What does it mean to be a disciple? According to Dictionary.com, a disciple is:
a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower
So... when a Christians claims be a "disciple" of Jesus, what they are actually saying, in essence, is this:
I am a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of Jesus; a follower of Jesus.
Does that mean that we spend our time learning about Jesus, talking about Jesus, retelling the parables he told, telling of the things he did, sharing our faith story, and trying to help others come to faith?
Maybe. Each of these are all things we should be doing, for sure. However, is that what it really means to be a disciple? Not entirely; I've come to believe that there …show more content…
I've heard many teachings on this passage over the years and each of them has treated this passage as if Jesus was only informing the remaining eleven of his original Disciples what they should do. When we look at the structure of the sentence (you may not have noticed that this is one complete sentence), Jesus tells them not only what they should do; he also tells them how to do it.
He tells them to make disciples of all nations (how?) by baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that he had commanded.
If you think I've got it wrong, imagine, for a moment, using a different set of instructions with altered verb-tenses for something far more mundane and see how it …show more content…
Can you see it?
The first is a list of things that need to be done. Any list of tasks can be presented this way:
Go and make a loaf of fresh bread, vacuum the floor, mow the grass as I have commanded you.
But when we change the verb arguments to match those used by Jesus, it doesn't make any sense at all:
Go and make a loaf of fresh bread, vacuuming the floor, mowing the grass as I have commanded you.
If it what Jesus said was really a list of what to do (rather than how to do it), the second and third instructions in the verse would be future-tense, just as the first instruction is. The second and third instructions in this verse, however, are presented in the present-tense. This makes it clear that the second and third instructions are distinctions of the first.
This is what I want you to do:
make disciples of all nations
This is how you do it:
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
So, to make disciples of all nations (I'll discuss "the nations" in a later post), Jesus says they must first be baptized - make a public profession of faith in Jesus the Messiah and commitment to follow in his footsteps - and then be taught in the things that Jesus
a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower
So... when a Christians claims be a "disciple" of Jesus, what they are actually saying, in essence, is this:
I am a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of Jesus; a follower of Jesus.
Does that mean that we spend our time learning about Jesus, talking about Jesus, retelling the parables he told, telling of the things he did, sharing our faith story, and trying to help others come to faith?
Maybe. Each of these are all things we should be doing, for sure. However, is that what it really means to be a disciple? Not entirely; I've come to believe that there …show more content…
I've heard many teachings on this passage over the years and each of them has treated this passage as if Jesus was only informing the remaining eleven of his original Disciples what they should do. When we look at the structure of the sentence (you may not have noticed that this is one complete sentence), Jesus tells them not only what they should do; he also tells them how to do it.
He tells them to make disciples of all nations (how?) by baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that he had commanded.
If you think I've got it wrong, imagine, for a moment, using a different set of instructions with altered verb-tenses for something far more mundane and see how it …show more content…
Can you see it?
The first is a list of things that need to be done. Any list of tasks can be presented this way:
Go and make a loaf of fresh bread, vacuum the floor, mow the grass as I have commanded you.
But when we change the verb arguments to match those used by Jesus, it doesn't make any sense at all:
Go and make a loaf of fresh bread, vacuuming the floor, mowing the grass as I have commanded you.
If it what Jesus said was really a list of what to do (rather than how to do it), the second and third instructions in the verse would be future-tense, just as the first instruction is. The second and third instructions in this verse, however, are presented in the present-tense. This makes it clear that the second and third instructions are distinctions of the first.
This is what I want you to do:
make disciples of all nations
This is how you do it:
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
So, to make disciples of all nations (I'll discuss "the nations" in a later post), Jesus says they must first be baptized - make a public profession of faith in Jesus the Messiah and commitment to follow in his footsteps - and then be taught in the things that Jesus