DSMN 815
Liberty University John W. Rawlings School of Divinity
Essential Marks of a Biblical Disciple
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Ministry
Department of Christian Leadership and Church Ministries
by
Brian A. Nulf
Lynchburg, Virginia
November 14, 2021
Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................1
A Disciple is One who Worships ..................................................................................................1
A Disciple is One Who is in Fellowship with Other Believers...................................................4
A Disciple is One Who Abides in the Instruction of God’s Word ............................................6
A Disciple is One Who Proclaims the Gospel .............................................................................8
Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................9
Bibliography.................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
Most evangelical Christians would agree that the church's mission is to evangelize and
make disciples of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19). The word itself “disciple” simply means a
follower of Jesus Christ and is a prevalent theological theme in the Gospels and Acts, being used
at least 262 times.1 But if the church’s mission is to make disciples, how does the church know if
it is fulfilling its mission? Churches have a lot of ministries and classes that the church
undertakes that they call discipleship, but how are they to measure whether they are successful in
truly making disciples?
Biblically, discipleship begins only when someone hears and responds to the gospel and
converts from their previous manner of life through repentance of sin and faith in the person and
work of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:15). A problem today, especially in the western church, is people
say they are Christians but show no marks of a true disciple. This paper seeks to give four
characteristics to measure whether one is a true disciple. This list is not exhaustive but one that
this author believes is foundational. A true disciple is characterized by being one who worships
God, is in fellowship with other believers, abides in the instruction of the Word of God, and
proclaims the gospel message.2 The goal is Christlikeness.
A disciple is one who worships
A disciple is one who worships. “To be human is to worship.”3 Everyone worships
something, but what does it mean for a disciple to worship God? The word “worship” means
1 Michael J. Wilkins, “Disciple, Discipleship,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic
ed., Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996), 175.
2 Aubrey Malphurs, Strategic Disciple Making: A Practical Tool for Successful Ministry (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker, 2009), 79.
3 Daniel I. Block, For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship (Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Academic, 2014), 1.
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“worthship” or worthiness.4 God was clear that he was to be the object of one’s worship, as was
articulated in the first of his Ten Commandments that “You shall have no other gods before me”
(Exodus 20:3). Jesus, when tempted by Satan in the wilderness to worship him, said, “You shall
worship the Lord God and him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10). With God being the object
of a disciple’s worship, outward physical and intellectual acts of worship will be displayed in
differing degrees depending on the person. Some of these personal external acts of worship
include regular reading and studying God’s Word, listening to God’s Word preached, praying,
singing, giving, and even rest. However, all these acts of worship can be done without truly
worshiping.5
As crucial as these outward acts of worship are, they must coincide with an inward action
of worship. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that “God is a spirit, and those who worship him
must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Jesus, in speaking with the Samaritan women,
made clear “that worship is not a matter of a geographical location of external; it is a spiritual
matter.”6 Paul calls it our “spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1). Jesus makes the distinction and the
need for the connection of outward and inward worship when he quotes from Isaiah 29:13: “This
people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me”
(Matthew 15:8-9). Practically, the outward expressions of worship are worthless if it does not
originate from the heart. The issue is hypocrisy – “the pretense of obeying the will of God while
transgression it.”7 One is unable to truly worship by separating their acts of worship from the
4 R. P. Martin, “Worship,” ed. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia,
Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 1117.
5 Some of the physical ways we worship were taken from Daniel I. Block, For the Glory of God:
Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship.
6 Andreas J. Köstenberger, A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters: The Word, the Christ, the Son of God,
Biblical Theology of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 203.
7 Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 14–28, vol. 33B, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated,
1995), 432.
