which things depends not on the minsters but on the Lord.

(f) Calling upon the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

People's New Testament

28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations. Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations (Revised Version). There are several things to be noticed: (1) Go, implies an aggressive warfare. The Gospel army must move upon the nations. The Lord seeks universal empire, and sends forth his armies to conquer the world. Every church and every disciple must understand that they have marching orders. (2) Not only is every saint commanded to go, or to take steps to make the gospel go, but the object is stated. They are to make disciples, or pupils, and scholars of Christ; not great philosophers, but babes in Christ Jesus (1Co 3:1), who have entered the school of Christ and are to be taught afterwards. (3) Who are to be made disciples is next indicated. Not the Jews only, but all nations. Christ came to be the Savior of the world. His is a universal religion. In the Great Commission he looks beyond Judea, and commands that the Gospel shall be offered to all nations. The test of eighteen centuries shows that Christianity is not local or national, but is adapted to the needs of all mankind. (4) It is next stated how disciples shall be made.

Baptizing them. The rite by which those who believe upon him should be formally enlisted and enrolled in the school of Christ is baptism. It is a baptism of the Spirit that he means, because it is one that those whom he addresses are commanded to administer. He alone baptized with the Spirit; his apostles and disciples baptized in water, and it is to this rite that he refers. Hence, when we turn to the preaching of the apostles under this commission, we find that all converts were at once baptized (Ac 2:38-41 8:12-18). (5) The end or result of baptism is also given. Converts were to be baptized

into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. It is a positive affirmation of the Old Testament that where the name of the Lord is recorded there will he meet his disciples, or there will be his presence. See Ex 20:24. The Lord declares that the three names, that of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, are recorded in baptism. In this rite, then, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit meet the believer; the Father to receive him as a child, the Son to welcome him as a brother, and to cover him with the mantle of his own purity; the Holy Spirit to endow him with that Spirit by which he can say, Abba, Father. Into the name of is equivalent to into the presence of, or into the Father, and into the Son, and into the Holy Spirit.

Wesley's Notes

28:19 Disciple all nations - Make them my disciples. This includes the whole design of Christ's commission. Baptizing and teaching are the two great branches of that general design. And these were to be determined by the circumstances of things; which made it necessary in baptizing adult Jews or heathens, to teach them before they were baptized; in discipling their children, to baptize them before they were taught; as the Jewish children in all ages were first circumcised, and after taught to do all God had commanded them. Mark 16:15.

King James Translators' Notes

teach...: or, make disciples, or, Christians of all nations

Scofield Reference Notes

[1] Go

With the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ begins the "dispensation of the grace of God" Eph 3:2, which is defined as "his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus"; and, "the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." Eph 2:7-9, under grace God freely gives to the believing sinner eternal life Rom 6:23 accounts to him a perfect righteousness Rom 3:21,22 4:4,5 and accords to him a perfect position Eph 1:6

The predicted results of this sixth testing of man are

(1) the salvation of all who believe Acts 16:31.

(2) judgment upon an unbelieving world and an apostate church. Mt 25:31-46 2Th 1:7-10 1Pet 4:17,18 Rev 3:15,16.

(1) Man's state at the beginning of the dispensation of Grace Rom 3:19 Gal 3:22 Eph 2:11,12.

(2) Man's responsibility under grace Jn 1:11,12 3:36 6:28,29.

(3) His predicted failure Mt 24:37-39 Lk 18:8 19:12-14.

(4) The judgment 2Th 2:7-12.

[2] Name

The word is in the singular, the "name," not names. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the final name of the one true God. It affirms:

(1) That God is one.

(2) That He subsists in a personality which is threefold, indicated by relationship as Father and Son; by a mode of being as Spirit; and by the different parts taken by the Godhead in manifestation and in the work of redemption, e.g. Jn 3:5,6, (Spirit), Jn 3:16,17 (Father and Son). In Mt 3:16,17 Mk 1:10,11 Lk 3:21,22 the three persons are in manifestation together.

(3) The conjunction in one name of the Three affirms equality and oneness of substance. See O.T. Names of God:

See Scofield Note: "Gen 1:1" See Scofield Note: "Gen 2:4" See Scofield Note: "Gen 14:18" See Scofield Note: "Gen 15:2" See Scofield Note: "Gen 17:1" See Scofield Note: "Gen 21:33" See Scofield Note: "1Sam 1:3"

The next reference, Mal 3.18, provides a Summary

See Scofield Note: "Mal 3:18"

See "Lord" See Scofield Note: "Mt 8:2"

"Word" (Logos), See Scofield Note: "Jn 1:1" "Holy Spirit," See Scofield Note: "Acts 2:4" See "Christ, Deity of," See Scofield Note: "Jn 20:28"

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations-rather, "make disciples of all nations"; for "teaching," in the more usual sense of that word, comes in afterwards, and is expressed by a different term.

baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost-It should be, "into the name"; as in 1Co 10:2, "And were all baptized unto (or rather 'into') Moses"; and Ga 3:27, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ."

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

28:16-20 This evangelist passes over other appearances of Christ, recorded by Luke and John, and hastens to the most solemn; one appointed before his death, and after his resurrection. All that see the Lord Jesus with an eye of faith, will worship him. Yet the faith of the sincere may be very weak and wavering. But Christ gave such convincing proofs of his resurrection, as made their faith to triumph over doubts. He now solemnly commissioned the apostles and his ministers to go forth among all nations. The salvation they were to preach, is a common salvation; whoever will, let him come, and take the benefit; all are welcome to Christ Jesus. Christianity is the religion of a sinner who applies for salvation from deserved wrath and from sin; he applies to the mercy of the Father, through the atonement of the incarnate Son, and by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, and gives up himself to be the worshipper and servant of God, as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, three Persons but one God, in all his ordinances and commandments. Baptism is an outward sign of that inward washing, or sanctification of the Spirit, which seals and evidences the believer's justification. Let us examine ourselves, whether we really possess the inward and spiritual grace of a death unto sin, and a new birth unto righteousness, by which those who were the children of wrath become the children of God. Believers shall have the constant presence of their Lord always; all days, every day. There is no day, no hour of the day, in which our Lord Jesus is not present with his churches and with his ministers; if there were, in that day, that hour, they would be undone. The God of Israel, the Saviour, is sometimes a God that hideth himself, but never a God at a distance. To these precious words Amen is added. Even so, Lord Jesus, be thou with us and all thy people; cause thy face to shine upon us, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.