\vliy He institutes baptism;1 see Ephesians cited below. — sv ovpavp xai ex) yr^, in heaven and on earth) see ch. ix. 6, xvi. 1. Hitherto He had been on earth, now He ascends to heaven : He fills all things ; see Eph. iv. 10, with the preceding and following verses.
19. 2llop£&evrs£ ovv, xrX., go ye therefore, etc.) This injunction, to go forth, presupposes the waiting for the Paraclete mentioned in Luke xxiv. 49. It is the sum of the Acts, which may with that view be profitably compared with the Gospels, the sum of which is " all things ivhatsoever I have commanded" — /Ao&qTivsarz — /SaTr/^oms, discipulize — baptizing) The verb, fAaSrjTfjtiv, signi fies to make disciples ; it includes baptism and teaching ; cf. John iv. 1, with the present passage. — avrova, them) sc. ru '&vri, the nations, a synthesis3 of frequent occurrence ; see ch. xxv. 32, etc. The Jews who had been already brought into covenant with God by circumcision, were to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, and to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost ; see Acts ii. 38. It is plainly commanded by these words of Insti tution, that the Gentiles should be baptized " In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ;" they had been altogether aliens from God ; see Gnomon on Eph. iii. 6, and cf. Gnomon on Acts xi. 21. The Gentiles, mentioned in Acts x. were not altogether ignorant of the God of Israel, nor altogether aliens from Him. The Jews, who had once acknowledged Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, could not but by that very
1 For the salvation of men, to be converted on earth, and conducted to heaven.— B. G. V.
3 The Saviour, when brought back from the dead, very frequently en joined upon His Apostles the office of preaching the Gospel (John xx. 21, xxi. 15). The Evangelists, therefore, might present a summary of such injunctions, according as this or that opportunity presented itself. Matthew connects this summary with His appearance in Galilee ; 'Luke records it after that appearing, ch. xxiv. 49, nay, at Jerusalem, up to and upon the day of His ascension. Comp. Acts i. 2, etc. And we may conjecture the same as to Mark, from ch. xvi. 15, 19. — Harm., p. 612.
8 The word synthesis is not used here in its logical or mathematical sense, but as a technico-grammatical term, representing the figure otherwise called synesis ; i.e. a joining together of words with respect to the idea conveyed, and not to the word by which it is expressed : see Kiddle in vocc. In the present passage rx tSvn, the nations, are neuter and aggregate ; otvrov$, them, masculine and individual. This is Bengel's meaning. — (I. B )