{Updated 11/27/04}
Some General Questions & Statements
1. What are some synonyms for the word “disciple”?
2. The Christian author Dallas Willard suggests that “apprentice” is a good synonym for disciple. What’s your reaction?
3. In the popular television show The Apprentice, who is the teacher and who is the disciple? Do you think this is a good model for discipleship? Why or why not?
4. How do you react to the following statement that we used in our initial study of the spiritual disciplines?
In English we have a nice parallelism between the words disciple and discipline. Both words stem from the Latin word discipulus, which means simply “pupil”. A disciple is a pupil of a teacher, and to follow his teaching means to learn the disciplines or practices that make up his body of learning.
Matt. 16:13-20
1. Who is Jesus talking to in this passage? Compare the usage here with the definition we just considered. Are they consistent?
2. Why does Jesus ask them what others are saying about his identity? What is he probing about their discipleship?
3. Why does Jesus say Simon Peter is blessed? What does this tell us about the central issue regarding discipleship?
4. Why does Jesus make such a big deal about where Peter got his information from?
5. Later, before his ascension, Jesus tells his followers to “make disciples of all nations.” Please relate that commandment to what we’ve just learned about how disciples are made. How does this make you feel about evangelism and missions?
6. Was Peter the first Pope? If not, give an example from Peter’s life of his using the “keys of the Kingdom”.
7. Please read verses 21-23. What lessons do these verses teach us about discipleship?
Acts 11:19-30
1. What happened in Antioch? Why was this significant?
2. Note in verse 23 the phrase: “evidence of the grace of God”? What is grace? Please relate the grace shown in this passage to that exhibited in the passage in Matthew that we just read.
3. What is a Christian? Is the usage of this term in this passage comparable or different from its use here in the 3rd millennium?
4. What do we see the disciples/Christians doing in Antioch? Were they practicing any spiritual disciplines?
Exercise
1. Please guess how many times the word “disciple” is used in the New Testament:____
2. Now guess how many times “disciple” is used in the books starting at Romans and ending at Revelation:___
3. Why do you suppose this is?
4. What word—particularly used by Paul in his letters—would you guess seems to be a replacement for “disciple”? _____________
Acts 9:1-16
1. Who, specifically, was Paul “breathing out murderous threats” towards as he set out from Jerusalem to Damascus?
2. Who, specifically, does Ananias say Paul has done harm to in Jerusalem.
3. Who discipled Paul? What impact did this have on Paul’s future life as a believer?
Interesting Fact:
· The word "disciple" is not used in the New Testament after the book of Acts.
· Acts 9: 13 is the first use of the word “saint” in the New Testament (used 45 times compared to 290 occurrences of the word “disciple”). The other writers, particularly Paul, use the word saint instead of disciple. Acts 9 is unique in that both words are used in the same chapter, somewhat interchangeably.
4. Why do you suppose the word “saint” replaces the word “disciple” as a designation for a follower of Jesus Christ?
5. Why do we sing “When the Saints Go Marching In” instead of “When the Disciples Go Marching In?”
6. Should we replace the concept of “discipleship” with the concept of “saintship”?
7. Why don’t we tend to use the word “saint” in our description of fellow believers?
Romans 1:1-7
1. What do we learn about the meaning of the word “saint” in this passage?
2. What additional meaning does saint have that is not found in disciple?
3. Comment on the following equation: DISCIPLE = SAINT
4. Now comment on this equation: CHRISTIAN = DISCIPLE
5. Do you think “Christian”, “Disciple” and “Saint” have the same meanings here in the 3rd millennium as they had in the first? Why or why not?