Disciple

A scholar or one who attends the lectures, and professes the tenets of another. A disciple of Christ is one who believes his doctrines, imbibes his spirit, and follows his example.

See CHRISTIAN.

The proper signification of this word is a learner; but it signifies in the New Testament, a believer, a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. Disciple is often used instead of Apostle in the Gospels; but, subsequently, Apostles were distinguished from disciples. The seventy-two who followed our Saviour from the beginning, are called disciples; as are others who were of the body of believers, and bore no office. In subsequent times, the name disciple, in the sense of learner, was sometimes given to the καταηχουμενοι, “auditores,” persons who, in the primitive church, were receiving a preparatory instruction in Christianity. They were divided into two classes, those who received private instruction, and those who were admitted to the congregations, and were under immediate preparation for baptism. The church readers were, in some places, appointed to instruct the catechumens; and at Alexandria, where often learned men presented themselves for instruction, the office of catechist was filled by learned laymen, and these catechists laid the foundation of an important theological school.

Disciple, a scholar or follower of any teacher, in the general sense. It is hence applied in the Gospels not only to the followers of Christ, but to those of John the Baptist (Mat 9:14, etc.), and of the Pharisees (Mat 22:16). Although used of the followers of Christ generally, it is applied in a special manner to the twelve apostles (Mat 10:1; Mat 11:1; Mat 20:17; Luk 9:1). After the death of Christ the word took the wider sense of a believer, or Christian; i.e. a follower of Jesus Christ.

A scholar, Mat 10:24 . In the New Testament it is applied principally to the followers of Christ; sometimes to those of John the Baptist, Mat 22:16 . It is used in a special manner to point out the twelve, Mat 10:1 11:1 20:17. A disciple of Christ may now be defined as one who believes his doctrine, rests upon his sacrifice, imbibes his spirit, imitates his example, and lives to do his work.\par

Disciple. See Apostles.

(Lat. discipulus, a scholar, from discere, to learn: Mat 10:24), one who professes to have learned Certain principles from another, and maintains them on that other’s authority. In the New Testament it is applied principally to the followers of Christ; sometimes to those of John the Baptist, Mat 9:14; and of the Pharisees, Mat 22:16. It is used in a special manner to point out the twelve, Mat 10:1; Mat 11:1; Mat 20:17. A disciple of Christ may now be defined as one who believes his doctrine, rests upon his sacrifice, imbibes his spirit, and imitates his example (Farrar, Bibl. and Theol. Dict. s.v.). "There are three senses in which men are sometimes called disciples of any other person:

(1.) Incorrectly, from their simply maintaining something that he maintains, without any profession or proof of its being derived from him. Thus Augustine was a predestinarian, and so was Mohammed, yet no one supposes that the one derived his belief from the other. It is very common, however, to say of another that he is an Arian, Athanasian, Socinian, etc. which tends to mislead, unless it is admitted, or can be proved, that he learned his opinions from this or that master.

(2.) When certain persons avow that they have adopted the views of another, not, however, on his authority, but from holding them to be agreeable to reason or to Scriplture, as the Platonic, and most other philosophical sects — the Lutherans, Zuinglians, etc.

(3.) When, like the disciples of Jesus, and, as it is said, of the Pythagoreans, and the adherents of certain churches, they profess to receive their system on the authority of their master or Church, to acquiesce in an ’ipse-dixit,’ or to receive all that the Church receives. These three senses should be carefully kept distinct."

μαθητής This word signifies strictly ’a learner’ or ’pupil.’ The Pharisees had such, whom they taught to fast. Mat 22:16; Mar 2:18. John the Baptist had disciples, who likewise fasted. Mat 9:14; Luk 5:33; Joh 3:25. The Lord Jesus had His disciples: the apostles whom He chose to be with Him are called His ’twelve disciples,’ Mat 11:1; but in other places the term is applied to all who followed the Lord, many of whom ’went back and walked no more with him.’ Joh 6:60-66. When great multitudes followed the Lord, He turned to them and bade them count the cost of really following Him. Such an one must hate (in comparison with Christ) all his natural relations and his own life also. He must take up his cross and follow Christ, and he must forsake all that he had, or he could not be His disciple. Luk 14:26-33. On another occasion Jesus said to the Jews that believed on Him, "If ye abide in my word, ye are truly my disciples." Joh 8:31. It was true association in heart with a rejected Christ. Mat 10:24-25; Joh 15:8.

