On Discipleship...

The Christian life is a life of discipleship.

Everyone who believes in Christ, is called to be His disciple.

Christ was called 'the Teacher', and 'the Good Teacher', being His disciple is something for all Christians to claim, Jesus had His special disciples who were called "His own" (John 13: 1). These were the men whom He prepared for ministering the word (Acts 6:4). The Bible says about them that: "He had called His twelve disciples to [Him], He gave them power [over] unclean spirits," (Matt. 10:1).

It says in the Sermon on the Mount: "His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them," (Matt.5:1-2). And when He wanted to celebrate the Passover, He sent two of His disciples to say that, " The Teacher says, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples? " (Mark 14:13-14).

The followers of John the Baptist were like wise called to be John's disciples. It says in the Bible that once, " Then there arose a dispute between [some] of John's disciples and the Jews about purification." (John 3:25). And on another occasion, the disciples of John came to the Lord Jesus Christ saying: "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?" (Matt. 9:14).

The Pharisees used to call themselves the disciples of Moses,which is why, in a debate between the Jews and the man who had been born blind, whose sight the Lord restored, the Jews said: "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples." (John9:28). We observe that preaching the gospel was taken to mean making disciples. When the Lord sent His disciples to preach the gospel, He said to them: "... Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them … teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; " (Matt. 28:19-20). And when Paul and Barnabas went to Derbe, it was said that, " And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, " (Acts 14:21).

For more on Discipleship, follow this link: http://www.copticchurch.org/Texts/Spirituals/disciplenship.pdf