This church based mythological teaching is so far reaching and so firmly established in modern times that simply mentioning the phrase, The Great Commission, immediately focuses the thoughts of almost everyone who reads it. Most people can readily tell you what The Great Commission entails. And yet, this phrase in not found in the Bible. The only time that the New Covenant Scriptures use the word “commission” is when Paul was recounting his conversion to the Faith to King Agrippa. He told him that he was on his persecuting mission, with the “authority and commission of the chief priests”, when Jesus met him and converted him.
The so-called Great Commission first received this designation around the mid-17th century and was not popularized until late in 19th century. Statistically and conservatively speaking, currently there are approximately 5000 organizations that function under The Great Commission as their sole purpose. Additionally, there are approximately 9500 denominations that function under The Great Commission as a primary objective. Of the approximately 4.5 million people in those two groups, a little over 1 million are actively participating in upholding The Great Commission. As you can see, these are all significantly large numbers.
How do they understand The Great Commission? Generally, they teach that after Jesus rose from the dead He met more than 500 brethren on a mountain in Galilee. At that time He commissioned them to take the gospel to all the world and to make disciples of all people teaching them to observe everything that He had instructed His followers, and that they were to persist in the mission in fellowship with Him until the end of the world. In order to attain the goal “until the end”, it is inferred that the commission is a mandate of perpetuity, being passed from generation to generation. All of this is in order that the world believe in Jesus and be saved from their sins. Thus, The Great Commission is seen as the perpetual heart and thrust of the Gospel. This understanding of the event as recorded only by Matthew is actually a fundamental misunderstanding of what occurred and of what Jesus said.
What happened and what did Jesus command? After Jesus rose from the dead, His eleven disciples, whom He had designated as His apostles, went to Galilee to the mountain where He told them they would see Him. He met them and they saw Him and worshiped Him. He then told them that they were to go and make disciples of all nations according to all of His instructions to them. He assured them that He would be with them exercising His authority until the very end or completion of the Age of the Law of Moses. This was the scope and terminus of His commands to them. Jesus had taught His hearers, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.” He taught that He was fulfilling and would fulfill all of the Law and the Prophets in Himself. He taught that He would, within the lifetime of His hearers, bring to fruition the Kingdom of God in power and glory. He taught to those who heard Him that He would gather God’s chosen from the four corners of the earth to recline with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of God. His eleven disciples were with Him as His disciples while He taught these truths. He also elaborated with them more deeply on other occasions. Matthew makes clear that there were only eleven disciples present with Jesus on the mountain in Galilee. It is likewise very plain, that they were those only to whom He spoke these words.
What do we know about the outcome among them? We only have hard evidence witness regarding three of the eleven. Additionally, we have Luke's history of the Apostles (Acts). Although Luke was not an apostle of Jesus and was not among the eleven, what he said in his history throws great light upon the outcome of Jesus' commands to the eleven. Matthew wrote the narrative that has been rightly attributed to him by the church world; known as the Gospel of Matthew. Andrew wrote the narrative that has been wrongly attributed to John Mark by the church world; known as the Gospel of Mark. John wrote one narrative; known as the Gospel of John, three letters, and was the secretary of Jesus for The Revelation. Matthew is the most acutely relative to Jesus' commands. He wrote directly to the Jews. His narrative deals more with the Law of Moses than does Andrew's or John's. In fact, it is in Matthew that this all encompassing statement of Jesus is found: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." This command, in the very nature of the case, was only applicable to Israel. Jesus declared, He taught without being prompted by anyone, that the Law of Moses would remain in full force until heaven and earth passed away. In another place in Matthew He rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocrisy in disobeying the weightier matters of the Law of Moses. He said, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!" Here Jesus taught the ongoing and far reaching authority of the Law of Moses over Israel, which required obedience. Andrew's narrative was written to Rome and handles the Law of Moses in historical context.
In Luke, compliance with the Law of Moses among Jewish believers in Jesus is shown in positive light. He reported, "And after we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly. And the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. And after he had greeted them, he began to relate one by one the things which God did among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it they began glorifying God; and they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed, and they are all zealous for the Law." Here you have thousands of Jewish believers in Jesus who are all zealous for the Law of Moses. But that was not all Luke said. Immediately, he added, "and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. What, then, is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Therefore do this that we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; take them and purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads. Then all will know that there is nothing to the things which they have been told about you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Law ... Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them." Compliance with the Mosaic Law was effective even in the life of the Jewish apostle to the gentiles, Paul. When Luke reported the conversion of Paul he said, "Now a certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing near, said to me, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ And at that very hour I regained my sight and saw him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. Now why do you delay? Rise up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’" The Jewish believer in Jesus, Ananias, was sent by God to Paul (at that time known as Saul) to instruct him in Jesus. Ananias was devout by the standard of the Law of Moses!
John's narrative was actually a polemic against Gnosticism and was, like Andrew's, set in historical context. His letters were all of gentile focus. The Revelation of Jesus had as its initial target audience "seven" assemblies in gentile Asia Minor. It stands alone among all Biblical writings. It was about the end of the domain of darkness, and all that entailed, and the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.
That is all of the evidence we have. Anything and everything else regarding their writing is conjecture, church tradition, and myth. I confidently say that the other eight disciples obeyed Jesus and carried out His instruction to see the ministry of the Spirit fulfilled in the last days of the Law of Moses ushering in the fullness of the Kingdom of God. Jesus' commandments and assurance to the eleven carried at its end the terminus of the mission. He said, "Behold, I am with you all the days until the completion (consummation) of the Age (of the Law)."
This is the so-called Great Commission properly interpreted.