DISCIPLE

1. In the NT ‘disciple’ (sing. and plur.) occurs very frequently in the Gospels and Acts, but not elsewhere in NT. In every case it represents the Gr. μαθητής = (1) ‘learner,’ ‘pupil,’ in contrast to ‘teacher,’ as Mat 10:24; and (2) ‘adherent,’ one who is identified with a certain leader, or school, and adopts a corresponding line of conduct, as Mar 2:18 ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?’ cf. Joh 9:28 ‘Thou art his disciple; but we are disciples of Moses.’ Our Lord Himself points to and discourages a loose use of the term ‘disciple,’ according to which it meant no more than ‘hearer,’ when He says, ‘If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples’ (Joh 8:31; cf. His statement of the conditions of discipleship, Luk 14:26-27; Luk 14:33 and Joh 15:8). As used by the Evangelists, ‘disciples’ has sometimes a broader and sometimes a narrower significance. For the former, see Luk 6:13; Luk 6:17 ‘a great multitude of his disciples,’ Act 6:2 ‘And the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them,’ cf. Act 4:32. It is evident that to St. Luke τῶν πιστευσάντων and τῶν μαθητῶν were equivalent expressions. Hence, when we read in Act 19:1 f. of ‘certain disciples,’ who when they ‘believed’ heard nothing of the gift of the Holy Ghost and were baptized ‘into John’s baptism,’ we must understand thereby Christian disciples, though in an ‘immature stage of knowledge’ (see Knowling’s note on the passage, Expos. Gr. Test.). For ‘disciples’ in the narrower sense = the inner circle of the followers of Jesus, ‘the Twelve,’ see Mat 8:23; Mat 11:1; Mat 14:15; Mat 26:18, and frequently. Thus, as applied to the followers of our Lord, ‘disciples’ is a term of varying content. It is of interest in passing to note the various appellations by which the disciples address the Saviour, expressing divers aspects of the relation which they held to subsist between themselves and Him. He was to them (1) Teacher (διδάσκαλος), Mar 4:38, Joh 13:13 f.; (2) Superintendent (ἐπιστάτης), only in Luk 5:5; Luk 8:45; Luk 9:33; Luk 9:49; (3) Lord (κύριος; from Luk 6:46 we should gather that this was the designation most usually adopted by the disciples); (4) My Teacher (ῥαββί), Mat 26:25, Mar 9:5, Joh 4:31; Joh 11:8.

2. Restricting ourselves to the more limited sense in which ‘disciples’ is used of the followers of our Lord, we may note the composition of the Twelve. The Synoptics and Acts provide the following lists:—

Comparing these lists, it is apparent that common to them all is the division of the Twelve into groups of four. The sequence of the groups is the same in each list. Within the groups the order of the names varies, save as regards the first name of each of the three groups, which in all the lists is the same—the first, fifth, and ninth places being occupied in all by Simon (Peter), Philip, and James of Alphaeus respectively. See, further, art. Apostles, p. 103^a f., and the separate articles on the above names.Act 1:13.Luk 6:14 ff.

