The Great Commission is among the most familiar passages of Scripture, yet one of its most demanding clauses is routinely neglected.
Christ commands his church not only to make disciples of all nations and baptize them but also to “teach them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). On the basis of his universal authority, the risen Christ sends his church not merely to announce the forgiveness of sins but to instruct the nations in obedience to his Word.
In contemporary missions discourse, this dimension of Christ’s command is often minimized or postponed indefinitely. Conversion is treated as the sole priority, while moral instruction is viewed with suspicion. Appeals to God’s law are frequently resisted for fear of legalism or distraction from evangelistic urgency. These concerns are real. Yet this fear of legalism, coupled with a pervasive pragmatism, has produced its own distortion: a missiology that proclaims Christ as Savior while remaining functionally silent about Christ as King.
The Law and the Nations
When speaking of the law, we are referring to God’s moral law, which was first given to Adam and is grounded in God’s holy character, woven into creation, written on every human heart, and summarized in the Ten Commandments. To say that the nations need the law is not to suggest that the law can save. Scripture is unambiguous: the law justifies no one and regenerates no heart. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
Yet the law performs indispensable work that the church must neither deny nor neglect. It exposes sin and drives sinners to Christ. It instructs believers in lives of grateful obedience. And, crucially for the mission of the church in the world, it restrains evil. Through conscience, culture, and civil authority, God uses his moral law to curb the full extent of the outward expression of human depravity and to preserve the conditions necessary for ordinary human life.
This civil use of the law explains why total depravity does not result in maximal wickedness at all times. Though unregenerate hearts remain corrupt, God restrains evil through his moral order. This restraint does not make men righteous before him, but it does protect image-bearers from the full horrors of unchecked sin. In this sense, the law functions as an instrument of common grace.
When missionaries proclaim Christ as Lord, they necessarily confront the moral architecture of the societies they enter. Teaching the nations obedience to Christ includes bearing witness to the goodness and authority of his commands as a restraint on evil, even where saving faith is still absent.
Why the Restraint of Sin Matters
If the law cannot save, and if obedience apart from faith cannot please God, why should Christians care about restraining sin among those outside of Christ? Scripture gives three reasons, each grounded in rightly ordered love.
1. Out of Zeal for God
First, we care about the restraint of sin because sin is, first and foremost, an offense against God. David’s confession is instructive: “Against you, you only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). While sin harms ourselves and our neighbors, its deepest evil lies in its offense against the holy character of God.
Therefore, zeal for God must include a hatred of sin wherever it appears. A missiology that ignores public evil in the name of “evangelistic focus” reflects a diminished view of God’s holiness. We can long for an unbeliever’s salvation while simultaneously desiring that they cease actions that profane God’s name.
2. Out of Love for Neighbor
Second, the restraint of sin is a moral duty flowing from love of neighbor. Biblical love is not a free-floating sentiment; it is the active willing of another’s good in conformity with God’s righteous standard.
One cannot genuinely love a neighbor while remaining indifferent to behaviors that destroy human flourishing. To love one’s neighbor is to desire that he or she not be subjected to injustice, violence, or exploitation. Indifference to public evil is not “staying in our lane”—it is an act of disobedience towards our Lord’s command to love our neighbor.
3. For the Advancement of the Gospel
Finally, the restraint of sin serves the gospel. While God can save sinners amidst chaos and persecution, Scripture and history both teach that he often uses civil order to allow the gospel to run freely.
Paul exhorts Christians to pray for rulers so that we may live “peaceful and quiet lives,” explicitly linking these conditions to God’s saving purposes (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Societal peace is not the Kingdom of God, but it is a providential blessing that allows the Word to be heard without hindrance. Servants of the gospel should soberly seek the restraint of sin, creating space for the gospel to be freely proclaimed and freely responded to.
A Historical Illustration: The Abolition of Sati
The 19th-century movement to end sati in India—the practice of burning widows alive on their husbands’ funeral pyres—illustrates the civil use of the law in action. For centuries, this was defended as a sacred cultural norm.
When missionaries like William Carey arrived, they did not treat sati as a mere cultural difference to be ignored in favor of a purely spiritual gospel. They recognized it as a manifest violation of God’s moral law and an assault on the imago Dei. Carey labored tirelessly to expose the horror of the practice, appealing to the righteous standards of God’s law to demand that civil authorities protect the vulnerable.
The legal abolition of sati did not automatically regenerate hearts or turn India into a Christian nation. However, it achieved exactly what the civil use of the law is intended to do: it restrained a grievous sin, preserved human life, and re-ordered society toward justice.
This intervention did not distract from the gospel; it amplified it. By refusing to stay silent in the face of atrocity, missionaries demonstrated that the Lordship of Christ has public implications. They taught the nations that even those who do not yet believe are accountable to the righteous standards of the King over all kings.
The abolition of sati therefore stands as a rebuke to any missiology that treats moral witness as a distraction from the “real work” of missions. If opposing the public burning of widows would be judged an unwarranted intrusion into culture or politics, then the problem is an anemic view of Christ’s kingship. Teaching the nations to obey all that Christ has commanded includes bearing faithful testimony to God’s moral law, even where saving faith is absent.
Conclusion
Christ sends his church into the world as the bearer of good news and as a teacher of obedience. The gospel alone saves, and on this point the church must never waver. Yet God’s moral law continues to speak with authority in a fallen world. These truths are not competitors but companions under Christ’s lordship.
Concern for the law, including its civil use, is not a departure from mission but fidelity to it. When the church teaches the nations to obey all that Christ has commanded, she bears witness to his good, wise, and righteous rule. In doing so, she loves God, loves her neighbors, and serves the advance of the gospel.
Faithful missionaries proclaim Christ as Savior without hesitation and confess Christ as King without embarrassment. The nations need the gospel, for without it none can be saved. They also need the law, not as a means of salvation, but as a gracious restraint on evil. To offer anything less is not faithfulness to the Great Commission, but a narrowing of it.
