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Discipleship: A Biblical Overview

Research · September 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.16569.99687

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 DISCIPLESHIP: A BIBLICAL OVERVIEW

A Paper

Submitted to Dr. Hal Stewart

of the

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Course

Discipleship Strategies: DISC5260

in the Division of Christian Education

Ryan M. Mulvaney

B.S., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2014

Sept. 10, 2018

 Introduction

The topic of discipleship has been popular among the church, as of late. Popular

authors, denominational leaders, thinkers, and speakers are discussing discipleship and how the

contemporary church needs to be making disciples. Dr. Aubrey Malphurs, a Dallas Theological

Seminary professor and church consultant, has researched and consulted with many churches in

America. According to his study, he wrote, “I find that most are not following Christ’s command

in Matthew 28:19-20 to make disciples.”1 Perhaps, Malphurs’ findings provide evidence that

many people in the church have an unbiblical understanding of discipleship. While the term and

ideas of discipleship may seem to be a point of confusion for some, it is a concept that derives

directly from the Bible. This paper seeks to explore the biblical texts of both the Old and New

Testaments, explaining not only that making disciples is the task of the church, but there is a

pattern throughout Scripture on how to accomplish this task.

What is a Disciple?

To understand biblical discipleship, one must define the word disciple. The term

disciple occurs over 270 times in the Bible, mostly in the New Testament. Disciple comes from

the Greek word mathetes, which is “a student, pupil, or learner.” 2 Therefore, if one is a disciple

of Jesus, they are His pupil; Jesus is the teacher, while His adherent is the student. It logically

follows that discipleship is the process of being a disciple. However, this understanding of a

1AubreyMalphurs, Strategic Disciple Making: A Practical Tool for Successful

Ministry (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2009), 13.
2J.
D. Barry and L. Wentz, “The Lexham Bible Dictionary” (Bellingham, Washington:
Lexham Press, 2012). As found in the Logos Bible study software program.

1
 2

disciple is not always held. Some proponents of biblical discipleship, like Bill Hull, argue that

there is also a common misconception of both the terms of discipleship and Christian. Hull said:

The common teaching is that a Christian is someone who by faith accepts Jesus as Savior,
receives eternal life, and is safe and secure in the family of God; a disciple is a more serious
Chris- tian active in the practice of the spiritual disciplines and en- gaged in evangelizing
and training others. But I must be blunt: I find no biblical evidence for the separation of
Christian from disciple. Jesus taught His disciples many things. However, before He taught
them anything, He summoned them. 3

Therefore, it is imperative that the church has a proper biblical understanding of the word

disciple, in order to be able to make a disciple.

Command, Obedience, and Replication

There is a pattern of discipleship that is demonstrated throughout Scripture. This

pattern involves a command, obedience, and replication. As presented in the Gospels, Jesus

called specific individuals to be His disciples (Mark 3:13; John 1:39-43). He was selective in

choosing the individuals of whom He desired; He chose men who would commit to the lifestyle

that they were about to embark on (Mark 3:14-15). As shown in the Matthew account, this level

of commitment involved sacrifice; the disciples sacrificed their time, careers, and family

(Matthew 4:18-22). In order to ensure the quality of commitment, Jesus focused on a select few,

rather than calling a mass number of students. This concept is communicated well by author and

Christian thinker, Robert Colman. According to Coleman’s understanding, “The necessity is

apparent not only to select a few helpers but also to keep the group small enough to be able to

3BHull, The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of

Christ (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2006), 33.
 3

work effectively with them.” 4 Jesus had work for His disciples. He focused on a few so they

could effectively complete the tasks that He had planned for them, tasks that would require both

commitment and obedience. Greg Ogden also argues that Jesus’ focus on so few was crucial to

his strategy, and the fact that it is a model that the church must follow, in keeping with biblical

discipleship.5 However, the overarching task that Jesus had for His disciples was to make more

disciples, commonly known as the “Great Commission.”

Matthew 28:18-20 reads as follows:

Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven
and on earth. 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.’6

This Great Commission passage is one of the most quoted when concerning making disciples.

This is because there is a wealth of information in these verses. This passage shows that Jesus

commanded His disciples with the imperative, “make disciples.” They were to make disciples of

the nations.