3. The calling of the Twelve.—If this phrase be taken quite strictly, there is no difficulty in determining when and under what circumstances the call to which it refers was given. The Synoptic accounts are in virtual accord. They show that it was not at the outset of His ministry that our Lord increased the company of His immediate followers until it numbered twelve. That increase took place when the fame of His teaching and words, as He went through the towns and villages of Galilee, ‘preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of disease and all manner of sickness’ (Mat 9:35), both attracted to Him the attention of the populace, and so excited the resentment of the scribes and Pharisees that they began to take counsel with the Herodians ‘how they might destroy him’ (Mar 3:6). The need for more labourers was evident, and not less evident to Jesus the signs that the time for training such labourers might he short. St. Matthew tells, immediately before he records the calling of the Twelve, that when Jesus ‘saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion for them, because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest’ (Mat 9:36 ff.). That summons to prayer becomes more urgent and pressing in the light of St. Luke’s record, that immediately prior to His choosing the Apostles our Lord ‘went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called his disciples, and he chose from them twelve’ (Luk 6:12 ff.). The immediate purpose of the call is expressed by St. Mark thus: ‘And he appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, and to have authority to cast out devils’ (Mar 3:14 f.) On the question whether some of the Twelve had not received a previous call, or perhaps more than one previous call, to be followers of Jesus, and if so, in what relation these carlier callings stand to the appointment of the Twelve, see art. Apostles.

4. The training of the Twelve.—When St. Mark tells us (Mar 3:14) that Jesus ‘appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,’ he discloses the characteristic and the all-important feature of the method of their training. They were to see the works of the Saviour and to hear His words, and in addition to that they were to be constantly in contact with His personality: they were to be with Him (see above, p. 107).

That ‘course of instruction,’ as Keim calls it, which contact with Jesus secured to His disciples, was maintained with very slight interruption from the calling of the Twelve until the Betrayal. The chief intermission, of which we have any word, of the intercourse of Jesus with His chosen followers, was occasioned by that mission on which the Twelve were sent quite soon after their call (Mat 10:5). The interval occupied by the mission was probably not more than a few days—‘at least a week’ (Latham, Pastor Pastorum, p. 301). That mission was a testing of the Apostles themselves, not less than an act of service to those to whom they were sent; and the test was so endured that it needed not to be repeated. The Twelve went forth under the conditions which Jesus prescribed: they delivered the message He bade them, and they used freely the power to heal with which they were entrusted. No similar service separated them again from their Master,—unless, indeed, they had part in that mission of the Seventy of which St. Luke tells (10:1ff.). The time would yet come for them to deliver their testimony and to fulfil their ministry. Meanwhile the Saviour jealously guards for them the precious opportunities which remain for free intercourse with Himself. He leads them away from the crowds, taking them now to ‘a desert place’ (Mar 6:31), and again to the remote ‘parts of Caesarea Philippi’ (Mat 16:13). We gain the impression that as the brief spell of His own earthly ministry neared its term, our Lord concentrated Himself increasingly upon the inner band of His followers. Ewald is true to the indication of the Gospel narratives when he says that ‘the community of His friends’ was to our Lord ‘during the last year and a half the main object of His earthly labours’ (III, vol. vi. 417).

