Does Christ’s GREAT COMMISSION Only Apply to Jewish Believers?
Published: 5th August 2025
There’s a popular teaching going around the Evangelical community that claims the Great Commission is only for Jewish believers and that Gentile believers are only obligated to fulfill what they call Paul’s commission. What does the Bible say?
Let’s start with defining Jesus Christ’s “great commission” from the Scriptures. Here it is from the Gospel of Matthew:
16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:16-20
If the Great Commission only applies to “Israel’s apostles” and only to the Jewish people they were commissioned to reach, why did the Lord instruct in verse 19: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations”? The Greek word for “nations” is ethnos, which means all ethnicities/peoples, not just people of Hebraic descent. Christ goes on to instruct in the next verse: “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” He was talking to the original disciples who very soon became apostles and instructs them to teach “all nations”—all ethnicities around the globe—to “obey everything” he commanded them.
It is true that these eleven disciples he was addressing were of Jewish heritage, so what? Led of the Spirit, Paul later pointed out:
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
Also see Romans 10:12.
Now let’s consider several other arguments from this flawed perspective and compare them to what the rightly-divided Scriptures say. All of these dubious arguments (in red italics) appear on a meme that’s going around:
‘The four gospels don’t apply to Gentile believers, only Paul’s epistles from Romans-Philemon’
The Lord plainly instructed his disciples (who, again, became the apostles):
“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached”
This clearly shows that the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:6) started with the ministry of John the Baptist.
Speaking of which, the people who embrace this false doctrine basically teach that there are two new covenants, one for Jewish people and another for Gentiles. But…
- There aren’t two new covenants, just one.
- There aren’t two gospels; just one.
- There aren’t two Great Commissions; just one.
The eleven apostles simply focused on reaching the Hebrews whereas Paul focused on reaching the Gentiles (Galatians 2:8 – 2:9). They had to adjust their approach accordingly, which explains Paul’s statement: “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law” (1 Corinthians 9:19-21).
What is “Christ’s law”? It’s the law of love, which the Lord plainly taught in Matthew 22:37-40; and Paul likewise preached (Galatians 6:2), nicely summing it up as: “Whoever loves others has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).
Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 9 shows that he didn’t exclusively reach and minister to Gentiles since there were Hebrews practically everywhere he traveled, which explains what he told the Ephesian elders: “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks [Gentiles] that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:21). Notice that he didn’t preach one gospel to the Jews and a different gospel to the Gentiles. Also notice that, whether a person is a Jew or a Gentile, turning to God through the gospel is a matter of repentance and faith, which go hand-and-hand, as Jesus taught (Mark 1:15). This explains why repentance and faith are the first two basic doctrines of Christianity, as revealed in Hebrews 6:1-2. They’re two sides of the same coin because, if you believe something (that is, have faith), you’ll change your thinking accordingly — that is, repent — which naturally has an effect on your actions or lifestyle.
One last thing on this topic, if Paul taught a different gospel from the one James, Peter and John taught, why were some Gentile believers in Corinth — an assembly that Paul pioneered — saying “I follow Cephas” (i.e. Peter) and “I follow Apollos,” as observed in 1 Corinthians 1:12-13? Keep in mind that Peter and Apollos were commissioned to focus on reaching the Jewish people (Galatians 2:8 – 2:9).
Similarly, why were there believers in Peter’s audience who also received from Paul’s epistles, as observed in 2 Peter 3:16? This shows that Paul and Peter (as well as James, John and Apollos) all taught the same gospel of Christ. They just acclimated the Christian message in relation to the people they were assigned to reach, whether Gentile or Jew. You’ll see this in the modern day: One minister will be commissioned to reach the general demographic of a certain area whereas another minister will focus on reaching minorities in the inner city; one minister will acclimate the gospel to reach simple rural folks while another will adjust it to serve educated metropolitan people. It’s the same message of Christ, just tweaked to effectively reach the people in question.
‘Paul said “Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel” so Gentile believers don’t have to baptize believers as Christ instructed in Matthew 28:19‘
This argument fails to acknowledge the previous three verses of 1 Corinthians 1:17 where Paul noted that he baptized Crispus, Gaius and the household of Stephanas (1 Corinthians 1:14-16). The other people in Corinth who believed the gospel were simply water baptized by other believers. Paul’s focus at the time — his mission — was to plant assemblies across the landscape by preaching the gospel of Christ, teach the believers the basics, and move on to start additional assemblies.
Keep in mind that the Church fulfills the Great Commission in a collective sense, which is why Paul said, “When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation” (1 Corinthians 14:26). Likewise, he elsewhere taught…
6We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Romans 12:6-8
In short, Christianity is not a matter of one person doing everything, but rather all believers fulfilling their particular assignment, small or great.
‘Paul’s commission doesn’t include signs and wonders, like Christ’s Great Commission’
This implies that Paul’s ministry didn’t include signs and wonders, yet he plainly said to the Corinthian believers: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4). And, later: “I persevered in demonstrating among you [Gentiles] the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles” (2 Corinthians 12:12).
This is not to suggest that all genuine believers in the worldwide Church — including fivefold ministers — are going to believe in or flow in the gifts of the Spirit, as explained here.
‘Christ’s last words to the Church were from Heaven to Paul, not the Great Commission’
Actually, Jesus addressed the seven churches in Asia (Turkey today) in the final New Testament book, which we known as Revelation, given to John via Christ around 95 AD (some 28 years after Paul’s last epistle of the New Testament). These seven assemblies were made up mostly of Gentiles, but not exclusively since there were Jews in each of them. In Revelation 2-3, the Lord addresses all of these churches as seven units of believers wherein he doesn’t once change his message corresponding to whether the believers were Jew or Gentile. Chew on that.
‘Paul’s commission is to “rightly divide the word of truth” and “preach the word” (2 Timothy 2:15; 4:2)’
Contextually, this was Paul’s instructions to his protégé Timothy corresponding to the young man’s duties as a pastor in Ephesus, although they apply to all believers in a general sense. Such instructions are not a separate commission, but rather part of Christ’s Great Commission, specifically:
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
All believers are called to fulfill this commission, whether Jew or Gentile.
Related Topics:
Are Believers Only to Receive From THE EPISTLES OF PAUL?
Did PAUL’S MESSAGE Contradict Jesus & James’ Gospel?
When Did THE NEW TESTAMENT Start? When Did THE CHURCH Begin?
What Is THE BEREAN SPIRIT? How Do You Cultivate It?