BlBLIOTHECA SACRA 152 (January-March 1995) 33-41

PAUL'S APPROACH
TO THE GREAT COMMISSION
IN ACTS 14:21-23
David F. Detwiler

wJLm η anticipation of the Cross, Jesus declared to His Father,

"I have brought you glory on earth by completing t h e work you
gave me to do" (John 17:4). λ On reaching the end of their days, in
this world, followers of Christ should be able to say t h e same
words, knowing t h a t they have done their part in completing the
work God has given them to do, namely, to "make disciples of all
nations" (Matt. 28:19).
But what is involved in fulfilling this task? How are believ­
ers to carry out this "Great Commission" of the Lord J e s u s Christ?
This article explores the possibility t h a t Acts 14:21-23 serves as an
outline of—and brief commentary o n — t h e discipleship process
Jesus has called His followers to pursue in their own lives and to
encourage in the lives of others.
The passage briefly describes the l a t t e r p a r t of Paul's first
missionary journey:
They preached the good news in that city and won a large number
of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,
strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true
to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the
kingdom of God," they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders
for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed
them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
Commentators assess the importance of these verses vari­
ously. A few, such as Stott, feel a pattern or policy for fulfilling the

David F Detwiler is Worship and College Pastor, Community Baptist Church,

Manhattan Beach, California
* All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (NIV) unless
specified otherwise
34 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / January-March 1995
2
Great Commission is evident in the passage. Others focus on t h e
emphasis given to t h e role of suffering in t h e Christian life (v.
22). Marshall, for example, says of t h e passage, "Its importance
lies in its teaching about the way in which the church must live in
3
a hostile environment and equip itself accordingly." Still others
seem primarily interested in what verse 23 reveals about elders
4
in the local church. While none of these emphases is necessarily
incorrect or unimportant, this study seeks to draw these s t r a n d s
together into a unified whole in Luke's s u m m a r y of Paul's re­
m a r k a b l e ministry in southern Galatia.

MAKING DISCIPLES: T H E FRUIT OF PROCLAIMING

THE GOOD N E W S
The passage begins with what is essentially a passing note on
Paul and Barnabas's successful evangelism in the city of Derbe:
"They preached t h e good news in t h a t city and won a large num­
ber of disciples" (v. 21). 5 Little else is known about the Christians
in Derbe, except t h a t Paul eventually returned to strengthen t h e
church there (Acts 15:36, 41; 16:1, 5, and perhaps again in 18:23),
and t h a t Gaius, a member of t h a t congregation, later accompa­
nied Paul on part of his third missionary journey (20:4).
W h a t is highly significant concerning t h e m i n i s t r y in
Derbe, however, is Luke's use of the verb μαθητεύω ("make disci­
ples") in describing t h e results of Paul and Barnabas's preach­
ing. The only occurrence of this word other t h a n in M a t t h e w
(13:52; 27:57; 28:19) is in Acts 14:21, where it is an aorist participle
t r a n s l a t e d in t h e NIV as "won . . . disciples." Why did Luke use
t h i s verb here? Was he in fact aware of Christ's command to
"make disciples of all nations"?
Disciples (μαθηταί) had been made before this time, for, as
Wilkins explains, "Throughout t h e book of Acts, disciples is a
title for those who have placed their faith in Jesus and are now fol­
lowers of Jesus, converts." 6 To illustrate, those who are identified

z
John R W Stott, The Spirit, the Church and the World (Downers Grove, IL In-
terVarsity, 1990), 235-37
^ I Howard Marshall, Acts, Tyndale New T e s t a m e n t Commentaries (Grand
Rapids Eerdmans, 1980), 240
Some commentaries have more to say on verse 23 than on the previous verses
See, for example, F F Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles The Greek Text with Intro­
duction and Commentary, 3d ed (Grand Rapids Eerdmans, 1990), 325-27
** Both verbs are aorist participles, suggesting incidental action antecedent to the
mam verb in verse 21b "they returned "
" Michael J Wilkins, Following the Master Discipleship in the Steps of Jesus
(Grand Rapids Zondervan, 1992), 249 (italics his)
 Paul's Approach to the Great Commission in Acts 14:21-23 35