Should it be asked more particularly what was the instruction of which the Twelve were the recipients, a full answer would require a recapitulation of all the teaching of Jesus. This much may be said here, that the Twelve shared the instruction given to ‘the multitude,’ with the added advantage of the explanations which they sought, and which our Lord freely accorded them, ‘when he was alone,’ ‘privately.’ See Mar 4:34, on which Swete (Gospel according to St. Mark, p. 84) comments: ‘Exposition now regularly followed (ἐπέλυεν πάντα) the public teaching.’ Furthermore, the Gospels contain records of discourses addressed only to the inner circle of the disciples. Among such discourses should be reckoned in all probability part at least of the group of addresses known as the ‘Sermon on the Mount’—notably the part contained in. Matthew 5, which bears all the marks of a discourse to more immediate followers. Not, however, that the more immediate followers are in this particular connexion to be restricted to the Twelve, since the discourse in Matthew 5 must—in spite of the position St. Luke gives to his version of it (Luk 6:12 ff.)—be placed earlier than the calling of the Twelve; it ‘has throughout the character of an early and opening discourse.’ None the less it is to be accounted among our Lord’s less public utterances: it is ‘Jesus’ address of welcome to His band of disciples’ (Keim, op. cit. 286–290). Again, in Mat 10:5-42 we have what appears at first sight to be a sustained address to the Twelve in reference to their mission. But on a comparison with Mar 6:8-11 and Luk 9:2-5 it seems likely that only Luk 9:5-14 were spoken with direct reference to the mission, and that Luk 9:15-42 are grouped with them, though coming from a later time, because they contained sayings of Jesus in reference to a kindred topic—the future missionary labours of the Apostles. Yet further must be added to the discourses delivered to the Twelve alone, the apocalyptic discourse Matthew 24 (cf. Mark 13 and Luke 21), with its parabolic sequel in ch. 25; and the discourse in the upper room on the night of the Betrayal (John 14-16). And when we endeavour to tabulate the instruction imparted more privately to the Twelve, we may not omit the signs, each so full of teaching for them, of which they alone—and in one ease but three of their number—were the spectators. The Walking on the Sea, the Transfiguration, the Cursing of the Barren Fig-tree, the Feet-washing in the Upper Room, the Miraculous Draught of Fishes (Joh 21:4 ff.),—these all surely formed part of the lessons most indelibly impressed on the Twelve.

Our Lord Himself has characterized for us the purpose and the content of the teaching He imparted to His followers. It was that to them might be given ‘the mystery of the kingdom of God’ (Mar 4:11). ‘As given to the Apostles it was still a secret, not yet to be divulged, nor even except in a small degree intelligible to themselves’ (Swete, op. cit. p. 72). The Kingdom, the characteristics of its subjects, its laws, its service, and, finally, its Lord reigning through suffering—such in broad outline was the course of the instruction imparted by Jesus to the Twelve. It moved onward from the simpler to the more profound. ‘At first, sayings are given them to remember; latterly, they receive mysteries on which to meditate. In the Sermon on the Mount men are told plainly what it is desirable for them to know; afterwards, the teaching passes through parables and hard sayings up to the mysteries conveyed by the Last Supper’ (Latham, op. cit. 120). But no teaching, not even the teaching of Jesus Himself, could overcome the reluctance to believe that it behoved that the Christ should suffer, or arouse anticipations of the glories that should follow. The crucifixion and death of our Lord found the Eleven unprepared, and ready to despair, though they still held together in the bonds of a love they had acquired in the school of Jesus. It needed the actual fact of the Resurrection, and converse with the risen Saviour, and the illumination of the Spirit, to bring them to a true understanding of all that reiterated teaching concerning His death and His rising from the dead which Jesus had given ‘while He was yet with them.’ But once that understanding was attained by the disciples, the truth against which their minds had been stubbornly closed became central in their proclamation. There is abundant evidence that the Apostles were slow learners—men with no special quickness of insight, and with the hindrance of strongly developed prejudice. It is also evident that their slowness and prejudice have for us an apologetic value (see esp. Bruce, Training of the Twelve, p. 482: ‘They were stupid, slow-minded persons; very honest, but very unapt to take in new ideas.… Let us be thankful for the honest stupidity of these men, it gives great value to their testimony. We know that nothing but facts could make such men believe that which nowadays they get credit for inventing’). It concerns us yet more to recall the evidence which their training affords of the patience and transforming power of Him who now, not less truly than in the days of His flesh, calls weak men to Himself that they may be with Him, and that He may send them forth to bear witness on His behalf, enduing them with His Spirit, that their testimony, like that of the Apostles, may not be in vain. See also art. Apostles.

Literature.—Bruce, The Training of the Twelve; Latham, Pastor Pastorum; Neander, Life of Christ; Ewald, History of Israel, English translation vol. vi.; Keim, Jesus of Nazara, English translation vol. iii.; Weiss, The Life of Christ; Sanday, Outlines of the Life of Christ [art. ‘Jesus Christ’ in Hastings D^{B [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.]} ]; Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah; Greenhough, The Apostles of Our Lord.

