Is Temple-Building in Your Mission Statement?

Corporations and businesses usually have mission or vision statements, and their primary purpose is to clarify the decision-making process. Many churches do the same and rightly ground such important statements in Scripture, with the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18–20 taking pride of place.

This passage famously stands as a bold and powerful conclusion to Matthew’s Gospel, and its prominence prompts us to pay attention to its relationship with the Old Testament. If we listen carefully, we’ll find that the Great Commission is about building a temple of praise.

Connection to Chronicles

One key theological word that runs across the Gospel of Matthew is “fulfillment.” Matthew constantly references the Old Testament and says it’s important for understanding what Jesus is doing. We should expect, then, that such a dramatic, theologically charged statement as the Great Commission might also contain an Old Testament reference. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations. . . . And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” appears to allude to temple-building as found in 2 Chronicles 36:23:

Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, “The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the LORD his God be with him. Let him go up.”

Several correspondences suggest Matthew alludes to this famous decree. For example, both Matthew 28 and 2 Chronicles 36 say bestowal from heaven comes so that all authority is given to someone over all earth, for everyone to hear, resulting in the command to “go” while accompanied by God’s presence. Matthew begins his Gospel with an allusion to Genesis (meaning “beginning”) with his expression “The book of the genealogy” (Biblos geneseōs). This same phrase occurs in the early Greek translations of Genesis 2:4 and 5:1.

The Great Commission is about building a temple of praise.

While a reference to the first book of the Old Testament is appropriate for Matthew 1:1, mention of “the end” befits the conclusion (28:20). Matthew’s Gospel itself (23:35) shows evidence that 2 Chronicles was believed to be the last book of what we call the Old Testament. It makes sense that he’d start with a reference to the first book—Genesis—and conclude with a reference to (what was for him) the very end—2 Chronicles.

Culmination of Matthew’s Temple Theme

This allusion to 2 Chronicles 36 depicts the work of making disciples as building a temple. Matthew has already established this motif earlier, as Jesus repeatedly condemns Herod’s Temple as defunct because of its corrupt leadership. They made it a “den of robbers” (Matt. 21:13), a reference to Jer. 7:11, and it’s now “desolate” (Matt. 23:38).

The belief that the Messiah would build a temple fits nicely with the imagery in 16:18 that the Lord Jesus builds his church on a foundation rock. The Davidic covenant promises that the Son of David will build a new temple (2 Sam. 7:13; 1 Chron. 17:12), a concept repeated later in the Old Testament (Zech. 4:7–9; 6:12–13). The Messiah as a temple builder may even be behind the description of Cyrus as God’s “anointed” in Isaiah 45:1.

The kingdom having a new temple is also likely behind the use of Psalm 118:22–23 in Matthew 21:42, in which Jesus tells the Pharisees that the stone they rejected will become a new temple cornerstone. Other New Testament authors say something similar. Peter uses the same passage as Jesus (Ps. 118) and explicitly states, “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:5).

Paul also makes direct statements like these:

We are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. . . . I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. . . . You are God’s temple. (1 Cor. 3:9–10, 16)

You are . . . built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (Eph. 2:19–21).

Concentration on Worship

With this background in mind, the Great Commission is fundamentally about worship. Just as the psalms declare all the nations should worship YHWH because he’s their rightful ruler (e.g., Ps. 96), so too Jesus currently rules over all heaven and earth, and therefore all are called to worship him.

Jesus currently rules over all heaven and earth, and therefore all are called to worship him.

The church’s mission involves evangelism and conversion; baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19); and teaching all Jesus’s commands (v. 20).

These actions are like building a temple, which means the driving force that guides the church’s decisions and work is a desire to see the praise, honor, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.