Disciple vs Apostle - Living Church (2024)

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Disciple vs Apostle - Living Church? ›

So if you believe Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour then you are a Disciple. I am a disciple. An Apostle was specifically chosen by Jesus to spread the gospel

An apostle is a "messenger" or "one who is sent" while a disciple is a "student" or "learner." Apostles were primarily people who had met and followed Jesus during his life and were called by him to spread the gospel. Disciples were simply any of Jesus' followers who devoted themselves to learning from him.

Paul says that the risen Jesus called him directly to preach the gospel of Jesus to the gentiles, which is why he travels throughout the Roman empire starting Jesus-following communities and writing letters to them addressing their problems and questions. This is why Paul calls himself an apostle and not a disciple.

Apostle, (from Greek apostolos, “person sent”), any of the 12 disciples chosen by Jesus Christ. The term is sometimes also applied to others, especially Paul, who was converted to Christianity a few years after Jesus' death.

In what is known as the "Great Commission" (Mt 28:16-20), the risen Jesus appears to his 12 disciples and commissions them to go and make disciples of all nations. This event marks their full transformation into apostles, as they are sent out to the entire world with the authority of Jesus.

“Whereas Pauline apostles tend to cross cultures to pioneer new missional communities, Petrine apostles tend to mobilize existing communities to become and remain missional” (Hirsch and Catchim, The Permanent Revolution).

Peter was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. Roman Catholic tradition holds that Jesus established St. Peter as the first pope (Matthew 16:18). Jesus also gave him “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 16:19), which is why he is often depicted at the gates of heaven in art and popular culture.

Acts 1:21–22 states that for a man to be an apostle, he had to have been a member of the band of disciples from the beginning, and to have been an eyewitness of Christ's resurrection. Later on, when Jesus called Paul to be an additional apostle, these qualifications had to be modified.

Though the Bible offers few details about Judas's background, all four canonical gospels of the New Testament name him among Jesus's 12 closest disciples, or apostles. Intriguingly, Judas Iscariot is the only one of the apostles whom the Bible (potentially) identifies by his town of origin.

It is important to always remember that knowing the 3 Fs is not enough, but that we need to also do them and live them in our hearts. Jesus called his disciples to Follow him, Fellowship with him and each other, and lastly to Fish for others.

How does Jesus define a true disciple? ›

Jesus says in John 15:4, “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” So, a true disciple who is abiding in Christ and his word, will bear fruit. Free from sin.

The Bible shows Mary Magdalene as an important disciple of Jesus — the one witness to the Crucifixion and Resurrection identified in all four canonical Gospels. In three Gospels, she encounters the risen Christ. In the Gospel of John, she is the first person to testify to the good news that Christ has conquered death.

Nicodemus is considered by both Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church traditions to have secretly been a disciple of Jesus on the basis of the narrative in John 19; there is no explicit mention of his discipleship in the Gospel of John.

So if you believe Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour then you are a Disciple. I am a disciple. An Apostle was specifically chosen by Jesus to spread the gospel after his death and resurrection. The twelve apostles mentioned above were Jesus' closest disciples.

John the Apostle, or the Apostle John, was one of three primary disciples of Jesus, along with John's brother James, as well as Peter. John is known as the son of Zebedee and the brother of James. So fervent were the brothers, that Jesus named them the "Sons of Thunder" for the impact they made.

The Bible describes apostles as those who spread the word of the gospel as messengers of God, which includes Jesus Christ Himself. In contemporary interpretations, however, the definition of apostle applies more broadly as 'someone who is sent on a mission.