04/29/20 THE GREAT COMMISSION (Mat. 28:18-20) #3—“GO!” Such a simple command. ALL the experts in the ancient biblical languages translate it that way. So, why do so many pastors say that it actually says, “As you’re going”? I know none of you aspires to become an expert in ancient Greek, but please indulge me briefly.

By putting endings on root words, NT Greek can make just about any word into any part of speech. That’s how we know that the main verb is “Make disciples”; it’s the only verb in that sentence in the imperative voice. The other three verbs—“Go,” “baptizing,” and “teaching”—are participles. If they were English participles, they would all 3 end in “-ing.” But they’re in Greek, NOT English. A grammar rule in NT Greek is that participles that modify a command themselves become commands. Also, word order in NT Greek is unimportant, for the most part. The endings on the words tell us the subject, main verb, object, etc.

In NT Greek the main reason for altering normal word order is for EMPHASIS. I’m pretty sure that “Go” is first because that’s the all-important FIRST STEP in our #1 Task: Making Disciples. AND, from Eden to Babel, to Egypt, to the early disciples, it seems that God’s people have always had trouble taking that very first step in the process. So, all together now, “Ready, Set, GO!”