Discipleship: To be a follower of a Teacher or To follow a course of discipline to master a craft?
By The Contemplative Bard
July 12, 2024

Most spiritual traditions require discipleship. The word came from the latin words, "discipulus", "disciplina", or "discere". The variations depend on the context of use.

My favorite, and also what I believe to be its original context is the one used in the academe. To be a disciple is to be a learner of a specific academic discipline ("disciplina"). One is a disciple as long one is in the process of learning or training ("discere") from a craft. One can be a disciple of the medical sciences, of the laws, or engineering, of philosophies, of information technology, of commerce, or even on trades crafts. You follow a "master" (or a doctor of a particular discipline as used in the modern academe) and you learn from her and she trains and develops in you all skills required for all the aspects of that discipline, until you eventually because a "master" of that craft yourself.

In the more modern usage that is influenced by the Christian tradition, "discipulus" simply means being a disciple or follower of something or someone. In a Christian context, a follower of Christ is a disciple. (But of course, there is a nuance to this: an "apostle" was part of the original 12 disciples, while a "disciple" can be everyone apart from the 12, like St. Mark or St. Luke, who were gospel evangelists but not part of the original 12 apostles. St. Paul is also an example of a prominent disciple.)

It is unclear from modern Christian literature and preachers what they meant by being a disciple. Is it simply being a follower of Christ or a follower of his teachings or a person under training to become like Christ?

It appears there are 3 schools of thought on this. I can deduce from the debate on how one can be "saved", which is a core Christian doctrine.

1. One is salvation by justification - this means that faith on Jesus alone that one can be saved from sin through grace. Repentance and acceptance of the Lord are the keys. It appears here that Discipleship means following Jesus or Christ alone to obtain divine grace.

2. Salvation by sanctification - this means that aside from the profession of faith, one has to work hard for one's holiness or sanctification, that is avoiding sin and doing spiritual and corporal works of mercy to follow the examples of Christ. Most liturgical churches, such as the Catholic churches follow this model. Therefore, discipleship is following Christ and the examples he did, and possibly including his ethical teachings.

3. Salvation by "at-one-ment". this means that Christ has set a goal and the task of his disciples is to achieve the same goal. Here, discipleship is not merely following a person, but also following a course of discipline to reach a certain learning goal or end-goal. One is "saved" if one achieves the final goal set by the Teacher or the Christ.

The Eastern Orthodox almost got it by naming that goal as "theosis" or "deification". But they fell short in defining what exactly that means, possibly for fear of being a heresy. They defined it being "like Christ". This reminds me of "The Imitation of Christ", by Thomas à Kempis.

It appears the goal of Discipleship under this school of thought is high: "You are gods, all of you are children of the Most High" (John 10:34; Psalm 82:6).

"Be perfect, therefore, as you heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

The Christian mystics and gnostics got it right. The goal is being Christ, or an equal to the consciousness of Christ (Beatific vision, One with Christ, Contemplative state, Oneness with G-d)). Christ came here to teach us the way to become truly a "child of G-d", which is not a easy task (Comparing Discipleship to an eye of a needle in Matthew 19:24). He came to show us examples in His life, and at the same time taught us the Mysteries or a training regimen on how to achieve sanctification and a higher state of consciousness (In Matthew 13:11, Christ taught his disciple the "Mysteries" of the Kingdom of Heaven, while to others, it is in the form of parables). However, some of them may have been lost, mistranslated, edited out during the compilation process of the Scriptures, or they were simply not written but transmitted through oral tradition (John 21:25).

The Christian mystics went further than liturgical churches that the horizontal way (works of mercy and following the examples of Christ in loving our neighbours are not enough). They introduced a more robust vertical way (reminding us that the 2 greatest commandment of Christ also included "loving G-d with all our heart, mind, and will and soul"). Actually they got into trouble with this. St. Joan of Arc was condemned to death by burning by the early Church. Other saints, like St. John of the Cross, St. Theresa of Avila, and many more suffered under Church persecution. Others played along with Church rules while doing their thing in private, and became the monastics (Franciscan, Benedictines, Cistercians, etc.). Gnostics completely went underground.

We can further validate this form of discipleship by examining comparative spiritual traditions. The Eastern tradition of yoga has their 8 stages to Divinity, which was introduced by Yogi Patanjali. These are rigorous spiritual disciplines to achieve Samadhi or oneness with the divine. Buddhists has the 8 fold path as the disciplines towards achieving Nirvana. Sant Mat, a mystical school within the Sikh tradition, has Simran-Dhyan (Prayer and meditation), Seva (community service), Bhajan (listening to songs), and Satsanga (studying the truths through holy books or a living master).

Although there appears to be an exception, like the Eastern tradition of Yogi Paramahansa Yogananda where discipleship pertains to following a personality, much like the school of justification by faith in Christianity. There was story where a guru told the disciple to jump off a cliff by faith. The disciple did and died but resurrected to life by his guru by grace due to his faith and obedience.