THE GREAT COMMISSION :
Only the Apostles Were Commissioned
to Carry Out Baptisms and Miracles!

THE GREAT COMMISSION:

ONLY THE APOSTLES WERE

COMISSIONED TO CARRY OUT

BAPTISM, AND MIRACLES!

JAN LILLEBY

 ​​​​ As a ‘Follow Up’ to my recent article​​ ‘The Death of All Ordinances – Paul”, I found it convenient to stop by an often overlooked Bible truth:​​ That of baptism…​​ as something which was​​ only commissioned to the Apostles,​​ and none others!

Reading Acts, we cannot find one single incident where baptism was ministered by a regular church member. It was always one (or more) of the apostles, or ministers ordained by them (such as Stephen and Philip)​​ who baptized the Messianic believers in Acts.

We cannot ever find that the Lord bade regular believers to go baptizing​​ new converts.​​ 

And since all of the apostles passed away within the first century, there is no one to follow the ‘Great Commission’ since that time in Bible history.

Mat. 28:18-20, NASB,

18​​ And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.​​ 

19​​ "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,​​ 

20​​ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always , even to the end of the age."

​​ No wonder then, why Paul told the Ephesians in his epistle to them, that from now on (63-64 CE) there is but ONE baptism. Namely that of the baptism into the death of Jesus Christ, likened with a circumcision made without hands – but rather, made by God. Eph. 4:5; Col. 2:11, 12.

I pointed to ALL of the four Gospels regarding the Great Commission, if you check my article mentioned above.

For in Matthew we find no miracles or tongues, etcetera. But in Mark 16 we have those things, the sign gifts given to the apostles. And of course, - the baptism in water.

Mark 16:15-20, NASB,

15​​ And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.​​ 

16​​ "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.​​ 

17​​ "These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;​​ 

18​​ they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover ."​​ 

19​​ So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.​​ 

20​​ And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.] [And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his​​ companions. And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. ]​​ 

The​​ ‘Great Commission’​​ does not fully find the correct understanding if we only read Mat. 28. We must read all the historic Gospels.

Where in the entire New Testament can one find a word from the Lord, that  ​​​​ # 1 – Other believers than the apostles (or the ones they ordained) were told the ‘Great Commission” ​​ - # 2 – Miracles​​ and signs should follow others than​​ the apostles,​​ in combination with carrying out baptisms?

Answer: The said commission teaches of ALL these things combined together as one unit in ministry. One cannot only go preaching and baptizing, to be able to say to the Lord: we have done as You told us Lord! …unless one also has​​ ALL of these things​​ in ministry: speaking in tongues, casting out demons, laying hands on the sick so they get healed, - no one can just sift out baptism but leave out miracles and tongues, or vice versa, sift out miracles but leave out baptism.

Thus we can know that​​ baptism,​​ miracles and signs ONLY followed the apostles, and not some regular church member. We cannot find ‘private miracles’​​ in Acts, or ‘private’ baptisms.​​ All​​ baptisms,​​ miracles and wonders were performed by the apostles.​​ And no one has ever inherited the ministry of the apostles further down in history up to our time.

Then, it is clear to us that if such miraculous things followed the apostles only,​​ - baptisms/miracles/signs/wonders/tongues/prophecy are gone – it all went out of effect as the apostles passed away almost 2000 years ago.

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