In the Great Commission, Jesus tells his disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” The commission is to teach people to follow Jesus, to put into practice the things that he taught.

But when we look in the book of Acts, we don’t see the disciples going around saying, “Obey Jesus.” Not in those exact words, anyway. But it is implied in the message they preached, and it is implied in the early Christian creed, “Jesus is Lord.”

In the New Testament, the disciples preached about who Jesus is, much more than giving a list of things that he commanded. They had to tell people who Jesus is and why it matters. Then they could tell them what Jesus commanded.

Being a disciple of Jesus is not just a matter of listing facts and commands and focusing on those details – it is a whole new way of thinking, a new way of being human, a way that Paul describes as putting on Christ, of being clothed with Christ, of being in Christ, of the Spirit living in us and leading us.

When we teach people to obey what Jesus commanded, one logical place to begin is what Jesus himself said is the greatest commandment: “Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.” I think we can paraphrase that by saying we should love God in all our emotions, in all our mental ability, and in all our actions. It covers everything we do.

This provides a working framework for what it means to be a disciple of Jesus: it includes knowledge, application, and emotions. So the Great Commandment is a skeleton outline of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. It gives more content to what the Great Commission is.

How does this work for GCS? Typically, a seminary focuses on knowledge: we teach people about Jesus, who he is and what he did and why it matters. We are concerned about the foundation of knowledge. There are some facts that we should believe.

But that is a foundation, and something is built on that foundation. A seminary also includes teaching students about the application of that knowledge. How does this make a difference in my life? What does it say about what I do in ministry, and the way in which we lead others in the church? It’s not just about what we are thinking – it’s also about what we are doing.

The Great Commandment says that our love for God should go beyond knowing facts about Jesus, and it’s more than obeying what he said. It involves the heart. Jesus said that we are to love God with all our heart. Paul said that even if we have all the facts right, and even if we do great things for God, if we don’t have love, then we are just making noise. We are play-actors putting on a show.

This is implied in the biblical word faith, as well. The Greek word for faith is pistis, and in the ancient world it was used in several ways. It could be used for knowing facts. James talks about demons who believe that there is only one God, but that kind of faith falls short of what God wants.

In the ancient world, pistis was used for the relationship between wealthy people and those who looked to them for help. It referred to loyalty, to allegiance, to obedience, and gratitude. That’s why Paul could talk about the obedience of faith. He wanted people to be loyal to Jesus. In that culture, the word pistis implied something about the way we live.

And faith implies trust, as well – that is an emotional side of it. We are to be loyal to Jesus willingly, joyfully, and gratefully. Paul spells this out in some of his letters. The word faith includes all our heart, mind, soul and strength. It’s a pattern for being disciples of Jesus, for doing what he  says we should do, for being the kind of people he wants us to be.

It is difficult for us to teach emotions. We can teach people that we ought to be grateful for Christ’s sacrifice, for example, but we cannot cause them to actually do it. That’s done only by the Holy Spirit. We can teach people that they should love God, but we can’t make them do so – only the Spirit can do that.

However, we can do a couple of things regarding emotion. First, we can teach people – this applies to students in a seminary, to members of a church, or to people in general – that we should love God, that we should be grateful, that we should rejoice.

The New Testament tells us these things to help motivate us to do them. It’s inviting us to examine ourselves, to see where we fall short – and we all probably fall short in all our responses to Jesus. Discipleship invites us to continue responding to the gospel in all three areas.

Second, we can model these things; this is one of the student learning outcomes that we have for our programs: we want students to model a Christian life in their areas of influence, and this is something that faculty should do as well – but we don’t want it to be play-acting. We want it to be genuine, but there is no procedure that can guarantee that people will be genuine. That’s up to the Spirit, to transform who we are on the inside.

Now, knowing the fact that we are forgiven is certainly a welcome encouragement, that we continue going forward in life despite not being at the desired destination as quickly as we might like. Our knowledge of what Jesus has done for us helps us to not fall into despair, as well as helping us be thankful and joyful and enamored with Jesus.

Beliefs and behavior and emotions work together as part of who we are. Discipleship involves all three, and that is true for when we are being discipled as well as for when we are discipling other people. It’s the whole person following Jesus.

Michael Morrison, GCS News, December 2024

Last modified: Thursday, January 1, 2026, 6:09 PM