The Great Commissions

Matthew 28 is known as the Gospel chapter containing the Great Commission. As one considers the entirety of the chapter one finds two other commissions.
I find the chapter prefaced by the words of the Pharisees to Pilate in Matthew 27. They said, "We remember when this deceiver was alive, he said, 'After three days I am going to rise again.'" There is great irony in the fact that none of the disciples remembered what the Pharisees remembered concerning Jesus' words.
Concerning that resurrection the angels provide the first commission of Matthew 28 to the women who came to visit the empty tomb. The first commission has three parts. First, "Do not be afraid." The second, "Come and see where He was laid," and the third, "Go, quickly and tell His disciples..." The second part of that first commission is the charge to come and view the evidence available. Because of the centrality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is important that every follower of Jesus personally consider the evidence for the resurrection of Christ. I argue that there is more evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ than for any other personal event in ancient history.
The next commission is presented by the chief priests to the soldiers who informed the priests of the earthquake and its consequences. The basic commission is to accept a bribe and deny or ignore the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the false commission. I wonder how many times people may influence me to ignore or deny the resurrection and its power. At least no one has offered to pay me to follow the false commission.
The final commission is, in fact, the Great Commission. I will just note that there is only one main verb in that commission, "make disciples." The commission to those who follow Christ is to encourage others to learn from Christ in order to be better citizens in His kingdom and in order to encourage others to become citizens of Christ's kingdom.

The Only Begotten Son

According to John 1.18; 3.16 &18 and 1 John 4.9 Jesus is “the only begotten Son” [monogenase]. Begotten means born, it is the word we derive generate and generation from. In the above verses the prefix ‘mono’ is added to the word ‘begotten’.

In newer translations and paraphrases, like the NIV and The Message the composite word is translated “one and only Son” (NIV) and “only Son” (The Message). These versions capture some of the meaning of ‘only begotten’ or ‘only born’ [monogenase], but they do not communicate the idea of being born which is essential to the word.

The difficulty with translating the word ‘only born’ is the fact that in our western culture one would immediately think of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, which is not the primary meaning. Acts 13.30-34 states, “But God raised Him from the dead… And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today i have begotten You.’” Clearly, the fact of Jesus being the “only born Son” is based on His resurrection not His incarnation.

In the context of John 3, Nicodemus has come to Jesus to ask about how to obtain a significant relationship with God. Jesus answered that the way one gains a significant relationship with God is by being born into it (‘born again’ or ‘born from above’). It is the “only born Son” alone who provides an invitation to “whosoever” a new birth. Those who receive this new birth gain the significant relationship with God, and they gain it from the One who gives life from the dead.