Nothing could be clearer than the fact that our Lord βshowed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of Godβ (Acts 1:3). In those forty days then, one Person, our Lord, spoke to eleven men, and gave instructions as to the program they were to carry out after His ascension. In every single case it is crystal clear that these commands were not directed to others, who were to live at some future date, but to the apostles, who were to commence to carry them out after His departure, when the Holy Spirit had endued them with power.
This is emphasized by the phraseology found in all five records of the so-called βGreat Commissionβ: Matt. 28:19: βGo ye,β Mark 16:15: βGo ye,β Luke 24:48: βYe are witnesses,β John 20:21: βSo send I you,β and Acts 1:8: βYe shall be witnesses.β How preposterous, then, to argue, as so many hard-pressed theologians have done, that one or more segments of the great commission are to be carried out by another generation at a later time!
By what rule of hermeneutics or logic have we the right to exclude from the interpretation of these commands the very persons to whom our Lord gave them, and if this commission is binding on the Church today, what authority have we to choose which part or parts we shall obey? source
[β¦] the message of Mark 16:15-18 as Peter did, they should acknowledge that we are to labor, not under theΒ so-calledΒ great commission given to the eleven, but under thatΒ much greaterΒ commission given by theΒ ascendedΒ Lord to Paul [β¦]
[β¦] wasΒ demandedΒ by them, and Stephenβs was actuallyΒ committedΒ by them. Thus the so-called βGreat Commissionβ was bogged down at the very start, for ifΒ JerusalemΒ and theΒ covenant peopleΒ refused to [β¦]