A confusing word it is, discipleship. It means different things to different people.
To some people discipleship means “being a disciple” of Jesus.
To others it means “making disciples of Jesus.” Which is right?
The New Testament data doesn’t help us decide how to use the word because the actual term discipleship because is not in the New Testament.
The closest New Testament word is matheteuo – a word which can mean either “making disciples” or “being a disciple.” This word only occurs 4x in the New Testament.
Making disciples?
Twice the term (matheteuo) refers to “making disciples” – in Jesus’ Great Commission given to the 11 disciples (Matthew 28:19) and in a description of Paul’s missionary work (Acts 14:21).
In these two verses matheteuo refers to both what we usually call “evangelism” and the teaching that followed after a person responded to the Gospel in a positive way.
Being a disciple?
Twice the term matheteuo occurs as a passive verb that means “being” or “becoming” a disciple. In Matthew 13:52 it refers to a scribe “who has become a disciple of the kingdom” (NASV) or has been been “trained for the kingdom of heaven (ESV).
In Matthew 27:5 matheteuo occurs in a description of Joseph of Arimathea, noting that he had become a disciple of Jesus
Both / and ?
Probably the way New Testament uses the term matheteuo is the way we should use the term “discipleship” – i.e. in a broad way to refer both to making disciples and to being disciples.
We would also do well to use the term in a comprehensive way to refers both to the process of evangelism, and to the process of instruction that follows a positive response to the gospel – as this is how the term is used in the New Testament
For most of us, using the term discipleship in this way requires a shift in our thinking, a “paradigm” shift. We are not used to using the term “discipleship” like this. The danger is, however, if we use the term differently that the way it is used in the New Testament, that we will end up reading a different meaning in New Testament verses that refer to “disciples.”
More about this in a later posting…