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heart of worship. True worship flows from the heart in recognition and response to the grace of
God in the gospel of Christ. This new heart then allows one to offer God true and acceptable
worship (John 4:23-24; Rom 12:1; 1 Peter 2:5) displayed outwardly in many ways.8
To worship God is when one knows the God as revealed in the Scriptures and that he is
our greatest treasure, and that truth then becomes an expression of one’s daily life. The writer of
Hebrews states that “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God,
that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what
you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (Hebrews 13:15-16). Although there are many
ways in which we display individually our heartfelt worship, it is expressed best in loving others.
Thus, worship is loving God and loving others as expressed outwardly in our sacrifices to one
another. Bruce adds, “Christianity is sacrificial through and through; it is founded on the one
self-offering of Christ, and the offering of his people’s praise and property, of their service and
their lives, is caught up into the perfection of his acceptable sacrifice and is accepted in him.”9
This sacrifice is what Paul is referring to in Romans 12:1: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by
the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship.” In summary, the inner heart of worship comes from knowing
God biblically then responding from the heart, which will produce an outer expression of
worship that is pleasing to God; it is measured best in our expressions of love toward others.10
A disciple is one who is in fellowship with other believes
8 Gerald F. Hawthorne, Philippians, vol. 43, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated,
2004), 176.
9 F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, Rev. ed., The New International Commentary on the New
Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 384.
10 These will include the external list of worship as seen on page 2 along with a sacrificial love toward
others.
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A disciple is one who is in fellowship with other believers. A disciple is in community,
meaning one is connected to Christ’s body, the church. The word “church” (ἐκκλησία, ekklēsia)
means “the called-out ones” and is used in the New Testament as the community of God’s
people some 109 times and applies uniquely to a local assembly of those who profess faith and
allegiance to Christ.11 Paul says, “We are called to be saints together.” There is no lone ranger in
the body of Christ, but one is called to be “saints together with all those who in every place call
upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:1, italics added). In the previous
point, I said to love God is to love people. That is “especially to those who are of the household
of faith” (Galatians 6:10). Wilson states that there is a priority in our generosity to the local
church as “it is where we find identity and security, receive nurture and nourishment, get
encouragement and support, benefit from teaching and training, modeling and mentoring,
discipline and discipleship.”12
The Bible states that every Christian has a spiritual gift (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11; 1 Peter
4:10) that is primarily to be used in the body of Christ to fulfill the fifty-nine times that “one
another” is used in the New Testament.13 Some of those “one another's” include: “Love one
another” (John 13:34), “Live in harmony with one another” (Romans 12:16), “Welcome one
another” (Romans 15:7), “Instruct of another” (Romans 15:14), “Serve one another” (Galatians
5:13), “Submitting to one another” (Ephesians 5:21), and “Confess your sins to one another”
(James 5:16).14 McManis states that “God’s plan is that all Christians find a place in the local
church where they can serve by employing their spiritual gifts for the edification of other
11 C. Marvin Pate, “Church, The,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic ed., Baker
Reference Library (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996), 95.
12 Todd Wilson, Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living, ed. R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL:
Crossway, 2013), 219.
13 James Montgomery Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith: A Comprehensive & Readable Theology,
Revised & Expanded. (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2019), 782.
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individual Christians and the growth of the Body overall.”15 Christian growth and maturity only
happen in the context of community.
The classic text is Acts 2:42, where Luke describes four critical elements of a healthy
local church where “fellowship” is one of those areas. A few verses down, Luke then gives a
description of what this might look like: “And all who believed were together and had all things
in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds
to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their
homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts” (Acts 2:44-46). Fellowship, or,
more precisely, sharing in common (κοινωνίᾳ, koinonia) occurs nineteen times in the New
Testament, fourteen of which are from Paul. “The term speaks of communion or fellowship…
often used of the type of mutuality that takes place in marriage.”16 Many people would say that
this connection is closer to their biological families, as verses 44-46 describe. Nevertheless, in a
genuine sense, there is a connection to, for, and between each other as they are doing life
together in the context of a local body of believers. Thus, a true disciple is marked by being a
faithful part of a church.
