Discipleship in the New Testament
Joseph R. Dodson
In the Great
Commission, Jesus commands his disciples to make disciples. But what is
discipleship? Christians weren’t the only ones to make disciples in the ancient
world.
For instance, John the Baptist had disciples (e.g., Matt. 9:14; Luke
7:18—19; John 1:35—37; Acts 19:1—3) as did the Pharisees (e.g., Matt. 22:16;
Mark 2:18; John 9:28—29). Moreover, in the New Testament world many
philosophical schools, such as the Sophists and Stoics, had disciples. Within
all of these groups, discipleship primarily involved imitation, following and
adhering to the example of a god or master teachers or both.
Christian
discipleship also called for imitation. According to Jesus, “A disciple is not
above his teacher, but, once he has been fully trained, the disciple will be
like his teacher” (Luke 6:40); indeed, as the teacher is, so should the
disciple be also (Matt. 10:25). Jesus makes it clear that only his disciples
will receive eternal life (e.g., Matt. 16:24—26; 19:21—23; John 10:27— 28).
Imitating him, however, calls for drastic measures—a willingness to deny self,
to forsake possessions, to abandon loved ones, and to suffer persecution (Luke
14:26—27, 33; cf. John 6:60—66). Paul also called disciples to a life of
imitation—”Imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1; Phil. 3:17; cf.
2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:19;1 Tim. 1:16); “for you yourselves know how you ought to
follow our example” (2 Thess. 3:7—9); “be imitators of God” (Eph. 5:1; cf. 4:24
“set an example for the believers” (1 Tim. 4:12). According to Paul,
discipleship requires imitation in attitude as well as in action, by
cultivating moral virtues (such as humility and love) as well as enacting
selfless service (Rom. 15:2—3; 2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:1—11). Similarly, the author
of Hebrews urged the disciples to emulate the exemplars of faithful endurance
(Heb. 6:12; 11:1—12:1; 13:7).
The
imitation motif especially occurs in contexts of suffering (1 Thess. 1:6— 7;
2:14). For instance, Peter points believers to the example of Christ’s
suffering so they may follow “in his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21—23). In fact, even God acts as an agent in
discipleship by using afflictions to disciple his children (Heb. 12:7—13) and
by working suffering for good so the disciples of Christ may be conformed to
his image (see Rom. 8:17—29).
Ref; The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook - New Testament
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