Matthew 28:19

πορευθέντες οὖν : the οὖν omitted in many texts aptly expresses the connection. The commission to the Apostles arises out of the power claimed = all power has been given to me on earth, go ye therefore, and make the power a reality. μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη : make disciples (act., cf. at Matthew 27:57) of all the nations (cf. Matthew 10:5, “go not into the way of the Gentiles”). βαπτίσαντες : baptism the condition of discipleship = make disciples by baptising; the sole condition, circumcision, and everything particularistic or Judaistic tacitly negatived. Christian baptism referred to here only in this Gospel. αὐτοὺς refers to ἔθνη, a constr. ad sensum, as in Acts 15:17; Romans 2:14. In the anabaptist controversy αὐτοὺς was taken by the opponents of infant baptism as referring to μαθητὰς in μαθητεύσατε, and the verb was held to mean “teach”. For some references to this extinct controversy vide Wetstein, ad loc., and Hermann's Viger, p. 61. εἰς τὸ ὄνομα, into the name, i.e., as confessing the name which embodies the essence of the Christian creed. τοῦ πατρὸς, etc.: it is the name not of one but of three, forming a baptismal Trinity Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It is not said into the names of, etc., nor into the name of the Father, and the name of the Son, and the name of the Holy Ghost. Hence might be deduced the idea of a Trinity constituting at the same time a Divine Unity. But this would probably be reading more into the words han was intended.