Make disciples (3100)(matheteuo) This is the verb form of mathetes and is found 4 times in the NT. Intransitively, the verb means to be the disciple of another, to follow his precepts and instruction, to be a pupil of another implying one is an adherent of the teacher. Transitively, matheteuo means to make a disciple of someone, to cause them to be a pupil, to teach or instruct them.
A Chinese Proverb is very apropos regarding Jesus call to His disciples to go and make disciples...
Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day; teach him to fish, and he eats for the rest of his life.
Comment: This is the very reason I strongly encourage you to learn and practice the discipline of inductive Bible study, for in so doing you will be equipped to "feed yourself" for the rest of your life on earth!
Here are the 4 NT uses
Matthew 13:52 And Jesus said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old."
Matthew 27:57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
Matthew 28:19 "Go therefore and make disciples (command) of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Acts 14:21 After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,
Matthew 5:2 He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, (NASB: Lockman)
Greek: kai anoixas (AAPMSN) to stoma autou edidasken (AAImperfect) autous legon, (PAPMSN)
Amplified: Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
KJV: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
NLT: This is what he taught them: (NLT - Tyndale House)
Philips: Then he began his teaching by saying to them, (Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest: And having opened His mouth He went to teaching them, saying, (Eerdmans)
Young's Literal: and having opened his mouth, he was teaching them, saying:
declaring who are blessed
HE OPENED HIS MOUTH: kai anoixas (AAPMSN) to stoma autou: (Mt 13:35; Job 3:1; Psalms 78:1,2; Proverbs 8:6; 31:8,9; Luke 6:20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26; Acts 8:35; Acts 10:34; 18:14; Ephesians 6:19)
Wesley writes that "opening His mouth" is
"a phrase which always denotes a set and solemn discourse" (see cross references above)
Spurgeon writes that...
Even when his mouth was closed he was teaching by His life; yet He did not withhold the testimony of His lips. Earnest men, when they address their fellows, neither mumble, nor stumble, but speak distinctly, opening their mouths. When Jesus opens His mouth let us open our ears and hearts. (The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Popular Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew)
Chrysostom says that He taught them even when He did not open His mouth; His very silence was instructive. But when He did open His mouth, what streams of wisdom flowed forth!
“How could he teach without opening his mouth? “to which the reply is that he very frequently taught, and taught much, without saying a word, since his whole life was teaching, and his miracles and deeds of love were the lessons of a master instructor. It is not superfluous to say that “He opened his mouth, and taught them,” for He had taught them often when His mouth was closed. Besides that, teachers are to be frequently met with who seldom open their mouths; they hiss the everlasting gospel through their teeth, or mumble it within their mouths, as if they had never been commanded to, “cry aloud, and spare not.” Jesus Christ spoke like a man in earnest; He enunciated clearly, and spake loudly. He lifted up His voice like a trumpet, and published salvation far and wide, like a man who had something to say which He desired His audience to hear and feel. Oh, that the very manner and voice of those who preach the gospel were such as to bespeak their zeal for God and their love for souls! So, should it be, but so it is not in all cases. When a man grows terribly in earnest while, speaking, his mouth appears to be enlarged in sympathy with his hearers: this characteristic has been observed in vehement political orators, and the messengers of God should blush if no such impeachment can be laid at their door.
“He opened his mouth, and taught them,” — have we not here a further hint that, as he had from the earliest days opened the mouths of his holy prophets, so now he opens his own mouth to inaugurate a yet fuller revelation? If Moses spake, who made Moses’ mouth? If David sang, who opened David’s lips that he might show forth the praises of God? Who opened the mouths of the prophets? Was it not the Lord by his Spirit? Is it not therefore well said that now he opened his own mouth, and spake directly as the incarnate God to the children of men? Now, by his own inherent power and inspiration, he began to speak, not through the mouth of Isaiah, or of Jeremiah, but by his own mouth. Now was a spring of wisdom to be unsealed from which all generations should drink rejoicingly; now would the most majestic and yet most simple of all discourses be heard by mankind. The opening of the fount which flowed from the desert rock was not one half so full of joy to men. Let our prayer be, “Lord, as thou hast opened thy mouth, do thou open our hearts;” for when the Redeemer’s mouth is open with blessings, and our hearts are open with desires, a glorious filling with all the fullness of God will be the result, and then also shall our mouths be opened to show forth our Redeemer’s praise. (Matthew 5.1-12 The Beatitudes)
Martyn Lloyd-Jones encourages believers to read and study the Sermon on the Mount writing that we should...
not say it has nothing to do with us. Why, it has everything to do with us! If only all of us were living the Sermon on the Mount, men would know that there is dynamic in the Christian gospel; they would know that this is a live thing; they would not go looking for anything else. They would say, 'Here it is.' And if you read the history of the Church you will find it has always been when men and women have taken this Sermon seriously and faced themselves in the light of it, that true revival has come. And when the world sees the truly Christian man, it not only feels condemned, it is drawn, it is attracted. Then let us carefully study this Sermon that claims to show what we ought to be. Let us consider it that we may see what we can be. (Lloyd-Jones, D. M. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)
Lloyd-Jones goes on to state that
it is important for us to take the Sermon as a whole before we come to the details, (because of) this constant danger of 'missing the wood because of the trees'. We are all of us ready to fix on certain particular statements, and to concentrate on them at the expense of others. The way to correct that tendency, I believe, is to realize that no part of this Sermon can be understood truly except in the light of the whole...
There is a kind of logical sequence in this Sermon. Not only that, there is certainly a spiritual order and sequence. Our Lord does not say these things accidentally; the whole thing is deliberate. Certain postulates are laid down, and on the basis of those, certain other things follow. Thus I never discuss any particular injunction of the Sermon with a person until I am perfectly happy and clear in my mind that that person is a Christian. It is wrong to ask anybody who is not first a Christian to try to live or practise the Sermon on the Mount....
.In Mt 5:3-10 you have the character of the Christian described in and of itself. That is, more or less, the Beatitudes which are a description of the character of the Christian in general. Then Mt 5:11-12, I would say, show us the character of the Christian as proved by the reaction of the world to him...
The whole of Matthew 6, I suggest, relates to the Christian as living his life in the presence of God, in active submission to Him, and in entire dependence upon Him...There, I say, is a description of the Christian as a man who knows he is always in the presence of God, so that what he is interested in is not the impression he makes on other men, but his relationship to God. Thus, when he prays, he is not interested in what other people are thinking, whether they are praising his prayers or criticizing them; he knows he is in the presence of the Father, and he is praying to God. (Ibid)
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Greek Word Studies ( - )
Read freely Greek Word Studies from the Austin Precept text commentary of the Bible in text and pdf format. Precept Austin is an online free dynamic bible commentary similar to wikipedia with updated content and many links to excellent biblical resources around the world. You can browse the entire collection of Commentaries by Verse on the Precept Austin website.We have been "bought with a price" to be "ambassadors for Christ" and our "salvation is nearer to us than when we believed" so let us "cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" "so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming." (1Cor 6:20, 2Cor 5:20, Ro 13:11, 2Cor 7:1, 1Jn 2:28)