This passage also describes how Jesus wanted them to accomplish the task with three

participles: “Go,” “baptizing,” and “teaching.” These three participles are the action, or means,

of how Jesus expected them to carry out His imperative. Logically, this would require both a

commitment to the command, as well as acts of obedience. Jesus also promised to be with them

as they obeyed (Matthew 28:20). This was Jesus’ overarching task for His pupils and the mission

4Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids: Revell, 2006),
24.
5Greg
Ogden, Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time
(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003), 63.
6All Scripture quotations are taken from the NASB.
 4

for His church: to obey His commands and replicate.

This pattern of command, obedience, and replication is also found in passages of the Old

Testament. Consider the calling of Moses. God called Moses from a burning bush (Exodus 3:4).

God explained that His people were oppressed, so He selected Moses to carry out His mission.

God commanded Moses, “Come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My

people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10). Like Jesus with His disciples, God gave

Moses an imperative command, in which Moses was faced with a commitment to trust Him and

obey Him. Moses had to leave His family and home, with the exception of Aaron, to complete

the immediate task that God had for him (Exodus 4:14-15). Just as Jesus promised to be with His

disciples, in Matthew 28:20, God promised to be with Moses, teaching him what to say (Exodus

3:12; 4:12). Later, God used Moses to replicate the acts of obedience to His law.

The pattern continued with Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, as he counseled Moses

regarding the method in which Moses judged the people. Jethro told Moses the following, in

Exodus 18:19-21:

Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s
representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, then teach them the statutes
and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they
are to do. Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of
truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of
thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens.

In this passage, Jethro mentored Moses in order to help him complete God’s predominant task,

by commanding a task of his own. This aspect of Moses’ and Jethro’s relationship, through

mentoring, is also demonstrated in other areas of Scripture. 7 As a result of Moses’ commitment

7
Jody Dean and Hal Stewart, TOGETHER WE EQUIP: Integrating Discipleship and
Ministry Leadership for Holistic. (Bloomington, Indiana: Westbow Press, 2018), 44.
 5

to God and the high regard of his father-in-law, Moses was committed to this task and obeyed

all that Jethro told him to do (Exodus 18:24-25).

The pattern of command, obedience, and replication is continued in the book of Joshua.

Moses died, therefore, God commanded Joshua to cross the Jordan and to lead His people to the

land He promised them, while also promising to be with him (Joshua 1:1-5). Moreover, God

commanded Joshua to remember the laws that He gave through Moses, referencing a

generational replication of obedience (Joshua 1:7-9). Joshua committed himself to obeying the

law and God’s task for him. However, Joshua did not achieve God’s task without replicating the

model that was set before him. Joshua commanded his officers to carry out the mission of

relocating (Joshua 1:10-11). The officers’ reply to the command was to commit themselves to

the task, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will

go” (Joshua 1:16). Furthermore, they replicated the same command and required obedience from

the people (Joshua 1:18).

The pattern continued with the prophet, Elijah. God sent an angel to Elijah commanding

him to go on a journey to anoint kings Hazael and Jehu, as well as anoint Elisha as a prophet; the

angel guided Elijah along the way (1 Kings 19). This passage demonstrations two forms of the

pattern. The angel was obedient to God and replicated the instructions, while Elijah obeyed the

command, replicating with Elisha. While these are not the only passages in Scripture that reflect

this pattern, it is not difficult to understand that God’s design for discipleship has a noticeable

pattern, involving a command, obedience, and replication.

Making Disciples Generationally

The replication piece of the aforementioned pattern is crucial in making disciples.

 6

However, the context to making disciples is not exclusive between adults. God also

commanded parents and families to make disciples.8 Consider a familiar passage in

Deuteronomy:

Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which
I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to
your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the
way and when you lie down and when you rise up (Deuteronomy 6:4-7).9

God commanded parents to be the primary disciple makers of their children. This task is carried

out by teaching, just as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28. This passage also reveals that parents

are to model this behavior in their demeanor and lifestyle.

The book of Psalms also demonstrates the aforementioned commission to parents: “He

commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children, That the generation to

come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell them to their

children” (Psalms 78:2-6). The psalmist indicated that this was a generational understanding so

that they may replicate the teachings of the Lord in their ancestry. Other verses in Scripture, such

as Proverbs 22:6, indicate that parents must train their child in a way that they will not abandon

the Lord’s teachings.

This concept was replicated throughout the New Testament, as well. The Apostle Paul

wrote to the church at Ephesus, regarding the imitation of Christ. Paul wrote, “Fathers, do not

provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord”

8ChrisShirley, “Theology Discipleship It Takes a Church to Make a Disciple: An

Integrative Model of Discipleship for the Church,” Southwestern Journal of Theology • 50, no. 2
(2008), 220.
9Emphasis added.
 7

(Ephesians 6:4). God has commanded and entrusted parents with the privilege of teaching their

own children the Lord’s commands, making disciples in the process.

