Chapter 28 – One God Translation

Matthew

   28 After the Sabbath,[226] as dawn broke on Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. 2 There was a tremendous earthquake, and an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and rolled away the stone and sat on it. 3 His face blazed like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear, stunned as if they were dead. 5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, because he has been raised,[227] just as he said. Come and see where he was lying. 7 Now go quickly and tell his disciples that he has been raised from the dead and he is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, I assure you.”
    8 They left the tomb quickly, with fear and great joy, running to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and greeted them. They went over to him, took hold of his feet and bowed before him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid! Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
    11 As they left, some of the guards came into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 After the chief priests had met with the elders and worked out a plan, they gave a lot of money to the soldiers. 13 “Tell people, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping,’” they said to them. 14 “And if the governor hears this, we will talk to him and you will not have to worry.” 15 So they took the money and did what they were told, and this story was widely spread among the Jewish people right up to this day.
    16 The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had told them. 17 When they saw him they bowed down, though some doubted. 18 Jesus came up to them and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 So go and make disciples of people of all nations, baptizing[228] them into the agenda and character[229] of the Father and the Son and the holy spirit. 20 Teach them to follow all the commands I have given you.[230] Remember, I am always with you, to the end of the age.”[231]

Matthew

[226]

The word in Greek is singular in meaning, though plural in form. The singular meaning with plural form is found often in Scripture and is easily explained on the basis of an Aramaic form sabbata.

[227]

The Greek word means “he has been woken up” (by God), reminding us of the common biblical idea that death is like an unconscious sleep, hence the term “sleep of the dead” in Ps. 13:3 (see Ecc. 9:5, 10; Dan. 12:2; Jn. 11:11, 14). The term “soul sleep” has no identifiable meaning in terms of Scripture, since “soul” in the Bible means “person.” Persons sleep in death. Soul never means an immortal part of man which cannot die. The only way out of death for any human person is via resurrection of the whole person. Dan. 12:2 is one of many definitive and decisive verses on this point.

[228]

Water baptism is commanded throughout the NT (Jn. 4:1-2; Acts 2:38; 8:12; 10:47-48; 16:33; 19:5). It is the non-negotiable public declaration of one’s intention to become a member of the Church.

[229]

The equivalent in our English of “name.” This is not a fixed verbal formula and is therefore not in any way a contradiction of the practice in Acts of baptizing “in the name of Jesus.” Only when the phrase is woodenly forced into being a precise “formula of words” is a contradiction unnecessarily created. The linking of Father, Son and holy spirit in no way implies a triune God. 2 Cor. 13:14 links God, Jesus and holy spirit in the same way.

[230]

The chief of all commands is “Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord” (Mk. 12:29), in total agreement with Deut. 6:4, the Shema, and with a Jewish scribe. Trinitarianism is a post-biblical alteration of Jesus’ creed and redefines God.

[231]

That is, until the return of Christ at his future one Second Coming, the Parousia, which will follow the cosmic signs which immediately follow (24:29) the future Great Tribulation (Dan. 12:1; Mt. 24:21). The Great Commission, the essence of Christianity, involves “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5; 16:26; Heb. 5:9), that is, obedience to all the words of Jesus (Jn. 12:44-50; and the subsequent words revealed to Paul and other Apostles). Included in obedience to Jesus is of course his command that we “Listen…the Lord our God is one Lord” (Mk. 12:29), and that we respond intelligently and with repentance to his opening command that we “believe the Gospel of the Kingdom” (Mk. 1:14-15). When Jesus comes, the saints of all the ages will be caught up to meet Jesus in the air and from there escort him to the earth to which he is returning to rule on the throne of David in Jerusalem. There is no such event as a so-called pre-Tribulation coming of Jesus. There is only one single future Second Coming of the Messiah. By one single process, all true believers will be enabled to be “with the lord” (1 Thess. 4:17) — “thus,” and by no other means. Until the Second Coming at the end of the age, the Church is to be urgently occupied with the Great Commission. The “end of the age” in Matthew occurs five times (13:39, 40, 49; 24:3 and here). It is positively never a reference to AD 70! It marks the same future event, the return of Jesus to rule on earth in his Kingdom, in each case.