The records of the resurrection appearances of Jesus in the concluding verses of the Gospel of Mark are brief summaries. No attempt is made to elaborate on any of them; and no attempt has been made to list all of his appearances in chronological order. It is possible, therefore, that there is a lapse of time between the visit with the eleven (Mark 16:14) and the giving of the Great Commission (Mark 16:15).

The passage (Mark 16:15-16), may very well be identified with the appearance of the Lord to more than five hundred on an appointed mountain in Galilee as recorded in Matthew 28:16-20. To place the passage in that setting would be in accord with the real purpose of the Great Commission. It was not confined to the disciples of that day. It is a commission that is given to all who follow Christ. Every believer is charged with the responsibility of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world.

The day has almost passed when we hear a believer in Christ say, Is missions necessary?

In this scientific age, when the world has been made a neighborhood so that we are conversant with the condition of men and women on every part of the globe, no thoughtful man can bring himself to say, What that man in a far-off continent believes is no business of man.

We have discovered that the beliefs of other peoples is very much our business; that incorrect ideas about the One True God and wrong ideas about righteousness and incomplete ideas about truth can quite easily and quite quickly, leap across the seven seas to affect our way of thinking and believing.

Today, as never before, it is clear that the field is the world. Today, too, as never before, our function as Christians is quite clear. It is not enough to help people in the remote corners of the earth to find a better way of life or to improve their living conditions. We must help them hear the gospel Christ. In obedience to this great command of Christ, we must preach the gospel to all creation1

Basically, our mission to the world is a spiritual mission. The world without Christ is eternally lost. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned2

Paul must have had the Great Commission clearly in mind when he declared for, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?3

The statement, Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved4, is a single passage of Scripture that must be always be interpreted in the light of the revelation of the Scriptures as a whole.

The question here is not, What does this single statement mean, by itself? but, What does the New Testament as a whole teach concerning the relationship of baptism to salvation? The answer is clear. The New Testament teaches over and over again that he who believes in Jesus Christ shall be saved. This is precisely what Jesus said to Nicodemus, who came to him inquiring the way to eternal life5. This is what Paul said to the Philippian jailer when he earnestly asked, What must I do to be saved?6. This, too, is what Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome when he was explaining the way of salvation.7

Notice that in each of the instances cited, salvation and baptism are not inseparably joined. Why then are salvation and baptism so coupled in this record of the Great Commission? The answer to this is that they belong together. In the mind of Christ, through all the ages that would follow, as those who went out to preach the gospel, those who believed would desire to act on their faith and to their new life&em;and, indeed, to their belief in the resurrection of their Lord through baptism. He who believes and is baptized will be saved8.

This saving faith includes obedience. Baptism is thus the evidence of the genuineness of one's faith, for it demonstrates an obedient surrender to Christ. It is the normal sequence that he who will be saved, must in obedience to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, be baptized.