A disciple is one who abides in the instruction of the Word
A disciple is one who abides in the instruction of the Word of God. In Acts 2:42, Luke
states that a vital part of a healthy church and mark of a disciple is biblical instruction – “And
they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” Not only did the three thousand new
14 Robby Gallaty, Chris Swain, and Robert E. Coleman, Replicate: How to Create a Culture of Disciple-
Making Right Where You Are (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2020).
15 Cliff McManis, Christian Living Beyond Belief: Biblical Principles for the Life of Faith (The
Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications, 2006), 76.
16 Darrell L. Bock, Acts, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Academic, 2007), 150.
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believers join with other believers in community, but they did so to hear, study, and learn what
the apostles had to teach.17 Instruction in Scripture is to know and apply the Word to one’s life.
The writer of Hebrews examines the spiritual condition of his readers and their lack of
knowing and applying the Word of God to their lives (Hebrews 5:11-6:3). The first part of the
text describes their immaturity:18 “About this, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain
since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you
need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not
solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a
child” (Hebrews 5:11-13). The Word is available; the problem is they are not putting forth the
effort to learn what is being taught – “dull of hearing” (Hebrews 5:11). Steadman states that this
“dullness does not understand the divine program that leads to right conduct and manifests its
ignorance by being unable to distinguish good from evil.”19 The next verse gives what a disciple
should be if they were on meat instead of milk – they “have their powers of discernment trained
by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 11:14). Maturity only comes
through “constant practice” of staying in the Scriptures and “by saturating their minds with the
gospel of grace, the deep truths of faith, and by constant application of the Word of God.”20
Lastly, Hebrews 6:1 gives the challenge – “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of
Christ and go on to maturity.” The challenge is to grow up! Although a true disciple should have
a desire to read and study Scripture, it is still a battle. Therefore, the early church “devoted
17 Bruce B. Barton and Grant R. Osborne, Acts, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale
House, 1999), 38.
18 Ray C. Stedman, Hebrews, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic,
1992), Heb 5:11–14.
19 Ibid., Heb 5:11–14.
20 David B. McWilliams, Hebrews, ed. Jon D. Payne, The Lectio Continua Expository Commentary on the
New Testament (Powder Springs, GA: Tolle Lege Press, 2015), 149.
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themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42). As a result, a disciple stays in God’s Word and
has a healthy diet of reading, studying, listening, meditating, and doing what God says.
Jesus in the Gospel of John calls it abiding in God’s Word – “If you abide in my word,
you are truly my disciple” (John 8:32). Jesus is talking with the Jews who had apparently
believed in him, and the Word would be a mark of that belief and would be “more than making
an outward profession…and is meant to drive home to formal and casual adherents the meaning
of a true disciple.”21 It is only through the Word of God that one grows and can overcome sin and
stronghold in one’s life. Jesus says, “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”
(John 8:32). Jesus is looking toward the future of any true disciple as one who will be concerned
about the truth. Morris sums up this passage ideally: “This discourse is especially concerned with
truth; it is mentioned seven times (twice here, vv. 40, 44 bis, 45, 46). Truth is closely connected
with the Person of Christ.… so that knowledge of the truth is naturally associated with being his
disciple.”22 A mark of a true disciple is to believe that the Bible is God’s Word and thus will read
and study it to know and live according to its precepts.
A disciple is one who proclaims the gospel
A disciple is one who proclaims the gospel to those who do not know Christ as Lord and
Savior (Colossians 4:3-6). Paul’s example of proclaiming the gospel is only second to Christ.
Melick states that “No one had better skills to turn any situation into an opportunity for
witness.”23 Paul not only created opportunities to share his faith, but he understood that he could
not do it on his own but was dependent on the Holy Spirit to open doors and give him the right
21 Leon Morris, The Gospel according to John, The New International Commentary on the New Testament
(Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 404.
