■which are prefaced with a declaration of the de- struction of the Temple ( ' Tliere shall not be left one stone upon another which shall not be throA\Ti down,' Mt 24'-, Mk 13-, Lk 21'^), and contain the announcement that ' this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness to all the nations ' (Mt 24>^ , Mk 13'''). In the Fourth Gospel the evidence of a world view as jmrt of the instruction given to the disciples is very plain. After saying that He lays down ' his life for the sheep ' ( Jn 10^^), Jesus adds, ' Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them al^o I must bring, and they shall hear my voice' (v.^^). In connexion with the visit of the Greeks, He uttered the preg- nant and impressive prophecy, ' I, if I be lifted up from the earth, ^^ill draw all men unto me' (12^-) ; and a little further on in the same ciiajrter we find the words, ' I came not to judge the world, but to save the world' (12-''). In the private converse of our Lord and His disciples, in the last days of the earthly ministry, the vision of the world is re- peatedly brought before the minds of the disciples as the object of the SaWour's thought and the scope of the disciples' mission, as — ' That the world may know that I love the Father . . . even so I do ' ( Jn 14^1) ; ' As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world' (171* ; also 12*-'s IG*-" 17=- -i). Judas (not Iscariot) is even represented as asking, ' How is it that thou -wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world?' (14--), as if the limitation of His work was a source of perplexity to him. Unless we are to regard the Gospels as entirely un- historical, and all such universal references as due to the mind of the Church (which would then be greater than its Lord) at a later time, it must be admitted that the disciples were aware of the world-wide character of the work thej* were to undertake. The frequency of the world references in the earthly ministrj' may to some extent account for the fact that the missionary commission is mentioned only once in each of the Gospels (Mt 28i«-2o II Mk 16^5 ,|jn OQ-' \] Lk 24«-*), and in Ac P. For it is recognized that it is only in the brief records of the risen life of Jesus that the universal mission of the disciples is explicitly expressed in the form of a command. But that is no reason for imagining that it was an afterthought of Jesus, or an addition put into His mouth by followers of a later time. The universal commission is given then, because that is the time to Avhich it belongs. The work of redemption had been ' finished ' ; the gospel was comi^leted ; the limitations Avhich had restricted its extension were no longer necessaiy. The intimations of a universal mission, which had been given before, were can-ied to their ineWtable conclusion in the majestic commission : ' All author- ity is given unto me in heaA-en and in earth. Go ye into all the world, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you all the days, unto the consummation of the age ' (Trdcras ras rjfjLepai ewy TTjs a-vvTeXeias tov aluivos, Mt 28^®'-**). The universal note predominates tiie whole passage. There is (i.) the claim of universal authority; (ii. ) the direction to a universal field ; (iii.) the universality of what is to be taught ( ' all things whatsoever 1 have commanded you') ; (iv. ) the promise of a mii- versal presence, ' Lo, I am AA-ith you all the days, unto the consummation of the age.'
6. T/}c gcnuuieness of the missionary commission has been gravely questioned. In Mk. it appears in the closing section (16^"'-*'), which is now gener- ally regarded as an addition by a later hand, jjos- sihly by the presbj'ter Aristion, who, according to Papias, was 'a disciple of the Lord' (F. C. Cony-
beare. Expositor, iv. viii. [1S93] 241 ff. ; but see Aeistiox). All critics admit the antiquity of the passage, and it may be accepted as ' embodying a true Apostolic tradition ' (Sakuond in Hastings' DB iii. p. 253'^).