as "believers" in Acts 4:32 are also called "disciples" in 6:2 and

"the Lord's disciples" in 9:1. F u r t h e r , those in Syrian Antioch
who "believed and t u r n e d to the Lord" (11:21) are referred to as
"disciples" and later are designated "Christians" (11:26). T h u s it
is no surprise t h a t in 14:21 those who responded to the preaching of
the good news (εύαγγελίσαμβνοί) are identified as "disciples," for
7
"evangelism is the s t a r t i n g point for making disciples." When­
ever people " t u r n to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord
Jesus" (20:21), they become disciples of Jesus.
However, as noted above, the verb "make disciples" had not
been used previously in the Book of Acts to describe t h e fruit of
proclaiming Christ, and there is surely a reason for this. Luter
suggests t h a t Acts 14:21-23 is "a crucial moment for Luke to com­
ment on the apostle's disciple-making ministry in fulfillment of
8
the Great Commission."
In light of t h e s u m m a r y n a t u r e of t h e n a r r a t i v e , one may
rightly speculate t h a t Luke deliberately used the word in order to
show t h e scope of its fulfillment in Paul's ministry. Luke h a d
previously recorded in Acts 2:41-42 t h a t P e t e r was essentially
"making disciples" at Pentecost (though t h e t e r m is not used)
through evangelistic preaching, baptism, and teaching (the scope
of the Great Commission as outlined by Jesus; Luke 24:47; Matt.
28:18-20). Apparently in Acts 14 Luke explicitly stated how t h e
apostle began to "make disciples of all nations" by "preaching t h e
good news" in a pagan city (with baptism likely to follow, as was
Paul's custom; cf. Acts 16:15, 33; 19:5). 9 However, t h i s only
brings the reader through the first step in the process of fulfilling
the Great Commission, and so Luke continued.

N U R T U R I N G DISCIPLES: THE EMPHASIS ON

SPIRITUAL GROWTH

After spending some time with the "large n u m b e r of [new]

disciples" in Derbe (Acts 14:21a), P a u l ' s m i s s i o n a r y t e a m
"returned to Lystra, Iconium and [Pisidian] Antioch, strengthen­
ing the disciples [previously made in those cities] and encourag­
ing them to remain true to the faith" (vv. 21b-22a).
Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch had indeed been ripe for har-

/
Ibid, 191
° A Boyd Luter, "A New Testament Theology of Disciphng" (Th D diss , Dallas
Theological Seminary, 1985), 101-2, cf idem, "Discipleship and the Church," Biblio­
teca Sacra 137 (July-September 1980) 267-73
^ A Boyd Luter, "The Great Commission," in Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1992 ed ,
21091
36 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / January-March 1995

vest (13 48-49, 14 1, 7, 20), but they were also (and apparently more
so) hostile to the gospel and those who proclaimed it (13 50, 14 2, 5-
6, 19, cf 2 Tim 3 11) "It took courage to r e t u r n to the very places
t h a t had resisted the gospel and mistreated the messengers, yet the
decision to r e t u r n was not dictated by bravado but by the practical
necessity of shepherding the converts " 1 0 (Longenecker, among
others, notes t h a t these cities experienced an a n n u a l change of
administrators, and t h u s the danger may have subsided if such a
change had occurred n )
This "shepherding of converts" was central to Paul's under­
standing of his mission, as Bowers explains
Insofar as the pattern of Paul's plans and movements is available
to us, there is no restless rushing from one new opening to an­
other but rather a methodical progress concerned both with initi­
ating work in new areas and at the same time with bringing the
emergent groups in those areas to stable maturity 1 2
Thus it should not be surprising to find the strengthening and
encouraging of young disciples as the gospel progresses in t h e
Book of Acts, and this is exactly t h e case For example, as t h e
gospel spread from J e r u s a l e m to Antioch of Syria, B a r n a b a s
"encouraged [the new disciples there] to remain t r u e to the Lord
with all their h e a r t s " (11 23) and "for a whole year [he] and Saul
met with the church and taught great numbers of people" (v 26)
F u r t h e r , at the outset of Paul's second missionary journey, t h e
apostle "went through Syria and Cihcia [and Galatia] strengthen­
ing t h e churches" (15 41, cf 16 1, 5) Similarly on his third jour­
ney Paul "traveled from place to place throughout the region of
Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples" (18 23)
Such n u r t u r i n g was far more t h a n an afterthought in t h e
wake of successful evangelism It was (and is) central to t h e pro­
cess of "making disciples," as is seen in Acts 14 22a, and in t h e
insightful analysis of this verse by Wilkins
Luke's wording suggests a connection with the discipleship pro­
cess outlined by Jesus in the Great Commission, because
"strengthening the souls of the disciples" and "encouraging them
to remain in the faith" implies the kind of "teaching them to ob­
serve all I commanded you" that Jesus gave as the ongoing pro­
13
cess of growth in discipleship

