Sermon Bible Commentary
Matthew 28:19
The Trinal Unity of the Godhead.
Consider:
I. The doctrine of the Trinity as it appears to have been part of the earliest revelations which were given to the world. Though not revealed distinctly and dogmatically, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is conveyed in the Old Testament by implication and inference. Thus, the very first sentence in the Book of Genesis runs, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." That which is implied, though it cannot be shown in the translation, is that while the Agent is plural in this passage, the verb with which it is connected is in the singular number. And this strange form of expression is used by Moses about five hundred times, when speaking of God, and it is so used by none else. And Jewish writers confess that this frequently recurring phrase is indicative of some mystery in the Divine Being, though they do not attempt to define its nature. But the Jews are not our only witnesses to the fact of this great doctrine being a part of God's earliest communications to the human family. The truth, in some disguised and distorted form, will be found to have entered into almost all the fabulous theologies of the world, and this the more distinctly the more remote their antiquity.
II. The doctrine of the Trinity forms the subject of controversy in the earliest ages of the Christian Church.
III. To the humble Christian this doctrine is embraced for the peace and salvation of his soul; to him the mystery of the doctrine is nothing; He asks only, Have I sufficient evidence of the fact? and he feels that he has. In all its searchless mystery the doctrine of Three Persons sharing equally and alike the attributes of underived and inherent Godhead, and yet these Three all One in nature, One in essence, One in purpose, and mind, and will, is the only doctrine which meets the necessities of our lapsed race, or provides for our being brought back to a state of innocence and peace.
D. Moore, Penny Pulpit,No. 3,138.
The Catholic and Spiritual Character of the Church.
I. Note the universality of this command of Christ "all nations." When Jesus was on earth He did not go to all nations, but confined His ministry to Israel. It was according to the Divine purpose, according to the method of God's dealings with Israel and the nations, that Jesus should first go to His own people, preaching to them the Gospel of the kingdom, and endeavouring to gather them under the wings of His mercy and holy love. He was Israel's Messiah and King. The Angel of the Covenant came to His temple. But Israel itself was chosen in Him for the salvation of the world. And even during His earthly ministry in Israel, Jesus thought with joy and love of the Gentiles, who should come to the light and enter the fold of Divine peace. And now the time had come. The Gospel of salvation was to be preached to the whole world. The rejection of Israel's Messiah results in a twofold dispensation. In judgment the Jews are scattered among all the nations of the earth; in love and mercy, in blessing, the Church is sent to all peoples and tongues. The Bible, and the Bible only, teaches firmly and clearly the unity of the human race. (1) As we are the children of Adam, all human beings are equal, created in the image of God, forming one family of mankind, called to light, and holiness, and blessedness. As all truths, this great truth is confirmed and illustrated by the Lord Jesus Christ. (2) This equality is, alas, also an equality in sin and in condemnation! (3) The unity of the race is a blessed fact, when we remember that the Son of God became man. Unto the whole race Christ is sent; He is given unto man as man, a new Centre to the whole family of mankind.
II. The spiritual character of this commission "teaching them." Men are to be taught. The Word is the sword of the Spirit. By the Word the heart is conquered, and the Word is the bread which nourishes and strengthens the soul. Thus it always was with God's people. There is no book like Scripture in which men are so constantly exhorted to think, to consider, to reason, to learn, to meditate, to remember. There is no book so opposed to all blind obedience and assumption of external authority. There is no book so opposed to the pride and selfishness of an esoteric school, keeping the people in subjection and partial ignorance. The Church is where the Word of God is. We need nothing else but the word, in order to be men of God, perfect, thoroughly "furnished unto all good works." And as the inward life and growth of the Church are by the Word, so are her extension and influence. The great commission of the Church is to preach the Gospel to the world.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church,p. 37.
Heathenism.
The text brings before us the subject of heathenism, and the relation of the Church of Christ to the heathen world. The words of our Lord are our authority as well as our encouragement for engaging in the great work of heathen missions. He Himself is the Sender. It is a work which is essential; it is, in one aspect, and if we take a wide enough view of its meaning, the work of the Christian Church.
I. With regard to the times of ignorance, there are three elements which modify the dense darkness which covers the earth. (1) There is the reminiscence of the primeval revelation. (2) The second element, which in some degree alleviates the great oppressiveness and gloom of men's ignorance, is that, as Sophocles expressed it, "there are the unwritten laws of Heaven in the hearts of men, which are not of today or yesterday, whose birth-tide is not known to any man." (3) The third element is this, that God, by the Holy Spirit, who bloweth where He listeth, had His work among the Gentile nations (Melchizedek, Job, the men of Nineveh).
II. We must not regard the judgments that are denounced in Scripture against heathenism and the nations that forget God as unjust and hard. Nothing in the Bible is harsh and severe. The light in which heathenism is revealed in Scripture, although it is truthful, is also affectionate. Whatever there is pure, and lovely, and ideal among the heathen nations, think not that it is our interest, or that it is the spirit of Christianity and Scripture, to ignore it or make little of it. God is the God of all, and there is nothing good or beautiful but it has its origin in God's Spirit.
