Month: March 2024

Make disciples of whom?

The title of this blog post is a line from ‘The Great Commission’, of course. Matthew 28:18-20 records a final instruction Jesus gave his disciples:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18b-20 NIV My emphasis

College reading

This semester, I am studying some classics of Christian literature, one of which is a book of articles and presentations by renowned missiologist, Professor Andrew F. Walls. I experienced many ‘aha’ moments as I made my way through it, but will limit myself to just one in this blog post. It is this: Followers of Jesus are called to make disciples of all nations. The Greek phrase, panta ta ethne, translated as ‘all nations’ refers to just that … all nations. Not individual people, but nations. The term ‘nations’ doesn’t necessarily refer to political entities such as ‘Australia’ or ‘Fiji’, but describes non-Jewish ethnic groups from all over the world.

I’m a product of my culture. I’m an individualist, and find it hard to fathom how anyone could interpret life otherwise. For many years, when I read this passage, I understood that I was to make disciples of individuals from different nations. Indeed, that is what I have worked towards most of my life. And it isn’t bad. Not bad at all. But Jesus’ instruction was much richer.

Gentiles

If I could put my feet in the sandals one of those disciples on the mountain to whom Jesus spoke these words some two millennia ago, I would probably have been flabbergasted by Jesus’ words. How could good Jews even think that Jesus wanted them to actively strive to incorporate Gentiles into the People of God! Unclean barbarians?!

Indeed, the incorporation of Gentiles into the People of God is exactly what happened. It took a little while. First, empowered by the Holy Spirit, the disciples preached in a variety of languages to God-fearing Jews from ‘every nation under heaven’ who were gathered in Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost (Acts 2). Yet those new believers were still Jews. Some time later, as a result of severe persecution against followers of Jesus in Jerusalem, people took the gospel with them as they scattered to surrounding areas (Acts 8:4).

The first non-Jews to turn in large numbers to follow Jesus were the previously despised Samaritans (Acts 8:5, 25). Shortly after that, the apostle Philip was miraculously sent to the Ethiopian official, a eunuch who was earnestly seeking God (Acts 8:26-40). The impetuous apostle Peter was sent for by the Gentile ruler Cornelius, and having been convinced in a vision to drop his divisive standards of Jewish purity, he went (Acts 10). The Council of Jerusalem, described in Acts 15, was all about determining what Jewish cultural practices Gentiles were required to keep if they were to belong to the early church. The Pharisee Saul, later named Paul, was commissioned by the Lord himself (via another disciple named Ananias) to go to the Gentiles (Acts 8:15), a commission which was later confirmed by the early church (Acts 13:2).

These are just the records written up for us in the book of Acts. Tradition also tells of early Christians going to Syria and India, to North Africa and perhaps even to Spain.

Yes, those early disciples did indeed go and, as they went, discipled the nations. In fact, within three centuries, Christianity went from being a small Jewish sect in Israel to becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire, the very same empire which had oppressed the Jewish people so terribly. From that mountain in Galilee on which Jesus had instructed his disciples, the good news of Jesus indeed spread to the nations.

The Translation Principle

Just as the our Lord Jesus entered history in a particular time and place, taking on the language and customs of the people of that time and place, so the gospel continues to take on the languages and customs of the many nations it encounters.

Professor Walls calls this ‘the translation principle’. In a delightful article called ‘The Gospel as the Prisoner and Liberator of Culture’ (2013), he imagines a space visitor watching Christianity spread around the world in a series of successive visits over time. I fear that the paper is too long to copy within a blog post, but if you are interested you can read it in the first part of this paper available online. I heartily recommend it. In short, he describes fairly representative groups of Christians in different eras and locations living out their Christian faith in wildly different ways, yet throughout it all maintaining a common thread which constitutes the heart of Christianity.

As the gospel takes hold in a particular nation, it also transforms the nation, or at least the communities in which it takes root. The good news of Jesus is translated into far more than just language. This is, no doubt, also what Jesus had in mind when he instructed those first disciples to go and make disciples of all nations.

Generational transformation

When this individualistic Western woman of the 21st century thinks of discipleship, I think of one person working with another individual as he or she figures out what it means to follow Jesus in that particular context. ‘Discipleship’ includes such diverse areas as daily devotional practices, Christian parenting, financial management, ways of relating to others and more. That’s how I have always understood the term, anyhow.

However, Andrew Walls suggested that discipling nations may in fact take generations! After the gospel comes to a community, in time, God willing, a local church is established. As the years roll on, the church must determine how Jesus’ teaching addresses questions relevant to their own particular context. This may include, say, questions like how weddings and funerals should be conducted, whether or not it is appropriate to practise various rites related to ancestor veneration, and what to do about community festivals which involve non-Christian religious elements.

It’s complicated. Nobody will argue that fact. What are the differences, say, between ‘contextualisation’ (adapting to the context) and ‘syncretisation’ (inappropriately incorporating elements of previous religions)?

Yet this is the task of ‘discipling the nations’. It won’t fall into place overnight. The messenger brings the gospel, baptises and teaches Biblical truths, but it will take time – perhaps even generations – before Christianity becomes part of the warp and weft of a nation.

Three more principles

As nations are discipled, Professor Andrew Walls suggested that three further principles become evident. The indigenising principle refers to the way that the gospel becomes ‘at home’ in its new context. The pilgrim principle, in contrast, refers to the way that followers of Jesus are ‘just passing through’ and ultimately belong to a heavenly kingdom. Finally, the universalising principle speaks of how, as God’s people, we are all grafted into the ‘olive tree’ (Romans 11:17) and share a common root.

Ultimately, we want communities of God’s people around the world and throughout the ages living out their faith in ways relevant to their time and place. Christian faith should become part of their culture (indigenising principle) even though Christians are ‘in the world but not of the world’ (pilgrim principle). We need to develop our own theologies that answer burning questions in each culture, including, perhaps, a ‘theology of ancestors’, ‘liberation theology’ or even a ‘theology of periods’ (yes – there is such a thing!).

Differences in worldview are even evident between different generations within the one culture. In the USA, at least, and probably in my context too, it is said that older people (‘Boomers’) want to know ‘What is true?’. They like facts and figures. People of my generation (‘Generation X’), however, want to know ‘What is real?’ We like true stories of authentic people. ‘Millenials’ want to know ‘What is good?’ They want to change the world. Meanwhile, the upcoming ‘Generation Z’ want to know ‘What is beautiful?’ I heard this breakdown of generational ‘Gateway Questions’ presented at a conference recently, but you can read more about it here.

And so….

In summary, the gospel should transform each culture it enters. It should answer the questions people in that culture are asking. It will look quite different at different times and in different places, but the core will remain constant. As such, we all belong to a global community of God’s people, people who come with our own distinct cultures and languages but who are one even and especially in our diverse expressions of faith in Jesus. That’s what Professor Walls called ‘the universalising principle’.

This is the outcome of Christians through the ages obeying Jesus’ command to ‘Go and make disciples of all nations.’