George P. Gould.

(Latin: discipulus, a student)

A term used in the New Testament to designate a Christian follower, either a personal adherent of Our Lord or the Apostles; the disciples, strictly so called, are to be distinguished from the Apostles. The Apostles were chosen especially by Christ from the disciples and were the depositories of His most secret mysteries and the principal ministers of His religion. The Latin Church gives the number of disciples of Our Lord as either 72 or 70.

This term is commonly applied to one who is learning any art or science from one distinguished by his accomplishments. Though derived from the Latin discipulus, the English name conveys a meaning somewhat narrower than its Latin equivalent: disciple is opposed to master, as scholar to teacher, whilst both disciple and scholar are included under the Latin discipulus. In the English versions of the Old Testament the word disciple occurs only once (Isaiah 8:16); but the idea it conveys is to be met with in several other passages, as, for instance, when the Sacred Writer speaks of the "sons" of the Prophets (IV K., ii, 7); the same seems, likewise, to be the meaning of the terms children and son in the Sapiential books (e.g. Proverbs 4:1, 10; etc.). Much more frequently does the New Testament use the word disciple in the sense of pupil, adherent, one who continues in the Master’s word (John viii, 31). So we read disciples of Moses (John 9:28), of the Pharisees (Matthew 22:16; Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33). of John the Baptist (Matthew 9:14; Luke 7:18; John 3:25). These, however, are only incidental applications, for the word is almost exclusively used of the Disciples of Jesus.In the Four Gospels it is most especially applied to the Apostles, sometimes styled the "twelve disciples" (Matthew 10:1; 11:1; 20:17; 26:20; 28:16, having reference to events subsequent to Christ’s Passion, mentions only the "eleven disciples"), sometimes merely called "the disciples" (Matthew 14:19; 15:33, 36; etc.). The expression "his disciples" frequently has the same import. Occasionally the Evangelists give the word a broader sense and make it a synonym for believer (Matthew 10:42; 27:57; John 4:1; 9:27, 28; etc.). Besides the signification of "Apostle" and that of "believer" there is finally a third one, found in St. Luke, and perhaps also in the other Evangelists. St. Luke narrates (vi, 13) that Jesus "called unto him his disciples, and he chose twelve of them (whom also he named apostles)". The disciples, in this disciples, in this context, are not the crowds of believers who flocked around Christ, but a smaller body of His followers. They are commonly identified with the seventy-two (seventy, according to the received Greek text, although several Greek manuscripts mention seventy-two, as does the Vulgate) referred to (Luke 10:1) as having been chosen by Jesus. The names of these disciples are given in several lists (Chronicon Paschale, and Pseudo-Dorotheus in Migne, P.G., XCII, 521-524; 543-545; 1061-1065); but these lists are unfortunately worthless. Eusebius positively asserts that no such roll existed in his time, and mentions among the disciples only Barnabas, Sosthenes, Cephas, Matthias, Thaddeus and James "the Lord’s brother" (His. Eccl., I, xii). In the Acts of the Apostles the name disciple is exclusively used to designate the converts, the believers, both men and women (vi, 1, 2, 7; ix, 1, 10, 19; etc.; in reference to the latter connotation see in particular ix, 36) even such as were only imperfectly instructed, like those found by St. Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-5).-----------------------------------CHARLES L. SOUVAY Transcribed by Christine J. Murray The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VCopyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York

di-sı̄´p’l:

