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How Did the Apostles Interpret the Great Commission?

The apostles were directly taught by Jesus, so they would have interpreted the Great Commission more accurately than we might do. Notice how they interpreted it:
If the Great Commission involves preaching the Gospel, healing the sick, casting out demons, speaking in tongues, and demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit, then we should expect to see all of these things happening after the cross, right? In fact, that's exactly what the New Testament describes! The apostles interpreted the Great Commission to mean that Christians should preach the Gospel and set the captives free, just as Jesus did. This is why throughout the book of Acts we find numerous examples of the Gospel being preached, people being healed, spirits being cast out, tongues being spoken, and the power of the Holy Spirit being demonstrated, just as the Great Commission says to do.

The apostles and early Christians were continuing Jesus' evangelism and healing ministry until He returns, which is what Jesus commissioned the Church to do. Jesus has not returned yet, so we should be continuing His evangelism and healing ministry as well!

 

I agree...through His church/body...us!

 

Some of the healings in the New Testament were done by ordinary disciples, demonstrating that the mission of the New Testament Church extends to all of Jesus' disciples, including us modern Christians. For example, in Acts 6:2-5, 8:1, 4-5 the Bible indicates that Philip was not an apostle, he was an ordinary Christian just like you and me. Yet Acts 8:6-7 says that Philip preached the Good News, healed the sick, and cast out demons, which means that he was continuing Jesus' evangelism and healing ministry in obedience to the Great Commission:

Acts 8:6-7: "When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said. With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed."
Evangelism, healing, and deliverance were never meant to be just for the apostles.

 

I could tell you story after story but I can not help your unbelief...


If we need to see proof of miraculous healings in order to believe that healing is for today, then we would be basing our views on experience rather than basing our views on Scripture.

I believe I am saved before I experience any fruits of my salvation...
Faith is believing before you see, right?

 

Acts 9:10-18 tells us that Ananias was not an apostle, he was an ordinary Christian just like you and me, yet he healed the apostle Paul. This means that an apostle was healed through a non-apostle!

Acts 9:10-18: "In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, "Ananias!" "Yes, Lord," he answered. The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul [i.e. the apostle Paul], for he is praying." ... Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord--Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here--has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again."

Again....Healing the sick was never meant to be just for the apostles.

 

Where did this idea of cessation of the gifts arise? Could this theory come from Calvin, Luther, and Zwingle?

"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are sprititually discerned"

 

In Mark 9:38-40, the apostles were upset because they saw a man who was not an apostle casting out demons in Jesus' Name. Jesus told them not to stop anyone from doing miracles in His Name:

Mark 9:38-40: ""Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.""

You still think it was just for the apostles?

 

This you have not shown in scripture...that the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are over! The Holy Spirit is still here and the church age is still here!
Are the saints mature yet? Have we arrived? Because the way I understand scripture is the that these gifts will be here until the perfecting of the saints and the unity of the body.

 

Are we not to obey the comission too? Don't we have authority to?

One of the definitions of "authority" is:

"2. a power or right delegated or given; authorization" (Dictionary.com )
Notice that the Jewish chief priests sent out Saul (later to be known as the apostle Paul) to arrest Christians, so Saul was acting on their authority:

Acts 26:10: "And that is just what I [Saul] did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them."

Saul wasn't acting in his own authority, but instead he was acting in the authority of a higher power (the chief priests) who had sent him on a mission.

When Jesus sent out the twelve apostles to operate in His ministry of preaching the Gospel and healing the sick, He delegated to them the power and authority that they needed (Luke 9:1). Therefore, they were operating in His authority. When He sent out the 72 believers to operate in His ministry of preaching the Gospel and healing the sick, He delegated to them the task of healing the sick and said that He had given them authority over the enemy (Luke 10:1-3, 9, 19). Therefore, they were operating in His authority. When He sent out the Church to operate in His ministry of preaching the Gospel and healing the sick, He was delegating to us these tasks (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18). Therefore, we do these things in His authority:

Luke 9:1: "When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases,"

Luke 10:1: "After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go."

Luke 10:2: "He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Luke 10:3: "Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves." ...

Luke 10:9: "Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.'" ...

Luke 10:19: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you."

Matthew 28:18: "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

Matthew 28:19: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,"
Matthew 28:20: "and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.""

Mark 16:15: "He [Jesus] said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."
Mark 16:16: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."
Mark 16:17: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;"
Mark 16:18: "they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.""

When we heal the sick and cast out demons, we're not acting in our own authority, but instead we're acting in the authority of a higher power (Jesus) who sent us out to do these things.

Here's another way to look at it. One of the definitions of "in the name of" is:
"b. by the authority of" (Dictionary.com )
When we're operating in Jesus' evangelism and healing ministry (which He delegated to us) then we're acting "in His Name," which means that we're acting in His authority:

Acts 3:6: "Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."" ...
Acts 4:6: "Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest's family."
Acts 4:7: "They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name [authority] did you do this?""

So when we're sent out by a higher power to do something, and we do it "in the name of" that higher power, this means that we're doing it in the authority of that higher power. For example, when a police officer says, "Stop in the name of the law," he has the full authority of the government backing him up. Since Jesus commissioned us to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons, we do these things in His authority. When we do these things "in His Name," this means that we have His full authority backing us up.

 

Again..isn't faith believing before we see?
How would you like me to show you?

 

Paul was highly intelligent and highly educated (see Acts 22:2-3 and Galatians 1:13-14, for example), and he received amazing revelations directly from Christ (Galatians 1:11-12). If anyone could win people to Christ through wise and persuasive words, Paul certainly could have done so! But he didn't. If the great apostle Paul did not rely on "witnessing" (as we call it) but instead he demonstrated the power of the Holy Spirit to win people to Christ, then are we really going to be as effective as possible with nothing but words? While it's true that many people are being saved through witnessing, just think of the multiplied millions of people who would escape torment in hell if every Christian would begin demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit every day in malls, supermarkets, gas stations, airports, and wherever we happen to be, just like Paul did!

 

I myself have never demanded a sign. Everything I have come to in the Bible...I hear and then believe.

When one person is miraculously healed, it can bring numerous people to Christ. For example, when Peter and John healed the lame man, the Bible says that "all the people were astonished and came running to them" (Acts 3:11), and many people were saved (Acts 4:4). When Philip (who was not an apostle) healed people and cast out demons, the crowd of people listened closely to what he said, and all the people, both high and low, were saved and baptized (Acts 8:5-12). When Peter healed a paralyzed man, all those who lived in Lydda and Sharon turned to the Lord (Acts 9:33-35). When Peter raised Tabitha from the dead, this became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord (Acts 9:36-42). When Paul and Barnabas healed a lame man, the crowd thought that they were gods and wanted to offer sacrifices to them (Acts 14:8-13). When you do the supernatural in the course of your everyday life, it will get people's attention and many people will be saved!

Jesus told the apostles that they would be His witnesses (Acts 1:8), but notice that their "witnessing" included doing miracles of healing

 

Notice that even Jesus didn't rely on "witnessing" to convince people. He repeatedly told people that if they didn't believe His words then they should believe because of His miracles:

John 10:25: "Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me""

John 10:37-38: "Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father."

John 12:37: "Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him."

John 14:11: "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."

Are we better at sharing the Gospel than Jesus was? Obviously not! Jesus and the apostles didn't rely on "witnessing," but instead they used healing miracles to convince people and to save them from torment in hell. Jesus also commissioned us to use healing miracles to help save the lost!