Matthew 28:18
What does Matthew 28:18 mean?
Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
The short answer
In Matthew 28:18, the risen Jesus meets his disciples on a mountain in Galilee and makes a sweeping announcement: "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth." It is the foundation for everything that follows—the command to go and make disciples of all nations. Before Jesus tells his followers what to do, he tells them who he is.
The timing matters. One verse earlier, Matthew records something startlingly honest: when the disciples saw Jesus, they worshiped him, "but some doubted." Jesus does not wait for their doubts to resolve. He announces his authority to a group that is worshiping and wavering at the same time. The mission that follows rests on his standing, not on their certainty. That is a quiet comfort built into the verse: the weight of the task belongs to the one who holds the authority, not to the shaky people he sends.
But the verse also carries a warning for anyone tempted to borrow that authority. Notice what Jesus actually says: all authority has been given to him. He never says it is transferred to his followers, their institutions, or their governments. History shows what happens when the church forgets this. In the sixteenth century, the theologian Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda argued that the authority Jesus claimed had passed to the church, the pope, and Christian rulers—an argument that helped justify centuries of colonial conquest carried out in Christ's name.
Read carefully, Matthew 28:18 cuts the other way. If all authority belongs to Jesus, then no human power—no empire, no crown, no church hierarchy—can claim it for itself. The verse relativizes every earthly authority rather than blessing any of them. It sends doubting people out with a message, not with a sword.
What scholars say
These two excerpts approach the verse from opposite directions: Brueggemann observes that Matthew places this ringing announcement immediately after the disciples' mix of worship and doubt, while Guyton recounts how Sepúlveda read the same words as authority transmitted to the church, the pope, and Christian princes—an interpretation that shaped centuries of colonial conquest.
“The recalcitrance of Israel voiced in these verses is followed by an affirmation of YHWH’s “wonderful works,” a phrase that here refers to the exodus deliverance (v. 7). That deliverance is an act of steadfast love. But the divine act and self-exhibit did not seem adequate for the threat posed by Pharaoh. Here in this single verse we have the juxtaposition of God’s steadfast love and Israel’s rebellion, the juxtaposition that according to this psalm characterizes the entire history of Israel. It was of course like that in the early Easter church. As Matthew comes to the end of his Gospel, just before the ringing missional affirmation “‘All authority . . . go therefore and make disciples of all the nations’” (Matt. 28:18–19), he writes, “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted” (v. 17).”
“Though neither side was officially declared the victor, Sepúlveda's side effectively won the debate, not only in the Spanish court but in the ideology of European Christians throughout the next several centuries of European colonial conquest. To theologians like Sepúlveda, the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18–19 made matters perfectly clear. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” Sepúlveda wrote that the authority of Jesus was transmitted to “the Church, the Vicar of Christ [aka the Pope], and the Christian princes” who had the obligation to “submit all mortals to the laws [of Christ]” and “punish all who violate them.”
What it means for you
This verse offers freedom to anyone who feels unqualified for the life of faith. You do not need airtight certainty to follow Jesus; the first disciples worshiped and doubted in the same breath, and he commissioned them anyway. The mission rests on his authority, not your confidence.
It also invites self-examination. Whenever we are tempted to control, pressure, or coerce others in God's name—at home, at church, in public life—this verse pushes back. The authority is Christ's alone. Our part is invitation and witness, offered with the humility of people who know the power was never handed to us.
Matthew 28 in context
Matthew 28 opens on resurrection morning: the women find the tomb empty, an angel announces that Jesus has risen, and Jesus himself meets them and sends word for the disciples to go to Galilee. Meanwhile, the guards are bribed to spread a rival story. The chapter closes on a mountain in Galilee, where the eleven disciples see Jesus, worship him—though some doubt—and receive the Great Commission. Verse 18 is the hinge of that final scene: Jesus' claim to all authority is the ground for the command to make disciples of all nations and his promise to be with them always.