(1) Usually a substantive (μαθητής, mathētḗs, “a learner,” from manthánō, “to learn”; Latin discipulus, “a scholar”): The word is found in the Bible only in the Gospels and Acts. But it is good Greek, in use from Herodotus down, and always means the pupil of someone, in contrast to the master or teacher (διδάσκαλος, didáskalos). See Mat 10:24; Luk 6:40. In all cases it implies that the person not only accepts the views of the teacher, but that he is also in practice an adherent. The word has several applications. In the widest sense it refers to those who accept the teachings of anyone, not only in belief but in life. Thus the disciples of John the Baptist (Mat 9:14; Luk 7:18; Joh 3:25); also of the Pharisees (Mat 22:16; Mar 2:18; Luk 5:33); of Moses (Joh 9:28). But its most common use is to designate the adherents of Jesus. (a) In the widest sense (Mat 10:42; Luk 6:17; Joh 6:66, and often). It is the only name for Christ’s followers in the Gospels. But (b) especially the Twelve Apostles, even when they are called simply the disciples (Mat 10:1; Mat 11:1; Mat 12:1, et al.). In the Acts, after the death and ascension of Jesus, disciples are those who confess Him as the Messiah, Christians (Act 6:1, Act 6:2, Act 6:7; Act 9:36 (feminine, mathḗtria); Act 11:26, “The disciples were called Christians”). Even half-instructed be-lievers who had been baptized only with the baptism of John are disciples (Act 19:1-4).

(2) We have also the verb, μαθητεύω, mathēteúō, “Jesus’ disciple” (literally, “was discipled to Jesus,” Mat 27:57); “Make disciples of all the nations” (the King James Version “teach,” Mat 28:19); “had made many disciples” (the King James Version “taught many,” Act 14:21); “every scribe who hath been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven” (the King James Version “instructed,” Mat 13:52). The disciple of Christ today may be described in the words of Farrar, as “one who believes His doctrines, rests upon His sacrifice, imbibes His spirit, and imitates His example.”

The Old Testament has neither the term nor the exact idea, though there is a difference between teacher and scholar among David’s singers (1Ch 25:8), and among the prophetic guilds the distinction between the rank and file and the leader (1Sa 19:20; 2Ki 6:5).

The use of the word ‘disciple’ (ìáèçôÞò) in the NT is remarkable and very instructive. It occurs 238 times in the Gospels. In the Epistles and the Apocalypse it does not occur at all, its place being taken by ‘saints’ (ἅãéïé) and ‘brethren’ (ἀäåëöïß). Acts exhibits the transition, with ‘disciple’ (ìáèçôÞò) 28 times and the feminine form (ìáèÞôñéá) once, but with ‘saints’ 4 times (Act_9:13; Act_9:32; Act_9:41; Act_26:10) and ‘brethren’ (not counting addresses, and mostly in the second half of the book) about 32 times. In Acts, ‘believers’ (ðéóôåýïíôåò, ðéóôåýóáíôåò, ðåðéóôåõêüôåò) is another frequent equivalent. This explanation of the change from ‘disciple’ to the other terms is simple. During His life on earth, the followers of Jesus were called ‘disciples’ in reference to Him; afterwards they were called ‘saints’ in reference to their sacred calling, or ‘brethren’ in relation to one another (Sanday, Inspiration3, 1896, p. 289). In Acts, the first title is going out of use, and the others are coming in; in ch. 9 all three terms are found. Christ’s charge, ‘Make disciples of all the nations’ (Mat_28:19), may have helped to keep ‘disciple’ in use.

‘Disciple’ means more than one who listens to a teacher; it implies his acceptance of the teaching, and his effort to act in accordance with it; it implies being a ‘believer’ in the teacher and being ready to be an ‘imitator’ (ìéìçôÞò) of him (Xen. Mem. I. vi. 3). It is remarkable that St. Paul does not call his converts his ‘disciples’-that might seem to be taking the place of Christ (1Co_1:13-15); but he speaks of them as his ‘imitators.’ In the Gospels, ‘disciple’ is often used in a special sense of the Twelve, and sometimes of the followers of human teachers-Moses, or John the Baptist, or the Pharisees. Neither use is found in Acts: in 19:2, ‘disciples’ does not mean disciples of John, as is shown by ‘when ye believed’ (ðéóôåýóáíôåò), that is, ‘when ye became Christians,’ which is the dominant meaning of this verb in Acts. These ‘disciples’ were imperfectly instructed Christians.

