Exercise 7: Living Sent

This has been an amazing semester.  Congratulation!  You've made it to the last step!

This is the most important step because it puts together all that we've learned and it helps us to apply it to our lives.

Write a brief essay about ways in which you are currently living out the Great Commission and ways in which you would like to grow and possibly implement new plans.  Remember that the Commission covers a lot of different aspects and you can write about any of them - discipleship, baptism, teaching, forgiveness, going, picking up snakes, drinking poison, etc.  Be very practical and include some measurable and attainable goals for yourself.

Great job everybody!  I will give you the entire month of December to finish your essay.  Post it on the blog when you're done so we can encourage each other and help hold each other accountable with our goals.

A Few Random Things

Hey everybody!

Before I post our last exercise, I wanted to show you a couple things to help wrap up the last couple exercises.

To see Collin's extremely detailed outline with superb labeling, click here.

To see my side-by-side comparison of God's commissioning of Abraham to Jesus' commissioning of his disciples, click here.

I also highly recommend Dallas Willard's book, "The Great Omission," as a follow-up to this semester's blog group.

Just post a comment when you have viewed the above links.

Exercise #6: Outline of Mark 16:14-18

Outline Mark 16:14-18 - due by Sunday, November 20

For help on how to outline a passage, VIEW THIS LECTURE for guidelines and a sample

I will start it below, so you have the idea (there are many ways to do the outline, some better than others, but remember that it is less about getting the right answer and all about you spending time with these challenging words of Jesus)

"14 Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. 15 And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."

I.  Jesus Appears To His Disciples (14)
    A.  Jesus appears to the eleven (14a)
          1.  When? - "afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves"
          2.  What were they doing? - "as they were reclining at table"
    B.  Jesus rebukes the eleven (14b)
          1.  Why? - "he rebuked them for..."
                a.   Reason 1: "their unbelief"
                b.   Reason 2: "hardness of heart"
          2.  Explanation: "because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen."

II. Jesus Commissions His Disciples (15-18)
(you finish it)

Group Meeting - This Sunday, Nov 13 at 8:45am

We will meet in the W&A Suite at 8:45am this Sunday, Nov 13 to share some cool insights from the Greek (can't wait to show you this) and a devotional thought from best-selling author Dallas Willard from his book entitled, "The Great Omission."  We will also go over how to do our last exercise of the semester!

See you then!

Exercise 5: Word Biblical Commentary

Normally I would wait until the last step to read a commentary since we are trying to discover the meaning for ourselves, but since I happen to be at the library, this week's assignment is just to read this short synopsis of what I found in the Word Biblical Commentary on Matthew 28:16-20 by Donald Hagner and respond to one question at the end.

1) One scholar says that Matthew 28:18-20 is the key to the whole understanding of the entire Gospel of Matthew.  It serves not only as a conclusion of the Gospel, but also as a microcosm.  In it we find these elements that are emphases from earlier in the Gospel:

a. Christology (all authority is given to me)
b. Discipleship (make disciples of all nations)
c. Ecclesiology - the theology of the Church (baptism, his presence with them always)
d. Righteousness (teaching them to do what I have commanded you)

2) Hagner then proceeds to compare and contrast Matthew's commission with those found in the other Gospels (just like we have - your work is better than his).  :>)

3) Schieber has seen a concentric structure (or a chiasm of sorts):

A :  Authority (v18b)
      B :  Making disciples (v19a)
            C :  Baptizing (the central element)
      B' :  Teaching (v20a)
A' :  Presence

4) There have been many interesting offers on the genre of Matthew 28:18-20.  Some ideas have been cult legend, word of revelation, theophany, farewell speech, priestly blessing, covenant renewal, official decree.  The two genres that Hagner find most helpful are the "enthronement hymn" (parallel texts in Dan 7:13-14; Phil 2:9-11) and the "commissioning narrative."  The form for a commissioning narrative is based on Old Testament commissions of patriarchs and prophets (God commissioning, say, Abraham or Jonah, for example).  Not all commissioning narratives have all the same elements, but there are some similar forms.  The fullest pattern contains these elements:

a. introduction
b. confrontation
c. reaction
d. commission
e. protest
f. reassurance
g. conclusion

Can you fit the elements of Matthew 28:16-20 into this form? (Hint: our passage doesn't contain a protest or a conclusion, which reports the obedience of the commissioned.)

Extra Credit (and for a ton of fun): What elements do you find in the commissioning of Jonah? What elements are found in the commissioning of Abraham (Genesis 12)?  How does Abraham's commissioning compare with Jesus' Great Commission in the Gospels?  Note the similarities.

Midterm Exam

This is an open-blog test :>)

True or False:

1) John is part of the Synoptic Gospels.

2) The epilogue (ending) of Mark is in question.  Different manuscripts offer different endings.

Multiple Choice:

3) Which Gospel's Commission offers the Trinitarian baptismal formula?
a) Matthew
b) Mark
c) Luke
d) John

4) Which Gospel's Commission emphasizes teaching and discipleship?
a) Matthew
b) Mark
c) Luke
d) John

5) Which Gospel's Commission relates forgiveness to spreading the Gospel?
a) Matthew
b) Mark
c) Luke
d) John
e) Luke and John

Please answer the following questions with a paragraph each:

6) Note some similarities and differences between the various Gospel traditions of the Great Commission.

7) As you have noticed, the Great Commission is set in the context of the Resurrection.  How does this affect the meaning of the Commission?  How are the two related?

Congratulations!  We are halfway through the semester!

Exercise #4: Your Answers

I will post here your analyses on the Resurrection.  Mine is done and Inger finished hers as well.  She actually changed up the way she did it so it made sense to her.  That's the idea!

Clay's Resurrection Synoptic Analysis

Inger's Resurrection Synoptic Analysis

Teri's Resurrection Synoptic Analysis

Collin's Resurrection Synoptic Analysis