ι υ
Everett F Harrison Interpreting Acts The Expanding Church (Grand Rapids
Zondervan 1986) 237
Ü Richard Ν Longenecker The Acts of the Apostles m The Expositor s Bible
Commentary 12 vols (Grand Rapids Zondervan 1981) 9 438
-^ Paul Bowers Fulfilling the Gospel The Scope of the Pauline Mission ' Jour
nal of the Evangelical Theological Society 30 (June 1987) 189 90
1 3
Wilkins Following the Master 268
 Paul's Approach to the Great Commission in Acts 14:21-23 37

What is perhaps not expected is the summary of t h e encour­

agement given to t h e disciples in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch:
"We m u s t go t h r o u g h many h a r d s h i p s to enter t h e kingdom of
God" (Acts 14:22b). As Bruce notes, "It is almost taken for granted
throughout the New Testament t h a t tribulation is the normal lot of
14
Christians in t h i s a g e . " (Note t h e word " m u s t " [δει] in t h e
verse.) This is not to say t h a t suffering is t h e means to obtaining
salvation (for the Bible teaches otherwise), but r a t h e r t h a t suffer­
ing is to be expected by those traveling along t h e narrow way of
15
faith in C h r i s t . Reflecting on his first missionary journey,
Paul m a d e t h i s a b u n d a n t l y clear to Timothy: "You, however,
know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith,
patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings—what kinds
of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, t h e per­
secutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In
fact, everyone who w a n t s to live a godly life in Christ J e s u s will
be persecuted" (2 Tim. 3:10-12).
Paul was realistic as he n u r t u r e d new believers in t h e faith.
While he certainly t a u g h t t h a t the life of God's kingdom consists
in "righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17),
he nevertheless emphasized the certainty of suffering (Phil. 1:29;
1 Thess. 3:2-4; 2 Thess. 1:5). The life of discipleship, according to
the apostle, is not an easy one.

ORGANIZING DISCIPLES: THE PROVISION OF

SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP
Such an emphasis on suffering might well lead to despair
were it not for the "encouragement from being united with Christ,
[the! comfort from his love, [and the] fellowship with t h e Spirit"
that is experienced in t h e body of Christ (Phil. 2:1). And Paul was
concerned with supplying new disciples with this very dynamic.
In other words Paul's goal was to plant churches t h a t could pro­
vide ongoing n u r t u r e t h r o u g h qualified l e a d e r s . " P a u l a n d
Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church" (Acts 14:23).
"Disciples" are now explicitly identified as m e m b e r s of a
"church," and this is w h a t Paul h a d been working toward all
along. As Bowers concludes,
Paul's missionary vocation finds its sense of fulfillment in the
presence of firmly established churches. What lies, in effect,

14
F F Bruce, The Book of Acts, rev ed (Grand Rapids Eerdmans, 1988), 280 Cf
Paul R House, "Suffering and the Purpose of Acts," Journal of the Evangelical
Theological Society 33 (September 1990) 317-30
•^ "Suffering, defined as servanthood, is the essence of discipleship" (Jack Dean
Kingsbury, Matthew as Story, 2d ed [Minneapolis Fortress, 1988], 140)
38 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / January-March 1995