See also article Apostle. Alfred Plummer.

(Matt 4)

- From the Latin "to learn". Those who followed Jesus of Nazareth, and eventually believed in him as the Christ. Especially one of the twelve apostles

During the lifetime of Jesus there were many who considered themselves his disciples. That is, they followed him and listened to his words, as pupils might listen to a teacher. Although these people may have thought Jesus to be the Messiah, many of them had a wrong understanding of the sort of person the Messiah would be. They expected him to be a political leader who would free the Jews from Roman domination and bring in the golden age (Joh 6:14-15; Joh 6:60-64). When they found that Jesus was not this kind of leader, they withdrew from him (Joh 6:66-68).

Yet there were many, probably hundreds, who were true believers, true disciples (Luk 6:17; Luk 6:20). From these, Jesus chose twelve whom he appointed apostles (Luk 6:13; see APOSTLE). These twelve were Jesus’ disciples in a special sense, and became known as ‘the twelve disciples’ or simply ‘the disciples’ (Mat 16:13; Mat 20:17; Mat 24:3; Mat 26:17). After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, all the followers of Jesus became known as disciples (Act 1:15; Act 6:1; Act 9:1), and later as Christians (Act 11:26; 1Pe 4:16; see CHRISTIAN).

The cost of discipleship

Jesus pointed out that those who want to become his disciples (whether in his day or in ours) have to accept his lordship in their lives. He may require them to give up their occupations, friends, possessions or status for his sake. On the other hand, he may not. The fact is that every disciple must be prepared to give up such things, should Jesus so direct. Usually Jesus will require different people to make different sacrifices, depending on who they are and what work he wants them to do. But always there will be some sacrifice. Self-denial is the only way to discipleship of Jesus Christ (Mar 1:16-20; Mar 8:34-38; Mar 10:17-22; Mar 10:28-30; Luk 14:33; Php 2:3-8; see DENIAL).

Just as Jesus carried his cross to the place of his crucifixion, so each of his followers has to take up his or her cross and be prepared to die for Jesus’ sake (Mat 16:24-26; cf. Joh 19:17-18). Even if the Christian’s discipleship does not lead to death, it will involve a certain amount of hardship, suffering and persecution (Mat 10:24-25; Mat 24:9; Joh 15:20).

People therefore must consider beforehand what it will cost them to be Jesus’ disciples. They must be prepared for a lifetime of commitment to him. There is no place for those who make a start and then give up (Luk 14:26-33;). Disciples must be ready to accept physical inconvenience (Luk 9:57-58), to put their responsibilities to Christ before all other responsibilities (Luk 9:59-60) and to be wholehearted in their devotion to Christ (Luk 9:61-62).

Characteristics of the true disciple

A disciple is a learner, and the disciples of Jesus learn from him (Mat 11:29; Eph 4:20). But merely to learn is not enough. They must put their learning into practice and maintain a consistent obedience if they are truly to be Jesus’ disciples (Joh 8:31). They give visible proof that they are Jesus’ disciples through practising genuine love towards each other and through bearing spiritual fruit in their lives (Joh 13:13-15; Joh 13:35; Joh 15:8).

This practical love extends beyond the group of fellow disciples to all people everywhere (Mat 5:44-46). Jesus’ disciples are therefore to take his message to others in order to make more disciples, no matter who the people are or where they live (Mat 28:19-20; see MISSION).

One of the twelve original close followers of Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry.

One who learns, follows, and lives by the teachings of Jesus Christ; one who imitates Christ. (For further study, turn to "Live as a Disciple.")

—New Believer’s Bible Glossary

A pupil or follower of a religion, a person, or a movement. As Christians we are to be disciples of Jesus (Luk 14:26-27). We follow in the teaching and example of what He said and did. A disciple is a convert but not all converts are disciples. As disciples we are to bear our cross daily (Mat 16:24). This means to live and die for Him if necessary (Mat 16:25).