A disciple is a broad term for anyone who follows Jesus. More specifically, a disciple is a learner—someone who dedicates their life to Jesus and strives to live in a way that reflects how He walked here on earth. The purpose of a disciple of Jesus is to be transformed and to grow in the same mission Jesus carried out.

The Greek word for disciple is mathetes, which means “learner” or “student.” Today, I would describe a student as an observer who follows along and learns from a teacher.

The difference between disciples and apostles is that an apostle is a chosen person who is sent out with a specific mission. The twelve apostles were first disciples, but they became the chosen people Jesus appointed to lead the Church and multiply the kingdom of Heaven.

In short: All apostles are disciples, but not all disciples are apostles.

Notes:

While Jesus was on earth, He referred to what we now know as the twelve apostles as disciples. It wasn’t until after the resurrection that Jesus called those twelve disciples to become His apostles—to go out and spread the Good News.

All twelve of Jesus’ apostles personally witnessed His ministry on earth. They were a specific group of men chosen by Jesus Himself:

The Twelve Apostles: Peter, Andrew, James (son of Zebedee), John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon the Zealot, Judas Iscariot, and Judas (son of James).

Now let’s talk about the Apostle Paul.
We know Paul as one of the apostles, but he wasn’t part of the original twelve Jesus chose. Paul was never directly appointed by Jesus during His earthly ministry, but he became an apostle through his divine calling from God—to preach the Gospel.

Paul’s story is unique because he didn’t witness Jesus’ ministry firsthand like the others did. Instead, he encountered God directly on the road to Damascus. His story is one I plan to dive deeper into in a future blog.

The main takeaway is this: there were more apostles beyond the original twelve. These were people called and sent out by God to continue the mission of spreading the Gospel and building His kingdom.