What is Discipleship?

The word “disciple” means learner, student, pupil, or follower. The word is used for both believers and unbelievers (Jn 2:11; 6:59-71). Basically, anyone who is learning from Jesus is a disciple of Him. To come to or to come after Jesus is equated with being His disciple along with committing oneself in devotion to Him.

Even though the Bible uses this word to speak of merely those who were following after Jesus (committed or not, those of faith and those not of faith), Jesus clarifies what it means to truly follow Him and who can and cannot be His disciple (Lk 14:25-33). But by this, Jesus was not saying what we must do or not do to have eternal life. Rather, He was speaking of what kind of life people would need to live to follow Him the way He deserves and wants to be followed. He was laying out the standards of commitment and consecration to truly learn from Him, become like Him, and know Him. Discipleship is about becoming like one’s teacher. In this case, to become like Jesus. It’s about spiritual growth and imitation, not about salvation. So, when Jesus said, “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions” (Lk 14:33), He’s saying that you cannot truly imitate Him and learn from Him if you do not live this way. Additionally, if you’re not willing to count the cost and commit to following Him all the way through to the end even though it may cost you everything because of persecution, then it’s better to not follow Him in the first place.

All believers are disciples. If a believer does not live the life of discipleship, then they are not a true follower of Jesus. Though, this does not mean that we must all be fully surrendered, consecrated, and obedient at every second of our lives or to the highest degree to have or maintain our salvation. There are various degrees of commitment in following Jesus but all disciples and believers will be committed to follow Jesus and grow in their obedience to God to one degree or another. Jesus calls all believers to a high level of discipleship and that may look different for each person but such a level of discipleship is not a requirement to receive God’s forgiveness. Otherwise, salvation would no longer be by grace alone but by works; and sanctification would become a constant pursuit of trying to earn God’s good favor and acceptance rather than resting in the finished work of Christ and living out of that place of rest, love, and acceptance. The danger of Lordship Salvation is that it creates a very unhealthy atmosphere, making much of that difficult to do and it creates many Christians who constantly feel condemned by God’s law, at risk of losing their salvation, questioning if they were ever saved to begin with; and so they seek to be pleasing to God on the basis of the law which then stirs up the passions of the flesh in self-effort which brings them to constant restless strivings in which they pursue so-called spiritual growth by the works of the flesh. And so those who had begun by the power and grace of the Spirit now perfect obedience in their own strength (Gal 3:3). As a result, Lordship Salvation produces false fruit, fake spirituality, and non-fervent Christians.

Some might point to Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 28:19-20 of the great commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Because of this passage, some would say that disciples are the same thing as believers, to which I would agree and disagree. They are not the same thing but they do overlap. So, they are not exactly synonymous terms though they can be interchangeable sometimes. In Mark 16:15-16 Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” Do you see that? It was by belief or unbelief that one would be saved or condemned. It doesn’t even say that they need to turn from their sins. But if that is such an essential component to the gospel, why is it not included here? In Mark’s account, the focus is on believing. In Matthew’s account, the focus is on producing dedicated followers of Jesus. Those who are disciples are those who are following the truth about Jesus and come into the light of salvation where they continue as disciples to then learn all that Jesus commanded. Matthew’s account focuses more on the discipleship process but the discipleship process is not salvation itself. You see, Jesus wants dedicated followers, not just people who believe Him. But the word “disciple” has various meanings. It doesn’t just and simplistically mean a believer. More broadly, it means those who followed Jesus around and who listened to His teachings. But when I use the word “disciple” and “discipleship” here, I will mostly be referring to the training process of learning and growing in both knowledge and character after the teachings and ways of Jesus.

Here are the differences between salvation and discipleship:

Salvation is about believing in Christ to obtain eternal life (Jn 3:16). Whereas, discipleship is about a daily commitment to Christ (Lk 9:23) with persecutions and sacrifices to God building up rewards in heaven (Mt 19:27-29).

The invitation to salvation from Christ is to “come to Me” without money, without cost, and drink freely (Mt 11:28; Isa 55:1; Jn 4:14; 6:54; Rev 21:6; 22:17). Salvation is about the cross of Christ (Col 1:20). But the call to discipleship is to “come after Me” and it is a life of self-denial and sacrifice to carry your own cross (Mt 16:24).

Continue to part 3: The Costs of Discipleship