Commentary on Matthew 28:16-20

It’s practically obligatory that a commentary on Matthew 28 will note that the formula “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (verse 19) comes from the liturgical practices of the late first century. In other words, the evidence suggests that the gospel author describes baptism in such a way because it was the language some churches were using for performing baptisms at that point in time.

For one thing, no other New Testament writing includes that particular trinitarian expression. It thus appears not to be embedded in the earliest Christian traditions. Paul says something similar, in a benediction and not a baptismal formula, in 2 Corinthians 13:13, but it is not the same as what we find at the end of Matthew (see also Ephesians 4:4–6).¹

Moreover, Paul and the book of Acts indicate that the church originally baptized people in the name of Jesus (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:27). It’s difficult to imagine that Acts and Paul would say what they say if indeed Jesus himself had, from the beginning, given instructions about baptizing in a different (trinitarian) “name.”²

I mention all of that, not because it makes for scintillating preaching, but because it’s a reminder that it took time for the church to learn to speak and confess in a trinitarian way, and even longer for a formal declaration of “the Trinity” to emerge. There’s nothing wrong with that, but noting the gradual process cautions us against trying to find too much precision in the New Testament’s ways of relating (or uniting) Jesus to God and to the church’s experience of Holy Spirit power.

For the task, then, of interpreting Matthew 28:16–20 while celebrating Trinity Sunday, we are wise not to assume that the trinitarian formula of verse 19 is a self-evident definition of God. We can’t move seamlessly from our developed Trinitarianism (capital T) back to scripture. It’s better to explore how this biblical passage makes important claims about who God is in light of the instructions Jesus gives to his followers, including us. It’s the particular narrative context that makes the formula of verse 19 meaningful (and mysterious): a commission from Jesus not simply about how to baptize a person but about what it means to be a Christian disciple.

“Make disciples”

The syntactical heart of Jesus’s commission is the imperative make disciples. If we understand this as “convert people,” we’ve imported a kind of separatism into the early Jesus movement that I don’t see otherwise reflected in Matthew. The verb mathēteuō focuses on teaching, often toward a specific goal of making someone into an adherent or a loyalist, as a particularly devoted pupil. It makes sense to find this verb in this climactic scene of Matthew, for this Gospel dedicates so much attention to Jesus’s teaching activity.

Furthermore, Jesus’s teaching aims to result in obedience. Jesus teaches to shape behavior, not simply to inform (see Matthew 5:19–20; 7:21, 24–27; 21:28–32; 23:2–3). This is made more explicit in this concluding scene, in verse 20, where Jesus’s commission involves “teaching [all nations] to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

Jesus’s commands, throughout Matthew, are situated in his words and deeds. They focus largely on showing mercy, especially to those most in need of it.

Of course, baptizing disciples is about initiating them and yoking them to Jesus (and to the Father and to the Holy Spirit). Even more so, in this scene, Jesus presents baptism as part of the process of adding collaborators and accomplices to a movement that places mercy and compassion at its core. It does that because it follows the lead of the Messiah who, vindicated through his resurrection, possesses “all authority in heaven and on earth” (verse 18). Baptism, according to this passage, calls the baptized to action and promises them divine empowerment for that action.

Trinitarian baptism, according to Matthew

In Matthew, Jesus frequently refers to God as “Father.” He has much less to say about the Holy Spirit, however, and Matthew on the whole includes less about the Spirit than Luke and John do. The Spirit’s main activity in Matthew involves initiating Jesus’s life (1:18–21) and ministry (3:11, 16; 4:1). Now, for one final commissioning of his followers, Jesus wraps himself with his heavenly Parent and Spirit in a single name.

Given the Gospel’s wider focus on teaching and enlisting others into the work of mercy, we can see an implicit confession that all of God—all of God’s ways of being revealed, known, and experienced—demonstrate a divine commitment to extending mercy. The compassion and inclusion on display in Matthew are not a responsibility delegated to the Son. All of God’s power and purpose culminate in concern for those who struggle in life. Reread the Beatitudes (5:1–12) if you’ve forgotten who they are.

Anyone baptized in the name of the Triune God is authorized and sent by God’s full Self to participate in self-giving service. In Matthew 25:31–46 Jesus explains the sacramental quality of caring for those who are disadvantaged. We commune with Jesus himself when welcoming strangers and feeding those who are hungry. Likewise, and perhaps with an even greater accent on theological mystery and intimacy than what Matthew 25:31–46 claims, we find ourselves caught up in the trinitarian fullness of God’s revealed identity when we engage in the mercy at the heart of the kingdom of heaven.

What a promise our Trinitarian (now capital T!) belonging and empowerment make to us, imperfect disciples as we are, who live with doubt in all seasons.³ The more we ponder who God is, in all the divine complexity, beauty, and solidarity that we find in the witness of the saints, the more we are going to find ourselves drawn into a life of obedient love and advocacy for our neighbor.

Trinity Sunday, therefore, is a day to extol mercy.

Notes

1. Matthew’s language appears also in the seventh chapter of the Didache, with reference to baptism, as well as in numerous second-century writings. See a list in R. Alan Culpepper, Matthew: A Commentary, NTL (Westminster John Knox, 2021), 584.
2. Culpepper, Matthew, 584.
3. See verse 17, which I believe the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition translates correctly by describing doubt and worship coinciding.