Prophets, Diciples, and Saints

[Maran-atha]

I read several places in the Bible about all three... But my question is, what is the difference between the three? Anyone care to enlighten me? Thanks!


Maran-atha
(Lord Jesus, Come!)

[Saved7]

I read several places in the Bible about all three... But my question is, what is the difference between the three? Anyone care to enlighten me? Thanks!


Maran-atha
(Lord Jesus, Come!)

A prophet is one who hears directly from the Lord with a message for a person, a group of people, or a nation. It was the prophets that wrote the old testament, and what they got was something detailed and completely accurate, and typically it was some new sort of thing...which would explain the writings of the bible. This is different from prophecy, which is a thing that one does, in expounding on the word of God or when someone has a special personal message from God for another person...however, that other person will have already known this thing and that thing will just be more of a confirmation.
There are no "prophets" like the ones in the bible today. ONly people with the gift of prophecy, however it would seem that it is actually much more rare to have this gift than many would have us think
A disciple is a "student" of something, such as a student of Christ, a follower of Christ.
An apostle is one that Christ gave greatest authority to, and these men were those who had all of the spiritual gifts spoken of in the new testament, including miracles. These men also wrote the new testament, except for Luke, who wrote 2 books, but he walked mostly with Paul whom we know to be an apostle.

That's the best I got for ya, I'm sure someone else has a more accurate explanation than this though.

[Maran-atha]

Thank you!

I actually made a mistake in the subject line. It should have read Apostles, Disciples, and Saints... What prompted me to ask this question is that while reading and studying the New Testmant, I have come across passages where the *Twelve* were Disciples of Jesus. However at some point, they became Apostles of Christ, and make several references to the Saints of the body of Christ.

So, it is probably more appropriate for me to ask what those terms would mean in today's world, and in today's Church. Are there any Apostles today? Are there any Disciples today? Are there Saints today?

I hope that makes my question a bit clearer?

[TEITZY]

As Christians we should be all of these: That is every Christian is a saint and every saint should be a true disciple and every true disciple should be a prophet (eg. preach the Gospel.

In the technical sense or most common use of the word, not every believer is a prophet (eg. writer of the Scriptures or has the gift of foretelling future things). In the OT the word "prophet" simply means 'mouth' so the prophet was the mouthpiece for God (ie. God spoke to the prophet and the propet spoke to the people). In the NT the word means to 'foretell' or 'forthtell' (preach).

I don't think there is a great deal of difference between a saint and disciple. Saint simply means "holy one" and all believers are referred to as saints. The word disciple means 'learner', 'pupil' or 'follower'. One main difference between saints and disciples is that there can be true as well as false disciples whereas saints only ever refers to true believers. Some may make a further distinction and say that not all believers are true disciples (see John 15:8) becuase not all follow Christ as they should.

Cheers
Leigh

[TEITZY]

Thank you!

I actually made a mistake in the subject line. It should have read Apostles, Disciples, and Saints... What prompted me to ask this question is that while reading and studying the New Testmant, I have come across passages where the *Twelve* were Disciples of Jesus. However at some point, they became Apostles of Christ, and make several references to the Saints of the body of Christ.

So, it is probably more appropriate for me to ask what those terms would mean in today's world, and in today's Church. Are there any Apostles today? Are there any Disciples today? Are there Saints today?

I hope that makes my question a bit clearer?

The 12 Apostles were unique and there were also a few other special individuals who were called Apostles (eg. Paul & Barnabas). I don't believe we have Apostles like that today since these were clearly foundational for the building of the Church (see Eph 2:20). Some would say that the closest thing to 'apostles' we have today are missionaries or church-planters.

Cheers
Leigh

[Saved7]

The 12 Apostles were unique and there were also a few other special individuals who were called Apostles (eg. Paul & Barnabas). I don't believe we have Apostles like that today since these were clearly foundational for the building of the Church (see Eph 2:20). Some would say that the closest thing to 'apostles' we have today are missionaries or church-planters.

Cheers
Leigh

Amen......................

[Maran-atha]

Very well then, if I understand correctly, we who have been saved are all Saints just because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, and at the same time, we are also disciples due to the fact that we are constantly learning.

Would that be correct?

[TEITZY]

Very well then, if I understand correctly, we who have been saved are all Saints just because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, and at the same time, we are also disciples due to the fact that we are constantly learning.

Would that be correct?

Yeah that's fine, but I would just add that as a disciple we are not only "learning" more about Christ but also becoming more like Him through daily obedience to His commands.

Cheers
Leigh

[Maran-atha]

Thank you for enlightening me on this! I can now better understand and put into context what I read when I come across passages that refer to those words.

God Bless!!

[Sold Out]

I read several places in the Bible about all three... But my question is, what is the difference between the three? Anyone care to enlighten me? Thanks!


Maran-atha
(Lord Jesus, Come!)

An apostle is one who is a gift TO the church, not for the church.

Eph 4:11, "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;"

The greek word for apostle is 'apostolos', which means: "a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders specifically applied to the twelve apostles of Christ

1. in a broader sense applied to other eminent Christian teachers

Apostles are those given to the church with an awesome responsibility to carry out the message and mission of Christ. Apostles are not men who receive new revelations or 'words of knowledge' from God.

Saints are 'us'. By accepting the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, we are all made saints - those who will inherit salvation.

The word disciple in the greek means 'imitator'. To be a disciple of Christ, we must be imitators of Him!

[Maran-atha]

I think I've always believed that Saints and Disciples were just those who were around when the Bible was being written. It makes my heart very glad to learn that I, and all of us, are at least Saints, and I would hope, Disciples also!

Once again, thanks to all of you for taking the time to answer my question!


Maran-atha
(Lord Jesus, Come!)