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Understanding the Disciple
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Paul Jang
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2008-03-24 03:07:45, hit : 5,346 |
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Understanding the Disciple
The term "disciple", derived from "mathetes" in Greek (Berry and Strong III 1984, 34; Bruce 1979, 164) and "discipulus" in Latin (Colunga et Turrado 1977, 971), means a learner, pupil, scholar, student, follower, and disciple (Liddell and Scott 1975, 483; Lewis 1979, 248; Pentecost 1971, 14). It always means the pupil of someone, in contrast to the master or teacher (Orr 1978, 851).
The term "disciple" itself (Mathetes) signifies a taught or trained one (Morgan 1961, 13), and has been used in several ways. First of all, the term had been used among the Greeks, rarely mentioned in the Old Testament (1 Chron. 25:8; Isa. 8:16, 50:4), yet a prominent future of later Judaism (Tenney and Barabas 1975, 129). It has the teacher-pupil relationship which was a common feature of the ancient world (Douglas 1968, 312).
In the Old Testament talmid (I Chron. 25:8) becomes "scholar" in the KJV, "pupil" in the RSV (Green 1981, 1121; Buttrick 1962, 845). In Isa. 8:16, however, the closely related limid is rendered "disciple" in both versions (Green 1962, 845). And in the New Testament talmidim meant disciples of the rabbis whose studies resulted in the Talmud. Yet the Talmud itself speaks of five talmidim of Jesus (Green 1962, 845). The term "disciple," however, most often was used to denote the relationship between Jesus and His followers.
It was also used for the other's followers, for example the followers of Moses (Jn. 9:28), of John the Baptist (Matt. 9:14), of Pharisees (Matt.22:6), and of even Paul the Apostle (Acts 9:25). But the word disciple was also used more narrowly, referring to some or all of Jesus' disicples (Matt. 10:1; 11:1; Luke 9:54; John 6:8), a synonym for the Twelve as if a proper noun.
What is or not a disciple? In the biblical concept the meaning of "disciple" is very simple. A disciple is a believer who confesses Jesus as the Christ. In the sense that he follows Christ, the disciple is a Christian. The basic meaning of disciple in the New Testament is a born-again Christian (Wagner 1983, 110). He is a new creature who has been born again by the Spirit of God (Wagner 1987, 52). The disciple cannot be defined in the dimension of maturity. "Disciples are not perfect, but they keep pressing ahead to be changed into his likeness, and their lives are marked by a confident faith" (Jacobsen 1987, 62). Nevertheless, it must be recognized that there is a difference between a Christianship and a discipleship because there is a vast difference between being saved and being a disciple (Pentecost 1971, 16).
Strictly speaking, it is emphasized that the Christianship is status of the children of God, otherwise the discipleship is status of the servants of God. But Gary W. Kuhne defined a disciple as follows:
A disciple is a Christian who is growing in conformity to Christ, is achieving fruit in evangelism, and is working in follow-up to conserve his fruit. (Kuhne 1978, 13)
In other words, eligibility to be called a disciple should be given to those who must not only confess Jesus as the Christ but also respond to and follow His calling.
The disciple should be considered in two religous attitudes toward the ministry: passive and active. In the passive attitude, the disciple should be an imitator of Christ (1 Thess. 1:6) or an example of all people (1 Cor. 11:1; Phil. 3:17), especially of his followers (1 Thess. 1:6), and a model of lay minister in his Christian life (Schaller 1989, 41). John C. Maxwell has suggested a perfect example given by Christ, and said the healthy attitude qualities that Jesus possessed: slflessness, security, and submission (Phil. 2:3-8; Maxwell 1988, 13).
In the active attitude, the disciple, as it were, discipler, in a comprehensive sense should be a good teacher, trainer, and leader (Matt. 28:19-20), basically the imitator of Christ, the greatest leader (Ford 1991, 27). In discipleship these are basic roles, namely teaching (teachership), training (trainership), and leading (leadership). The disciple, therefore, should be trained in these skills through the process of making disciples.
How then to be a disciple? Harris W. Lee thinks there are many kinds of leaders: "born leaders" and "learned leaders" (Lee 1989, 35). Warren Bennis insisted that leaders were born, not made, summoned to their calling, so called the "Great Man" theory of leadership (Bennis and Nanus 1985, 5). But Walter A. Henrichsen insists that the disicples are not born in large quantity but made by the Holy Spirit (Henrichsen, trans. Korea NavPress 1980, 108). In a sense the dsciples are made through a processes of teaching, training, and leading. Through these processes the disciple is made church leader. Whoever is a Christian and is willing to give himself to the discipline for church work can become a church leader (Milhouse 1947, 44). In spite of being made, church leaders are God's gift to His church (Luecke 1990, 161; Eph. 4:11; Rom. 12:8; 1 Cor. 12:28).
What then is an ideal leader? "A good leader not only will become aware of his image, but will know his peculiar strenghs and attempt to increase his effective use of them for the good of the group," said Ted W. Engstrom (Engstrom 1976, 88). In other words, the effective leader is sensitive to both the task and the process dynamic for management (Bolman and Deal 1984, 81). He may be one of the following: good leader who learns to be a good follower (Gerig 1981, 63), true leader who is able to serve people (White 1986, 87-88), strong leader who is a particular kind of power holder (Burns 1979, 18) empowered by God (2 Sam. 5:10; Brown 1986, 40), great leader able to deal with problem people (Miller 1988, 102), and ultimate leader being applicable only to Jesus Christ (Ford 1991, 57).
The disciple of Christ, therefore, should be such an ideal leader as to lead the people for the spread of the kingdom of God. And the church leader needs to produce leaders who will reproduce leaders (Gangel 1989, 309). The ideal disciple is the very one that follows the example of Christ like Paul the Apostle. Paul said, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1).
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Introduction
Ch Growth 