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We seem to have a way of assigning certain titles to various portions of scripture. For example, nearly everyone I’ve ever heard comment on the passage at Matthew chapter twenty-eight, verses eighteen through twenty, will call that "The Great Commission."
It’s so remembered because what the Lord committed the apostles to do there was great indeed. He assigned them the job of teaching all nations all things whatsoever He commanded them, baptizing the obedient believers in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Not a word of that commission is insignificant. However, there is a word of it that I feel is often overlooked. It’s the word "therefore". This word signifies that what is to follow is based upon or qualified by what went before, and what went before is precisely this: Jesus had just declared that all power had been given unto Him in both Heaven and in earth. This is power both miraculous and authoritative, and all was His. The absolute necessary interpretation is that there is no power of like or similar type or application that belonged to any who were not a part of the Godhead described at verse nineteen as the Father, Son, and Spirit.
For that cause, none would have any authority to add unto, subtract from, deny, or alter any portion of the Lord’s will as revealed here or elsewhere. Based upon that power and authority, Jesus commissioned the apostles to preach a gospel that convicted men of their sin and presented them with God’s divine remedy for it.
Remission of sins would be granted to those who were immersed in baptism in the name of the greatest Power among: heaven, men, and angels. While the Lord’s authority and power is certainly sufficient to declare such, it is just as sufficient to declare that this isn’t all.
Everything the Lord subsequently commanded the apostles was also to be taught, and the obedience of the audiences was of course required in all these things, too. It’s pitiful that the balance of all these things the Lord commanded to be taught is so often lost. It’s lost because of the failure of many ears to gladly receive it and discover it’s priceless worth in both time and eternity.
It’s often lost because of the failure of the same individuals to seek it out for themselves. It’s also often lost for the failure of teachers and preachers to declare the whole council of God, whether that be for the cause of their own ignorance, their partiality to favored subjects, or mere neglect. Yet all power is the Lord’s, Who commands that all His word be taught; that by the authority of the greatest Name and the greatest Power.