Mat 28:19 Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Alternative: Therefore carry on and make disciples of all foreigners, plunging them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Sacred Breath of Life.

Here, Christ closes the book on his teaching, at least in Matthew. The rest is up to the Apostles. Christ doesn't charge them to just go, but to carry on, to take up his role. Strangely, he doesn't focus them on converting the Jews, but the Gentiles. This is clearer in the Greek, where the world chosen, ethnos, is used throughout the Gospels to refer to the non-Jews. The Apostles' job is not just to teach them, but to make them disciples, students.

In thinking about the original meaning of Christ's words, it is interesting to think about ideas that originated with Christ that are now commonly accepted but at the time must have seem strange. Here, we start with the idea of baptism. And, of course, no idea has been as hard to understand as that of the "Holy Ghost."

While I don't want to get into the concept of the Sacred Breath of Life because the idea of the Trinity has been a contentious area of Christianity and, as I may have said elsewhere, human speculating on the nature of divinity is like cockroaches speculating on quantum physics. I don't think we have the mental equipment to climb that mountain. However, I will admit that I get more from the concept of the Sacred Breath of Life, which is in all of us, uniting us and making us Godlike, than I do from most formulations of the Holy Ghost.

Let's go back to baptism. What did people of the time think about baptism? Though it was not a part of any historical religion I have run across before John the Baptist. Ritual washing was a common practice in many religions, especially before entering a holy place, but baptism isn't just washing. A baptism is just done once, as a sign of conversion. The meaning of baptism as rebirth, though never exactly explained by Christ, was instantly recognized. Everyone seems to have taken to it right away.

Water seems like such a weak choice for this particular symbol. Sacrifice was the central religious practice until the time of Christ. Animal sacrifice meant blood. The Romans literally washed themselves in blood during certain sacrificial rites. A lot of the religious washing was necessary simply to clean up all the blood. But if you are emulating birth in a rebirth ceremony, blood seems more appropriate doesn't it?

It is strange how blood sacrifice disappears with the spread of Christianity. The historical transformation is miraculous. Remember, all ancient religions were organized around rites of offering and sacrifice, especially blood sacrifice. The Old Testament starts with the sacrifice of Cain and Able. The first time I read the Bible, the Old Testament seemed to be the story about the Jews battle against human sacrifice, which was common throughout ancient history. Beginning with Abraham and Isaac, human sacrifice was forbidden, replaced with animal sacrifice. The Biblical view was that the human sacrifice was abhorrent, and that the wars of the Jews against their neighbors were largely justified to put an end to the practice.

However, despite thousands of years of animal sacrifice, the Jews stopped the practice of sacrifice after the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple after Christ's death. Why? The temple had been destroyed before and Jews continued sacrifice. The rituals dated from well before any temple. All the rituals in their law were built around sacrifice. Why did these suddenly fall out of favor?

I think there is only one answer: the rise of Christianity.

Sacrifice dissappeared where ever Christianity went, even before Christians had any power to prevent it. It started with the Jews, but as Christianity spread through the Western world, sacrifice falls out of favor, replaced by other cerimonies, primarily prayer, even in other religions. As Christianity spead to Asia and America, sacrifice stops, even in areas where Christians never had control. Christianity suddenly made animal sacrifice seem primitive, brutal, and irreligous.


"Go" is from poreuô (poreuomai), which means "make to go," "carry," "convey," "bring," "go," "march," and "proceed." It is almost always translated as "go" in the NT.

"Teach" is from mathêteuô (matheteuo), which means "to be a pupil" or "to make a disciple of."

"Nations" is from ethnos, which means "a number of people living together," "caste," "tribe" or "nation," and implies a foriegn group. It is almost always translated as "Gentiles" in the New Testament.

"Baptize" is from baptizô (baptizo), which means "to dip," "to plunge," "to be drenched," "to be drowned," and "getting in deep water."

"Holy" is from hagios ( hagios ), which means "devoted to the gods," "pure," "holy," and on the negative side "accursed."

"Spirit" is pneuma, which means "blast," "wind," "breath," "the breath of life," and "divine inspiration."