Andykiwi

"...go and make disciples of all nations..." Matthew 28:19

That's what Jesus is supposed to have said, according to Matthew's Gospel.
But if he said that to the disciples they would have known - but they didn't know that.
For many years they thought the Gospel was only for the Jews and only tried to preach to them.
It wasn't until Peters revelation in Acts Ch 10 that they started to realize they could preach the gospel to "Gentiles" too.

Of course, Matthew's Gospel was written long after all of that had happened so they could conveniently put those words in Jesus mouth as it that was the plan all along.

mountainman

Agreed Andykiwi but surely the greatest historical, religious and political commission was this:

Jesus here clearly prophecizes the coming of his Kingdom and his servant Constantine three hundred years hence.

Toto

Is this the Australian Revised Translation?

renassault

Untrue. The Apostles always knew the Gospel was for all nations, and other early traditions support this (Acts 1:8), plus Paul's statements in Galatians 2 that he was given the right hand in preaching to the Gentiles (the Council in 48). Some Christian Jews following Peter were unaware according to Acts that salvation was also for the Gentiles. The issue was apparently a recurring problem, seeing Paul's need to explain this in Romans 11, despite the fact that Romans was written in 57, to a congregation full of Gentile Christians, and this is due to the, by the time of Jesus, 200+ year (common) tradition that the Gentiles (as a whole) were outsiders excluded from anything Jewish, unless of course proselytized (which Gentile Christians were not, in general).

The fact is, you have no argument because the Jews long held the salvation of the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6, Malachi 1:11, 1 Kings 8:43, etc).

Joan of Bark

From the NIV:

Matthew 10:
Matthew 15:
Matthew 10: 5
The passage cited about converting all nations also appears in Mark, but in the last twelve verses, which is almost certainly an interpolation. Perhaps they were copied into Matthew to justify Paul's claim that gentiles were to be included in the movement.

squiz

If anything, it would be the New Zealand Revised Translation.

Clivedurdle

Imagining the New Zealand Rugby Union team at the Crucifixion....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdMCAV6Yd0Y

mountainman

In regard to the "gentiles" the very shadowy tetrarchy of gospel authors obviously had in their mind the Greek (Graeco-Roman) civilisation because of two facts. The first that "the Greeks" are specifically mentioned in the text in certain places as "the gentiles" and the second that the authors wrote the fiction story in the common Greek language, not Hebrew. Constantine could not have found a more anti-Hellenistic and anti-Jewish political and religious manifesto. Aside from the lack of any evidence "ante pacem", that's another reason why I think he could have fabricated it as the basis for his despotic and fascist military, political, religious and cultural revolution. The "Gentiles" all over the empire suddenly found themselves "Pagans" or "Arians" c.324/325 CE unless they ran speedily to the arms of Constantine's new church, and gave up all the old heresies.

Cege

The argument in regards to the above verses could be that Jesus was referring to ministry during his lifetime on earth. Jesus wanted the apostles to also restrict their own preaching/teaching/healing to the "lost sheep of Israel" until after his death, resurrection, and ascension. After the Holy Spirit came on them at Penetecost the apostles were empowered to preach and teach beyond the Jewish nation and beyond the Jewish by birth.

There are problems, of course, with even that argument, because the apostles did not follow the gMatthew Commission immediately after supposedly being told directly by the risen Jesus before they witnessed him ascend to the heavens.

The apostles hung around Jerusalem and preached only to the Jews for what appeared to be several years, despite what Jesus is supposed to have told them last time they saw him. Jesus also told them, according to Matthew, to baptize new believers in the name of the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, but Acts records the apostles baptizing "only in the name of Jesus" which causes various problems in smoothly establishing the new Christianity through the early chapters of Acts.

Clearly, the apostles did not immediately respond to Jesus' last commission as described in the final recording of gMatthew.

sugarhitman

What that means is that they couldnt preach to Gentile nations before preaching to Israel was complete...because "Salvation is for the Jew first then the Gentile." Israel is the firstfruit nation. But Salvation is for all nations.