Stuhlmacher (2018, 5) notes that Matt 28.19–20 is among those passages in the NT that “make certain claims on their readers.” Specifically, such passages “disclose themselves in their theological truth only to those readers who accept what they say as a prior given and think it through reverentially,” not as a merely intellectual exercise but as part of “a holistic commitment of life.” Here one can infer Stuhlmacher’s point about Matt 28.19–20: there is no way to interpret the passage correctly apart from the prior commitments of being a disciple oneself—baptized in the name of the triune God, taught what Jesus commanded. There is no way to obey this final command to make new disciples, no way to receive it as a charge for oneself, without first acknowledging Jesus’s authority, resting in his work, and relying on his ongoing presence.

Work Cited

Stuhlmacher, Peter. 2018. Biblical Theology of the New Testament. Translated by Daniel P. Bailey with Jostein Ådna. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.