The Last Verses of Matthew’s Gospel
The Last Verses of Matthew’s Gospel
The second passage, which Christians consider as evidence of the Trinity, is Matthew’s verse in his last chapter. This verse speaks of Jesus (PBUH) before his ascent to heaven, as he gave his command to his disciples. “And Jesus came and said to them,"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”(Matthew 28/18-20)
The first critical point in this passage is, although it is a very important one, the other three Gospels do not mention it. These Gospels agree that Jesus (PBUH) entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Was his riding on a donkey more important than the Trinity, which no one mentioned except Matthew?
In addition, at the end of Mark’s Gospel, when Jesus (PBUH) gave the command to the disciples, he did not mention the Trinity. Mark said, “And he said to them,"Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”(Mark 16/15-16). That indicates the fabrication of the Trinity passage in Matthew’s Gospel and shows that it is not genuine.
Moreover, this passage is a fabrication, as western scholars confirm. Wills said, “There is no proof that the apostles believed in the Trinity.”
Adolph Harnack said, “The Trinity passage, which talks about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is a strange issue to Jesus and it was not mentioned by him, and never existed in the Apostles’ time. Only in the later teachings of Christianity, do we find that Jesus was giving instructions after his resurrection, for, Paul knew nothing about that.”[1](Paul did not quote Jesus’ saying, which called for the spreading of Christianity among nations.)
When the historian Eusebius quoted this passage, he did not mention the Father or the Holy Spirit, but said, “they went to all nations to preach about the Gospel, relying on Jesus’ power, who said to them: ‘go, and teach all nations by my name’.” [2]
Moreover, what assures us is that the newly discovered Hebrew manuscripts for Matthew’s Gospel, which were originally written in Hebrew, do not contain this passage. This, according to Dr. G. Recart, a theology professor in the Anglican Missionary College, is strong evidence that the passage is a fabrication. He said, “Indeed, the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox have lied to the world regarding the last verses in Matthew, for, anyone who was baptized in this way, had a wrong baptism and died without salvation.” [3]
Dr. Recart also reminds us of many other passages that speak of the baptism by Jesus Christ only, as what comes in Peter’s famous speech. Peter said, “"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38).
The Samaritans were baptizing by the baptism of John the Baptist, when they heard Peter, “They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”(Acts 19:5) Peter did not ask them to baptize by the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit.[4]
The history of the disciples assures us that they did not know about that passage. They did not go to preach to all people as Jesus told them in that claimed passage. On the contrary, he told them to avoid preaching anyone other than the Jews. “These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans.but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”(Matthew 10/5-6).
This corresponds with a second century historical testimony, which contradicts the command of preaching to the nations and contradicts baptizing them with the Trinity. Apollonius, the historian, said, “I have received from the elders that Jesus, before ascending to heaven, commanded his disciples not to go far from Jerusalem for twelve years.” [5]
The disciples followed what Jesus (PBUH) said. They did not leave Jerusalem until circumstances forced them to leave. “Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.”(Acts 11/19).
If the disciples had heard Jesus (PBUH) commanding them to preach to all nations by the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they would follow what he said willingly, and preach his message to the gentiles.
When the idolatrous Cornelius, after his conversion to Christianity by Peter, called Peter to know about Christianity, the disciples blamed Peter for doing so. Then Peter said to them, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.”(Acts 10/28).
We notice here that Peter did not mention that Jesus (PBUH) asked them to do so, but he said “to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people.”(Acts 10/41-42), meaning the Jews only.
When he returned to Jerusalem, he faced more blame.“So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”(Acts 11/2-3) Then he told them about his dream, of eating with the gentiles, “But Peter began and explained it to them in order: "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven.”(Acts 11/4-10), and how the Holy Spirit came and asked him to go:“And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me.”(Acts 11/12)
After this convincing explanation from Peter, the disciples agreed to let him go to preach to the gentiles. “When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”(Acts 11/18)
Thus, all these people, including Peter, knew nothing about Matthew’s passage, which calls of baptizing the nations in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, why? Because Jesus (PBUH) did not mention it and they did not hear it from him, and if Jesus (PBUH) had said it, there would be no blame attached.
In addition, the disciples agreed with Paul that he would preach to the gentiles, and they would preach to the Jews. Paul said,“when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised. They gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”(Galatia 2/7-9). How could they disobey Jesus’ (PBUH) command - if Matthew’s passage was true - and neglect preaching to the nations, and leave it only to Paul and Barnabas?
All of this evidence disproves Matthew’s passage, and proves that it is a fabrication. Jesus (PBUH) did not speak these words.
Even if we overlook all that I have mentioned, there is nothing in the passage that says the Holy Trinity is one self. It talks about three different selves and using (and) indicates that he is talking about three different things. The correct meaning of Matthew’s passage is “go by the name of Allah (S.W) and Jesus, his messenger, and the inspiration that Allah (S.W) sent to him, with Allah’s (S.W) commandments.”
Matthew’s verse is similar to what Paul said in his Epistle to Timothy. However, Christians do not refer to it as evidence of the Trinity. Paul said, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality”(Tim. (1) 5/21). No one understands from this passage the divinity of the angels, or that they are the third hypostasis in the Trinity. The judgment on Paul’s passage is the same as for Matthew’s passage.
The Book of Exodus mentions the same when talking about calling the Children of Israel to believe in Allah (S.W) and Moses (PBUH), and no one believes that Allah (S.W) and Moses (PBUH) are one and equal.“So the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.”(Exodus 14/31)
This way of expression is common in languages and books, as it is also in the Quran in many verses. “O ye who believe! Believe in God and His Apostle, and the scripture which He hath sent to His Apostle and the scripture which He sent to those before (him).”(Holy Quran 4:136)
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[1]- Christianity Without Christ, Kamel Saafan, pp 66. Christ in Christian Creeds Resources, Ahmad Abdul Wahab, pp 61. Monotheistic Christians’ Creeds Between Islam and Christianity, Husni Al Ateer, pp 92
[2]- History of the Church, Eusebius, pp 100
[3]- www.jesus-messiah.com/apologetics/catholic/matthew-proof.html
[4]- See also, (Acts 10:48, 8:16)
[5]-Monotheistic Christians’ Creeds Between Islam and Christianity, Husni Al Ateer, pp 230. Monotheistic Christians in History, Ahmad Abdul Wahab, pp 91-94
