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Summary
- A disciple is anyone who follows Jesus and learns from him; an apostle is a disciple whom Jesus sent out to preach with his authority. Every one of Jesus’s apostles was a disciple, but most disciples were never apostles.
- After a night of prayer Jesus chose twelve of his disciples, “whom also he named apostles” (Luke 6:13), and Matthias later took the place of Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:26).
- The Greek word for disciple, mathētēs, means a learner and appears more than 260 times, only in the Gospels and Acts; apostolos means one who is sent and appears about 80 times.
- Jesus also sent out seventy others (seventy-two in some manuscripts), and Acts calls every believer a disciple.
- Besides the Twelve, the New Testament calls Paul and Barnabas apostles, and Paul names James the Lord’s brother among them.
- Acts calls Tabitha a disciple, and translations differ on whether Romans 16:7 counts Junia among the apostles.
- Catholic teaching sees the bishops, and Orthodox teaching its bishops, priests and deacons, as carrying on the apostles’ mission; the Westminster Assembly’s Form of Presbyterial Church Government (1645) lists apostles among offices that have ceased, while the Pentecostal Apostolic Church and the Latter-day Saints recognize apostles today.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture is quoted and cited from the King James Version, from BibleGateway (1 Corinthians 9:1 from Bible Hub): Matthew 10:1–4, 19:28, 28:16, 28:19; Mark 2:18, 3:14, 6:7, 6:30; Luke 6:12–16, 8:1–3, 9:1–2, 10:1, 10:17, 14:27; John 6:66–67, 8:31, 9:28, 13:16, 13:35, 20:17–18, 20:21; Acts 1:2–3, 1:15, 1:21–22, 1:26, 2:41, 2:42, 4:4, 6:1, 9:1, 9:26, 9:36, 11:26, 14:14, 15:6; Romans 1:1, 16:7; 1 Corinthians 9:1, 15:6, 15:9; 2 Corinthians 8:23, 11:13; Galatians 1:1, 1:19; Ephesians 2:20; Hebrews 3:1; Revelation 21:14. Romans 16:7 is also quoted from the New International Version and the English Standard Version, and Luke 6:16 is compared across translations at Bible Hub.
- New American Bible, Revised Edition, with notes, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: Luke 10 (seventy or seventy-two) and Romans 16 (the note on Junia).
- Bible Hub, Strong’s Greek entries with Thayer’s Greek Lexicon: 3101 mathētēs, 652 apostolos, 3102 mathētria and 3100 mathēteuō; and the Englishman’s Concordance for mathētēs and apostolos (word counts).
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 857–863 (the Church is apostolic; the bishops, successors of the apostles).
- Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience on Simon the Cananaean and Jude Thaddaeus, 11 October 2006.
- Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Decree raising the celebration of Saint Mary Magdalene to a feast, 3 June 2016.
- Orthodox Church in America, Myrrhbearer and Equal of the Apostles Mary Magdalene, Lives of the Saints.
- Orthodox Church in America, The Orthodox Faith: Holy Orders and Church.
- Clement of Rome, First Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 42, trans. John Keith, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 9 (1896), New Advent; with John Chapman, Pope St. Clement I, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1908), on the letter’s origin and date.
- Charles Souvay, Disciple, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5 (1909).
- Westminster Assembly, The Form of Presbyterial Church Government, approved by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, 10 February 1645, as published by the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
- The Apostolic Church UK, What We Believe (the Tenets, with The Vision Glorious) and Who We Are.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, published 9 March 2026.
Response
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Angine
As I have understood, the apostles were those who had been around since ministry of John the Baptist.
Also the mention that Peter being the rock that the church was built upon, when actually in the original language Peter was called a pebble, a stone and its Christ who is The Rock Whom the church is build upon. The cornerstone. No other Foundation but Him.
We are all stones who build up a holy temple a spiritual house, The Body of Christ.
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