III. When we think of heathenism we are overwhelmed and appalled. Think of its antiquity. Think of the extent of its territory. Think of the wonderful minds which have been captivated and enslaved by heathenism. Think of the evil of idolatry. Idolatry is not one evil; it is not a great evil; you cannot even call it the greatest evil: it is theevil; it is the mother of all evils; it is the root of all evil. Think of the wretchedness and misery of the heathen. It is a very superficial view of antiquity when people talk of the bright days of sunshine and joy in ancient Hellas. There were brightness and beauty; that people were gifted with a marvellous sense of the beautiful; but those who are well acquainted with antiquity know the deep-seated melancholy, the gloom, the cloud of darkness, which was only temporarily and superficially dispersed. Above all, let us remember the only antidote of idolatry; it is to "know God, and Jesus Christ, whom He hath sent."
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church,p. 208.
References: Matthew 28:19. J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons,p. 343; Christian World Pulpit,vol. ix., p. 104; Homiletic Quarterly,vol. v., p. 174; W. Cunningham, Sermons,p. 89; J. Oswald Dykes, Sermons,p. 128.
This passage has always been regarded by the Church of Christ as teaching most clearly the doctrine of the Trinity. "Name" is never used in Scripture in connection with abstract things or qualities, but always with persons. As the personality, so the Divinity, and consequently the equality of the Three are distinctly set forth; for the name of the Son and of the Spirit are coordinated with that of the Father; the same faith is demanded of us in regard to each of the Three Persons. The solemnity of the moment when these words were spoken by our Lord, the character of the ordinance with which He connects them, clearly prove that they contain the cardinal and fundamental doctrine on which all Christian teaching and life rest.
I. In this doctrine there is light for the mind. God dwelleth no longer in darkness, and in heights unattainable to the vision of human hearts. We see Jesus, the God-Man, and He reveals the Father and the Spirit. Jesus, by the name of God, reveals to us creation, for by Him, the Word of God, were all things made; and by the Spirit the Father's purpose and the mediation of the Son were actually accomplished in perfection and beauty. Jesus, by the name of God, reveals to us in eternity, not a lonely, quiescent God, such as neither mind can conceive nor affection grasp, but a God in whom from all eternity there was fulness of life, and love, and blessedness, the Father loving the Son, and the Spirit knowing the depths of the Godhead.
II. Here the conscience finds rest. Only in a Triune God are perfect atonement and reconciliation. He who brings us to the Father is the Son. The Church was purchased with the blood of Him who is God; and when Christ, by His own blood, entered into the Holy of Holies, we were represented by Him and complete in Him. The work of the Holy Ghost, also, is essential to our peace. Christ is ours only by the power of the Holy Ghost. Without the love of the Father, the atonement of the Son, and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost the conscience may be soothed, but cannot be set at rest and purified.
III. And here, in the mystery of the Triune name, is love for the heart. It is only when we know the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that we know that God is Love; that love is not one of His attributes merely, but that He is Love from everlasting to everlasting; that from all eternity God, who lives, loves; that in Him the one Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are united in ever-blessed communion of love.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church,p. 67.
The name of God, the glory of the Old and of the New Covenant. In the Divine revelation to Israel, from Abraham to the Exodus, and from Moses to the last prophets, we can trace the following lines of education, which all converge in the Advent of the Lord Jesus, and in his full revelation of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
I. Scripture teaches us that no man can see God, and Scripture speaks at the same time of God appearing. Israel knew God as Jehovah revealing Himself, the Messenger or Angel, sent by God and one with God, His Representative, face and image, in whom Divine glory was manifest, and to whom Divine adoration is due.
II. But while God came thus nigh unto them, He revealed the infinite distance which separated between Him and the sinful nation. Israel is sinful and guilty, yet God dwells among them. Israel hopes in the Lord, for with Him is plenteous redemption. For they knew that God, the holy and just Lawgiver, was also God the Redeemer. A just God and a Saviour, a holy God and a sanctifying Spirit, were manifested unto Israel, or, in other words, the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
III. These two lines of prophecy are combined, in the hope of Jehovah's rending the heavens, and coming down to redeem and glorify Israel. The coming of the Lord God is the theme of Psalms and Prophets. The invisible God manifests the Holy One among a forgiven and renewed people; such is the hope of Israel.
IV. We must combine with these passages an apparently opposite line of prediction. Its starting-point is not the throne of holiness, but the earth under a curse, and the woman, who was first in the transgression. This series of promises is familiar to all. The Seed, the Son, the David, the Servant, the Israel is the Redeemer, the Light of the nations, the Restorer and glory of His people. And as He is man, and born of the Virgin-daughter of Zion, He is also God. Israel was taught that the Son of David, the Messiah, was God manifest in the flesh, Revealer of the Father, the Lord who can baptize with the Holy Ghost. Does not the Messianic prophecy declare the name of the Triune God?
V. This mysterious God-Man is seen in heaven and coming down from heaven (Psalms 110:1; Zechariah 12:10).
VI. The mystery of the Trinity is foreshadowed in the teaching of the Book of Proverbs. Who can fail to recognize the identity of the Wisdom spoken of in the Book of Proverbs, and the Word, who was in the beginning with God? Wisdom is set up from everlasting, brought forth; or as the Church expresses it, God of God, begotten, not made; beyond and above all creation; to be distinguished from God, and yet worshipped in the Godhead.
A. Saphir, Christ and the Church,p. 89.