within the compass of Paul's familiar formula "proclaiming the

gospel" is, I suggest, not simply an initial preaching mission but
the full sequence of activities resulting in settled churches. 16
The importance of this approach can hardly be overstated
with regard to fulfilling the Great Commission. The local church
is vital in the process of making disciples.
Perhaps the single, most important development of discipleship il-
lustrated in the book of Acts is the establishment of the commu-
nity of disciples, the church. The community is what focuses the
life of discipleship, provides the opportunities for growth in disci-
pleship, and creates the environment for reproducing new genera-
tions of disciples.17
Spiritual leadership is key to effective local church ministry,
and Paul and Barnabas provided for this need as they established
churches in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. In an apparently rela-
tively short time, they were able to appoint in each church
"elders" 1 8 —those who had reached a certain level of spiritual
maturity t h a t enabled them to serve the church by strengthening
and encouraging the disciples just as Paul and B a r n a b a s had
done.
While one may question whether such maturity could have
been gained so quickly, it must be remembered t h a t many Jews
and God-fearing Gentiles were likely among the converts (cf.
Acts 14:1), and their growth would have been understandably ad-
vanced. Further, as Bruce suggests, "perhaps Paul and Barnabas
were more conscious of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit
in the communities," 1 9 enabling them to identify God's provision
for leadership in each church. Whatever the case, it appears t h a t
Paul was not content to leave these cities until leaders were in
place (cf. Titus 1:5).
One final observation, made by Stott, may be added concern-
ing t h e provision of spiritual leadership: "We notice t h a t [the
leadership] is both local and plural—local in t h a t the elders were
chosen from within the congregation, not imposed from without,
and plural in t h a t the familiar modern pattern of 'one pastor one
church' was simply unknown." 2 0

lb
Bowers, "Fulfilling the Gospel The Scope of the Pauline Mission," 198
17
Wilkins, Following the Master, 273
^ "It is commonly held that the mention of elders, and of their appointment, re-
flects the situation presupposed in the Pastoral Epistles rather than that of Paul's
early ministry It may be granted that presbuteroi was Luke's term for the people
marked out as leaders" (Bruce, The Acts of the Apostles, 326)
19
Ibid, 280
20
Stott, The Spirit, the Church, and the World, 236
 Paul's Approach to the Great Commission in Acts 14:21-23 39

ENTRUSTING DISCIPLES: THE COMMITMENT TO GOD'S CARE

Luke concluded his outline of Paul's ministry through south­

ern Galatia by noting t h a t "with prayer and fasting, [Paul and
Barnabas] committed them [the elders and, by implication, the
churches] to the Lord, in whom they had put their t r u s t " (Acts
21
14:23b).
The word translated "committed" (παρέθεντο) was used by Je­
sus as He breathed His last words on the cross, "Father, into your
hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46), and later by Paul as he
bade farewell to the elders of the Ephesian church, "Now I commit
you to God and to the word of his grace" (Acts 20:32). This verb
22
carries the sense of entrusting something to God's care, and this
is exactly how Paul left the churches he had founded on his mis­
sionary journey.
Having provided for the ongoing teaching of (and obedience
to) everything J e s u s commanded by appointing leaders in each
community of disciples, the apostle then moved on.
Paul cast [disciples] entirely on God for their personal and corpo­
rate life. He would not have them tied to his apron strings. He
visited them, wrote to them, and sent some of the missionary team
to encourage them, but Paul never made the churches dependent
on him. 2 3
The Apostle Paul surely understood, even in those early days
of his ministry, t h a t Jesus is the Head of the church (Col. 1:18),
that each believer is indwelt by the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph.
2:22), and t h a t the Lord, who began a good work in each commu­
nity of disciples, would "carry it on to completion" (Phil. 1:6). In
other words, as Allen observed, Paul "believed t h a t Christ was
able and willing to keep t h a t which he had committed to him." 2 4
Having reached this point, Paul's work of fulfilling the Great
Commission in southern Galatia was over. The task of "making
disciples" could now begin anew in each church t h a t was nur­
tured, organized, and entrusted to the Lord.