22 Morris, The Gospel according to John, 404.
23 Richard R. Melick, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, vol. 32, The New American Commentary
(Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 322.
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words to say. Paul says, “At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for
the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make
it clear, which is how I ought to speak” (Colossians 4:3-4, Italics added). Paul prayed and knew
that God was the one who had to do the work through him ultimately.
Although this is a definite characteristic of a disciple and an important one as without
evangelism, those who are apart from Christ are lost. Reid soberly states as “They are swimming
in a riptide of sin that will yank them into the abyss of hell for all eternity—unless they meet the
One who is the lifeline for all mankind: the Lord Jesus Christ.”24 Our church just had a “Make A
Difference” (MAD) seminar which equips people in lifestyle evangelism. The man has done this
full-time for almost ten years and is a member of our church. We had the training on Sunday
morning to not require any more additional time for people to attend. Unfortunately, this was our
lowest attended service of the year. Most Christians believe that this is a characteristic only for
super saints or those called to evangelism. However, sharing our faith is a non-negotiable
element.25 The problem is not that we do not know how to evangelize but the unwillingness to
learn and trust God.
If the Great Omission is to be again the Great Commission, evangelism is not an optional
mark of a disciple. Jesus tells his disciples, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to
me. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19-20). A disciple is not going
on their authority but by the authority of Jesus Christ. Only on that authority and in concert with
Christ are we to go and proclaim Christ. This is not a solo mission, but a co-mission with Christ
doing the work and the disciple is only to proclaim what Christ has done. Romans 10:17 says,
24 Alvin L. Reid, Introduction to Evangelism (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1998), 3.
25 Will McRaney, The Art of Personal Evangelism: Sharing Jesus in a Changing Culture (Nashville, TN:
Broadman & Holman, 2003), 45.
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“So faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” To be redeemed, one must
hear the gospel, and God has chosen his disciples to do that part. To be a disciple is to be sent,
and for which Christ gave his life.26
Conclusion
In conclusion, a disciple is characterized by worshiping God in “spirit and truth” (John
4:24). The object of worship is a proper view of God as revealed in Scripture. It is both an
inward act of the heart that coincides with physical actions expressed outward in myriad ways.
Furthermore, a disciple is in community with other believers where they exercise their spiritual
gift and share by loving one another by meeting physical and spiritual needs. Additionally, a
disciple abides in God’s Word by reading and receiving the instruction to apply the truth of
Scripture to one’s life. Lastly, a disciple shows and shares the love of Christ through proclaiming
the gospel to a lost and dying world.
26 Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism (Grand Rapids, MI: Revell, 2006), 79.
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Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016.
Block, Daniel I. For the Glory of God: Recovering a Biblical Theology of Worship. Grand
Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2014.
Bock, Darrell L. Acts. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI:
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Bromiley, Geoffrey W., ed. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised. Wm. B.
Eerdmans, 1979–1988.
Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews. Rev. ed. The New International Commentary on the
New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990.
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Gallaty, Robby, Chris Swain, and Robert E. Coleman. Replicate: How to Create a Culture of
Disciple-Making Right Where You Are. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2020.
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Incorporated, 1995.
Hawthorne, Gerald F. Philippians. Vol. 43. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word,
Incorporated, 2004.
Köstenberger, Andreas J. A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters: The Word, the Christ, the
Son of God. Biblical Theology of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan,
2009.
McManis, Cliff. Christian Living Beyond Belief: Biblical Principles for the Life of Faith. The
Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications, 2006.
McRaney, Will. The Art of Personal Evangelism: Sharing Jesus in a Changing Culture.
Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2003.
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Commentary on the New Testament. Powder Springs, GA: Tolle Lege Press, 2015.
Melick, Richard R. Philippians, Colossians, Philemon. Vol. 32. The New American
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Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991.
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Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995.
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Stedman, Ray C. Hebrews. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series. Westmont, IL: IVP
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