"Our image is a disciple may be a flannel-graph picture or a bearded man in a robe and sandals, or it may simply be an image of one of the Twelve that followed Jesus. We tend to think of discipleship as a new testament phenomenon, perhaps something that Jesus dreamed up when He chose His Twelve disciples. This is wrong.
Long before the days of the Master, discipleship was already a well-established institution within Jewish culture. All the great sages, the rabbis, the sages among the Pharisees and the teachers of the Torah had disciples. The Hebrew word for disciple is talmid. It means "student." A talmid's job was to learn everything that his master had to teach. They learned how to keep God's commands the way their teacher kept them.
When the Disciple was fully trained, he became a teacher and passed on the teaching to disciples of his own, who in turn, when fully trained, would become teachers and raise up disciples of their own. This is why it is so important to 'see to it.'
The man who says, "I know God," but does not do what God commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys His Word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know that we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.
