Jesus said, go into all nations evangelizing them and
bringing them to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Spirit.
Actually the word used by Matthew,
when writing what Jesus said, was the Koine Greek word mathēteuō. This word is a verb and its etymological root
word is mathētēs, which means
(a) disciple. The verb, as all verbs do, denotes action, which in this case is
the teaching or instruction of another who is to be the “disciple.” So, what
does any of that have to do with the great commission? Follow this to the end
and it will be clear.
Jesus made his disciples simply by
saying, “follow me.” Those to whom Jesus spoke agreed to be his disciples by
following him. Their great statements of faith did not come until later. Their
baptism was more than likely before their commitment to follow Jesus (Acts
1:21-22). Their union with the Soul of God (Holy Spirit) was after their
discipleship from Jesus had ended. So, what is discipleship?

The point being, that the hearers
of “go make disciples of all nations” would not have taken that as “go get
people to follow me (Jesus).” They would have understood that as, you are now
trained as Rabbis go and call others to follow you in order to train them, and
baptize them in the name of Father, Me, and The Great Soul Connecting Us. (The
baptism was more of the conversion or declaration of faith.)
Today we keep calling people to
follow Jesus, yet where is the discipleship? Where are the trained, training
others; follow me as I follow Christ? Telling people to read their Bibles, be a
part of a local church, pray as much as you can, and listen to your pastor; is
not discipleship. Our call to discipleship does not necessarily mean we must
quit our job or sell our business, but it has to be far more involved in the
re-training of people’s minds than the one to three group meetings a week
allows for.