In this message we shall begin to cover the four designations of the believers given in the New Testament: disciples, believers, saints, and Christians.
First, the believers are designated as disciples. The term “disciples” is often used in the Gospels and in Acts, but it is not used at all in the Epistles. Matthew 5:1 says, “Seeing the crowds, He went up into the mountain; and when He sat down, His disciples came to Him.” When Christ sat down on the mountain, His disciples, not the crowds, came to Him to be His audience. Eventually, not only the believing Jews but also the discipled nations became His disciples. In Matthew 5:1 and 2 the Lord Jesus taught the disciples, not the crowds. The crowds that gathered around Him were the outer circle, but His disciples were the inner circle. These disciples were Jewish believers. However, when they were on the mountain listening to the decree of the kingdom’s constitution, they were representatives not of the Jewish people but of the New Testament believers. In Matthew 28:19 the Lord Jesus told His disciples to go and disciple the nations, that is, the Gentiles. This means that the nations would be converted into disciples. Therefore, both the Jewish and Gentile believers are disciples. The audience on the mountain, composed mainly of Jews, represented all the disciples.
Three other verses that refer to the believers as disciples are Matthew 28:16; Acts 6:1; and 21:16. Matthew 28:16 says, “The eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus appointed them.” Acts 6:1 tells us that the disciples were multiplying, and 21:16 speaks of disciples from Caesarea. All these verses indicate that one designation of the believers is that of disciples.
Disciples are those who follow Christ. In His ministry the Lord Jesus told people to repent, for the kingdom of God has drawn near (Mark 1:15; Matt. 4:17). When some repented, or had an inclination to go with Him, He said to them, “Follow Me” (Matt. 4:19; 9:9; 19:21; Luke 9:59). As disciples, the believers follow the Lord Jesus.
Disciples are also those who learn of Christ. In Matthew 11:29 the Lord Jesus says, “Take My yoke on you and learn from Me.” Discipline is required for both following Christ and learning of Him. We cannot follow Him or learn of Him without being disciplined. We especially need to be disciplined in order to learn of Christ.
Many verses in the New Testament speak of the believers. Acts 5:14 says, “Believers were all the more being added to the Lord.” In 1 Timothy 6:2 Paul gives a charge to slaves whose masters are believers, and in 4:12 he charges Timothy to “be a pattern to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
In 2 Corinthians 6:14 Paul exhorts the Corinthian believers not to be “unequally yoked with unbelievers.” Then in the next verse he asks, “What part has a believer with an unbeliever?” The word “unequally” in verse 14 means diversely; it denotes a difference in kind. This refers to Deuteronomy 22:10, which forbids yoking together two different animals, the clean and the unclean. Today we, the believers, are the clean ones, whereas the unbelievers are unclean. Hence, believers and unbelievers are diverse peoples. They should not be yoked together, because of the believers’ divine nature and holy standing.
In 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 Paul uses five illustrations to depict the difference between believers and unbelievers: no partnership, no share, between righteousness and lawlessness; no fellowship, no communion, between light and darkness; no harmony, no concord, between Christ and Belial; no part, no portion, held by a believer with an unbeliever; and no agreement, no consent, between the temple of God and idols. These illustrations also unveil the fact that the believers are righteousness, light, Christ, and the temple of God, and the unbelievers are lawlessness, darkness, Belial (Satan the Devil), and idols. We believers are of Christ, and the unbelievers are of Satan. If we have friendship with unbelievers, that means we are making harmony between Christ and Satan. A believer, however, does not have any part with an unbeliever.
Home | First | Prev | Next