The Greatness of the Great Commission: The Christian Enterprise in a Fallen World [Paperback]

Kenneth L. Gentry (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Inst for Christian Economics; Revised edition (November 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0930464486
• ISBN-13: 978-0930464486
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,224,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars A paradigm shift for Christians, December 16, 2011

By 

Jordan Dayoub (Los Angeles, Ca) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Greatness of the Great Commission: The Christian Enterprise in a Fallen World (Paperback)

Reading this book radically changed my view of evangelism and the responsibility of the Church and the individual believer to faithfully obey Christ's marching orders to disciple the nations. The greatness of the Great Commission has been underscored, unrecognized, or just plain neglected in contemporary Christianity due to the failure to realize its cosmic importance. The reasons for this are many, but Gentry's thesis is that the Great Commission truly is great because it fits the criteria for a covenant and is indeed a covenantal declaration and command Christ is making to disciple ALL the nations, not only to His disciples but with all future generations of disciples. As a covenant it displays the five-point structure of the biblical covenant model.

The author gives a helpful acronym to paint this canvas: T-H-E-O-S (the Greek word for God), and systematically elucidates the the Great Commission's implications for each.

T - Transcendent sovereignty. Christ gives the Commission from a mountain setting, an environment so characteristic of exaltedness in Scripture. "The eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated" (Matt. 28:16).

H - Hierarchical authority. From the mountain top Christ declares all authority in heaven and earth is His. He then commissions His followers to make His authority known and felt throughout the earth. "And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him.... And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations'" (Matt. 28:17a, 18-19a).

E - Ethical stipulations. Those who are bound to Him in baptism are to learn and obey the stipulations of their sovereign, Christ Jesus. "Make disciples of all the nations.... Teach them to observe all that I commanded you" (Matt. 28: 19a, 20a).

O - Oath commitment. Those to be brought under the gracious sway of Christ's authority should be baptized in His Name, as a pledge of covenantal allegiance to Him. "[Baptize] them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 28: 19b).

S - Succession arrangements. Christ establishes His commission for the extension of His authority through space ("all nations," Matt. 28: 19b) and through time ("And, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age," Matt. 28:20b).

The Great Commission is also great because it is the New Covenant's dominion mandate and parallels the first dominion mandate given by the Father through Adam in Genesis to go into all Creation and subdue it and have dominion and rule as God's representative on earth. Gentry shows covenantal continuity by this and demonstrates biblically that just as the human race's federal head, Adam (and his descendants) covered the earth successfully and brought all creation under God's rule representatively, so too the Christian's federal head, Christ the last Adam, who has theoretically subdued all Creation, calls us in the Great Commission to go and make his power and dominion over the earth known and felt through the proclamation of His gospel and discipleship of all the nations into Christian nations.

This book should serve as an introduction to a new way of thinking, a paradigm shift for the pessimistic, defeatist, or just plain lazy Christian who looks at the world around him and says, "Why bother?" Christ is reigning in heaven over the earth NOW, and it is now in time and history that he will win the victory over all who refuse to bow the knee, not with carnal weapons but the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

There is Greatness in the Great Commission because it is not a suggestion but a command from the sovereign Lord of the universe who has "All power in heaven and in earth" to courageously move upon the nations and successfully disciple them with the knowledge that Christ will be with us in this endeavor and cause the knowledge of the Lord to cover the earth as waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14; Is. 11:9).