The significance of "prayer and fasting" merits further consideration, but for
the purpose of the present study, it is enough to suggest t h a t Paul and Barnabas
were simply following the example of their home church which had sent them on
their journey "after they had fasted and prayed" (Acts 13 3)
22
Walter Bauer, William F Arndt, and F Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lex­
icon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 2d ed , rev F
Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W Danker (Chicago University of Chicago Press,
1979), 623
** Paul A Beals, A People for His Name A Church-Based Missions Strategy
(Grand Rapids Baker, 1988), 10
^ Roland Allen, Missionary Methods St Paul's or Ours? (Grand Rapids Eerd­
mans, 1962), 149
40 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / January-March 1995

IMPLICATIONS OF THIS STUDY

The most obvious implication of this study concerns the na-

ture and strategy of missionary work. A commitment to the Great
Commission means little if one fails to u n d e r s t a n d the scope of
J e s u s ' command to "make disciples." Acts 14:21-23 provides the
clarification t h a t is needed.
J u s t over a decade ago Engel rightly asked, "Where is the lo-
cal church in all our strategizing? How closely are our slogans
and evangelistic methods tied to the creation of strong and vital
local churches?" 2 5 His question r e m a i n s valid today. Paul's
missionary activity in Acts 14:21-23 makes a strong case for ful-
filling the Great Commission not only by preaching the good
news (although this is the necessary first step), but also by nurtur-
ing new disciples and organizing them into churches t h a t can
eventually provide for their own growth in discipleship. The
apostle refused to stop short of this, and missionaries today should
do likewise. 2 6
But what of those who are not involved in missionary work
(in the sense of cross-cultural church planting)? W h a t can be
learned and applied from Acts 14:21-23? A few brief implications
may be offered, following the general structure of this study.
First, the discussion of verse 21 should make it abundantly
clear t h a t people become disciples the moment they believe the
good news about Jesus Christ—not at some later point. As Willard
creatively puts it,
The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the
Christian—especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empow-
ered for the fast lane on the straight and narrow way. He stands
on the pages of the New Testament as the first level of basic
transportation in the kingdom of God.27
The idea t h a t one who has trusted in Christ for salvation is
not yet a disciple of Jesus is not found in the Book of Acts. Rather,
when a person becomes a Christian he or she embarks on the life
of growing in the Lord as His disciple.
Second, following the example of Paul, older (i.e., more
spiritually mature) disciples should be committed to strengthen-

^ J a m e s F Engel, "Great Commission or Great Commotion 7 " Christianity Today,

April 20, 1984, 52
^ Cf Arthur F Glasser, "The Missionary Task An Introduction," in Perspectives
on the World Christian Movement A Reader, ed Ralph D Winter and Steven C
Hawthorne (Pasadena William Carey Library, 1981), 100-103
^ Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines Understanding How God
Changes Lives (San Francisco Harper and Row, 1988), 258
 Paul's Approach to the Great Commission in Acts 14:21-23 41

ing and encouraging those who have begun the life of disciple-
ship. It is not enough to rejoice in the decision people make to trust
in Christ; older disciples must do all they can to help new disci-
ples along in this commitment (and they should seek ongoing
help for themselves as well).
Jesus made this clear when He declared t h a t His followers
should be "teaching them to obey everything I have commanded"
(Matt. 28:20), including (and, according to Paul, especially) how
to respond to the reality of suffering in the Christian life (Acts
14:22; cf. Matt. 5:10-12, 38-48; 1 Pet. 4:12-19). Therein lies a chal-
lenge—and a word of encouragement—for all those engaged in
teaching others to know and live biblical t r u t h (whatever the con-
text). Such ministry, according to both Jesus and Paul, is vital to
fulfilling the Great Commission.
Third, it should be kept in mind t h a t "to believe on J e s u s
draws a person into community, a community t h a t defines its ex-
pectations, responsibilities, and privileges in terms of disciple-
ship." 2 8 Spiritual leadership is crucial to the success of such a
community, and therefore older disciples should not fail to shep-
herd new disciples into (and commit themselves to) a well-led
church. It is virtually impossible to grow as a disciple apart from
the loving fellowship and pastoral leadership provided by a
strong local church. Paul understood this clearly, and so should
believers today.
Fourth, older disciples should trust the Lord with their lives—
and with the lives of others. While they may play a significant
role during certain stages of the spiritual growth of other follow-
ers of Christ, they should be content to let these disciples go (or
urge them on) as God provides for their strengthening and en-
couragement in other ways. As Paul's ministry indicates, this too
is an important part of fulfilling the Great Commission.

Wilkins, Following the Master, 271

 ^ s
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