| | [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/benson/matthew/28.htm Benson Commentary (Mt 28:19)] {{quotation|'''Matthew 28:19. Go ye therefore, and teach''' — Greek, '''μαθητευσατε, disciple''', or '''make disciples of''', or, as Dr. Doddridge renders it, '''proselyte all nations'''. 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 heathen, to teach them before they were baptized; in disciplining 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. It must be observed, that the word rendered '''teaching''', in the next verse, (namely, '''διδασκοντες''',) though in our translation confounded with the word used in this verse, yet is a word of a very different sense: and properly implies '''instructing''', which the word used in this verse does not necessarily imply, but, as has been observed, merely to '''proselyte''', or '''make disciples'''. The argument, therefore, that some draw from this verse, as if our Lord enjoined all to be taught before they were to be baptized, is without foundation. Our Lord’s words, taken together, in both verses, distinctly enjoin three things, and that in the following order, '''μαθητευειν''', '''βαρτιζειν''', '''διδασκειν''', that is, to '''proselyte''' men to Christ, to '''baptize''', and to '''teach''' them. It is true, however, that adult persons, before they can be made Christ’s disciples, or be proselyted, must be instructed and brought to '''believe''' the great essential truths of Christianity, and even to '''profess''' their faith in them. But the case is different with infants, who may be admitted to baptism, as the children of the Jews were to the rite of circumcision, and be instructed afterward. And, as Dr. Doddridge justly observes, if Christ had sent out these missionaries to propagate Judaism in the world, he might have used the same, or similar language: “Go and proselyte all nations, circumcising them in the name of the God of Israel, and teaching them to observe all that Moses commanded.” The whole tenor of the succeeding books of the New Testament shows, that Christ designed, by this commission, that the gospel should be preached to all mankind without exception; not only to the Jews, but to the idolatrous Gentiles: but the prejudices of the apostles led them, at first, to mistake the sense of it, and to imagine that it referred only to their going to preach the gospel to the Jews among all nations, or to those who should be willing to become Jews. (<small>''boldface emphasis in original''</small>}} | | [https://biblehub.com/commentaries/benson/matthew/28.htm Benson Commentary (Mt 28:19)] {{quotation|'''Matthew 28:19. Go ye therefore, and teach''' — Greek, '''μαθητευσατε, disciple''', or '''make disciples of''', or, as Dr. Doddridge renders it, '''proselyte all nations'''. 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 heathen, to teach them before they were baptized; in disciplining 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. It must be observed, that the word rendered '''teaching''', in the next verse, (namely, '''διδασκοντες''',) though in our translation confounded with the word used in this verse, yet is a word of a very different sense: and properly implies '''instructing''', which the word used in this verse does not necessarily imply, but, as has been observed, merely to '''proselyte''', or '''make disciples'''. The argument, therefore, that some draw from this verse, as if our Lord enjoined all to be taught before they were to be baptized, is without foundation. Our Lord’s words, taken together, in both verses, distinctly enjoin three things, and that in the following order, '''μαθητευειν''', '''βαρτιζειν''', '''διδασκειν''', that is, to '''proselyte''' men to Christ, to '''baptize''', and to '''teach''' them. It is true, however, that adult persons, before they can be made Christ’s disciples, or be proselyted, must be instructed and brought to '''believe''' the great essential truths of Christianity, and even to '''profess''' their faith in them. But the case is different with infants, who may be admitted to baptism, as the children of the Jews were to the rite of circumcision, and be instructed afterward. And, as Dr. Doddridge justly observes, if Christ had sent out these missionaries to propagate Judaism in the world, he might have used the same, or similar language: “Go and proselyte all nations, circumcising them in the name of the God of Israel, and teaching them to observe all that Moses commanded.” The whole tenor of the succeeding books of the New Testament shows, that Christ designed, by this commission, that the gospel should be preached to all mankind without exception; not only to the Jews, but to the idolatrous Gentiles: but the prejudices of the apostles led them, at first, to mistake the sense of it, and to imagine that it referred only to their going to preach the gospel to the Jews among all nations, or to those who should be willing to become Jews. (<small>''boldface emphasis in original''</small>}} |