22. JESUS APPEARS TO THE ELEVEN AND GIVES THE GREAT Mark 16:14-18 (Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-23) 14 And afterward he was manifested unto the eleven themselves as they sat at meat;-Mark in his narrative traces the way by which our Lord brought evidence of his resurrection to the apostles. First by Mary Magdalene. Matthew notices also by the other women. After this by two disciples, possibly of the seventy. Afterward he appeared to the eleven apostles. Judas had hanged himself, leaving only eleven apostles. The women who showed such devotion at the cross and grave are honored with his first appearances. But the apostles who had failed to show such devotion are favored last. Doubtless Jesus, too, intended to show them the importance of believing upon evidence. and he upbraided them with their unbelief--Chided---probably rebuked them sharply for their lack of faith regarding his resurrection in the face of so much evidence. and hardness of heart,--That perversity of heart attending unbelief. because they believed not them that had seen him after he was risen.--Mark has thus far mentioned only such testimony to the resurrection as had been discredited by his disciples, and it is true that to the extent of this testimony "they believed not them that had seen him after he was risen." 15 And he said unto them, Go ye--Here Jesus begins giving the Apostolic Commission, or, Great Commission, as it is often called. This was given on the day Jesus ascended to heaven. It is called a commission, and properly so, because it committed to the apostles what they had not before received, the authority to preach the gospel, and to publish the conditions of salvation. Up to this time Jesus had forbidden them even to tell any man that Jesus was the Christ. (Matthew 16:20; Matthew 17:9.) But now their lips are unsealed with only one limitation, namely, that they are to wait in Jerusalem until they are "clothed with power from on high." (Luke 24:47-49; Acts 1:7-8.) They were to go; not to wait for an invitation. into all the world,--Not only the land of Israel, but every part of the inhabited earth. A world-wide commission. and preach-- Proclaim --make known--offer pardon and eternal life to the race on the terms of salvation offered by Christ. the gospel--The good news. The glad tidings of joy. The assurance that Christ has come, and that sin may be forgiven, and the soul saved. The gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. By it we are saved. (1 Corinthians 16:1-6.) It is God's power to salvation. (Romans 1:16..) to the whole creation.--To every creature. That is, to every responsible human being. Christ commands his disciples to offer salvation to all men. If they reject it, it is at their peril. God is not to be blamed if they do not choose to be saved. His mercy is manifest; his love boundless; grace is free to all. The gospel message is limited to man. As man receives the gospel he is raised and elevated by it, and in turn he improves and elevates the lower animal. We find better horses, cattle and stock of all kinds in Christian lands than we do in heathen lands. This is the result of the influence of the gospel on man. As the gospel elevates him, he elevates the lower animal. This commission is backed up by all authority in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18-19.) 16 He that believeth--That is, he that believeth the gospel. (Verse 15.) It was to be preached in order that it might be believed. He that credits it to be true, and acts accordingly. and is baptized--The preaching of the gospel imposes duties and responsibilities upon those who hear it. Here it imposes faith and baptism. Water baptism is a command, not a promise. Holy Spirit bptism is a promise, not a command. We obey commands and enjoy promises. Baptism in the commission is an act of obedience performed by the believer, and therefore it is a command. This being true, and since baptism of the Holy Spirit is always a promise and never a command, therefore the baptism of the commission is not Spirit baptism. Water baptism is a burial. "We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death." (Romans 6:4). "Having been buried with him in baptism." (Col. Z:12.) shall be saved;--From past sins and their consequences. Salvation has both its negative and its positive side, freedom from sin and conformity to Christ. "Shall be saved" is equal to "unto the remission of your sins" in Acts 2:38, and "wash away thy sins," Acts 22:16. It is the new birth of John 3 5: "Except one he horn of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." If baptism and the new birth is not one and the same, then one can he saved without the new birth for Jesus said: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.---The term "condemned" has no more reference to the eternal state than the term "saved" in the preceding clause. They both have primary reference to the present state, and the former is the exact counterpart of the latter. Condemnation already rests on those who believe not (John 3:18), but the apostles are here told that it shall especially rest on those who hear the gospel and believe it not. It rests on them now, and it must, of course, rest on them forever unless, at some subsequent period of life, they shall become believers. In this way the state of condemnation which now exists will reach forward into eternity, unless its cause be removed, in like manner as the state of salvation enjoyed by the baptized believer will reach into eternity, unless it be forfeited by subsequent apostasy. It has frequently been observed that though Jesus says: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," he does not, in stating the ground of condemnation, mention the failure to be baptized as part of it, but simply says: "He that disbelieveth shall be condemned." From this it is again inferred that baptism is not one of the conditions of pardon. But the conclusion does not follow for the fact that baptism is not mentioned in stating who shall be condemned can never remove it from the place it occupies in stating who shall be saved. Suppose a governor of a state should say to the convicted thieves in the penitentiary, "He that pledges himself to be honest and will restore what he has stolen shall be pardoned, but he that will not make this pledge shall serve out his time in prison," none but a crazy thief could think that because restitution is not mentioned in the latter instance he would be pardoned without making restitution. Equally unreasonable is the conclusion in question. Equally true that there is not a man in the penitentiary who would expect pardon without the restitution required. The leading thought in the commission is to state the ground on which men would be saved, and not that on which they would be condemned. The apostles were to be concerned with saving men, not with condemning them; consequently, Jesus tells them in detail on what ground they are promised salvation; but as condemnation is his own work, not theirs, he speaks of that comprehensively by naming the one sin of unbelief which renders all acceptable obedience impossible, and is the chief cause of all condemnation. He that believeth not is already judged or condemned. (John 3:18.) One does not have to refuse to be baptized to be condemned --unbelief damns him before his refusal to be baptized. Unbelief will damn the world. A man should come to the commission, then, not to learn how he may be damned, but how he may be saved;and this it teaches him right plainly. The assertion, "He that disbelieveth shall be condemned," implies that all who hear can believe--that no innate or acquired incredulity can justify unbelief of the gospel. This is asserting the highest possible claim in behalf of the evidences of Christianity, and he who makes the claim is he who will judge the world at the last day. If, in the face of this declaration, any man will venture to the judgment in unbelief, alleging that the evidence is not sufficient for him, he must settle the issue with Jesus himself. A responsible baptized unbeliever is under the same condemnation with the unbeliever. Hence, the unbeliever is condemned baptized or unbaptized. Baptism without faith will profit no one. "Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway from the water." (Matthew 3:16.) "Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in the Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water." (Mark 1:9.) Jesus is our model, and we ought to follow him in all things. 17-18 For a full discussion of these verses see appendix at the end of the Book Notes for Mark.