Spiritual Parenting to Others

Just as Scripture commands parents to make disciples of their ancestral generations, it

also commands disciples to be a figurative spiritual parent to others. This is best communicated

in Paul’s letters. In 2 Timothy 2:2, Paul wrote, “The things which you have heard from me in the

presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

This particular passage provides an example of at least four generations of replication. First, Paul

heard the teachings from before he was entrusting others. Second, Paul entrusted the teachings to

others, with Timothy amongst them. Third, Paul commanded Timothy to entrust those teachings

to other men, so that, those men would entrust the teachings to others, making the fourth

generation listed in this text. Although the text provides an example of four generations, the

principle implied is that the generational teachings would continue to replicate to further

generations.

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he commanded him to appeal to an older man as a father,

indicating that the older man, having wisdom, could be like a spiritual father to him (1 Timothy

5:1). This is not the only place in Paul’s writings where he discusses spiritual parenting. In 1

Thessalonians 2:11, he commanded the church to exhort and encourage others as a father would

for his own children. Disciples must be able and willing to obey the command to be a spiritual

parent to others.
 8

The Holy Spirit and Discipleship

There is a pattern to follow when making disciples. However, one cannot dismiss the

power of the Holy Spirit’s role in discipleship. Dietrich Bonhoeffer explained, “The Word is the

presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit. ‘Christ in His Church’ is the sum of the apostles’’

teaching, the apostolic preaching.”10 The role of the Holy Spirit was important for both the

disciples’ and Jesus’ ministries.

In Matthew 12:18, Jesus fulfilled the prophesy that God’s servant would have the Spirit

put upon Him to help Him with His ministry. This was fulfilled at Jesus’ baptism as the Holy

Spirit descended on Him, like a dove (Mark 1:9). The Holy Spirit also guided Jesus, leading Him

in His ministry (Luke 4:1). Therefore, the Holy Spirit played a major role in the ministry of

Jesus.

The Holy Spirit was also promised to be the Helper to Jesus’ disciples. The Great

Commission was an important task, too imported to be left with mere men. This Helper was

coming to convict the world of their sin (John 16:8), a necessary first step for one to believe in

the power of the Gospel. Moreover, John 16:13–14 states, “But when He, the Spirit of truth,

comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but

whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify

Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” The Holy Spirit is the driving force

behind making disciples. Without Him, biblical discipleship cannot come to fruition.

10Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Revised. (New York: Macmillan
Publishing, 1937), 280.
 9

Conclusion

New Testament scholar, Michael Wilkins, believes that there are good discipleship

ministries that exist in churches today; however, many are confused with terms and often miss

the true biblical understanding of discipleship.11 There is no question that the mission of the

Christ’s church is to make disciples. This Great Commission is more than a program or an idea.

It is a biblical command from Jesus. Discipleship is the process in which true disciples are made.

Biblical discipleship follows pattern of a godly command, an adherent’s obedience, and a

replicative model. It involves baptizing new believers into the fold, and teaching God’s Word

generationally to both families and the family of God. All of this is by the Father’s design, the

sacrificial atonement and resurrection of Christ, and the power of the Helper, the Holy Spirit.

11MichaelJ. Wilkins, Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship

(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 43.
 10

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barry, J. D., and L. Wentz. “The Lexham Bible Dictionary.” Bellingham, Washington: Lexham
Press, 2012.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Revised. New York: Macmillan Publishing,
1937.

Coleman, Robert E. The Master Plan of Evangelism. Grand Rapids: Revell, 2006.

Dean, Jody, and Hal Stewart. Together We Equip: Integrating Discipleship and Ministry
Leadership for Holistic. Bloomington, Indiana: Westbow Press, 2018.

Hull, B. The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ.
Colorado Springs, Colorado: NavPress, 2006.

Malphurs, Aubrey. Strategic Disciple Making: A Practical Tool for Successful Ministry. Grand
Rapids: Baker Books, 2009.

Ogden, Greg. Transforming Discipleship: Making Disciples a Few at a Time. Downers Grove,
Illinois: InterVarsity, 2003.

Shirley, Chris. “Theology Discipleship It Takes a Church to Make a Disciple: An Integrative

Model of Discipleship for the Church.” Southwestern Journal of Theology • 50, no. 2
(2008): 207–224.

Wilkins, Michael J. Following the Master: A Biblical Theology of Discipleship. Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1992.

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