Reference: Disciples
Hastings
In the ancient world every teacher had his company of disciples or learners. The Greek philosophers and the Jewish Rabbis had theirs, and John the Baptist had his (Mr 2:18 'the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees'; cf. Joh 1:35; Mt 14:12). In like manner Jesus had His disciples. The term had two applications, a wider and a narrower. It denoted (1) all who believed in Him, though they remained where He had found them, pursuing their former avocations, yet rendering no small service to His cause by confessing their allegiance and testifying to His grace (cf. Lu 6:13; 19:37; Joh 4:1; 6:60,66-67). (2) The inner circle of the Twelve, whom He called 'Apostles,' and whom He required to forsake their old lives and follow Him whithersoever He went, not merely that they might strengthen Him by their sympathy (cf. Lu 22:28), but that they might aid Him in His ministry (Mt 9:37; 10:1,5), and, above all, that they might be trained by dally intercourse and discipline to carry forward the work after He was gone. These were 'the disciples' par excellence (Mt 10:1; 12:1,49; 15:23,32; Mr 8:27; Lu 8:9; Joh 11:7; 12:4; 16:17,29). See also Apostles.
David Smith.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is rich, but the labourers are few;
And summoning his twelve disciples he gave them power over unclean spirits, power to cast them out and also to heal every disease and every ailment.
And summoning his twelve disciples he gave them power over unclean spirits, power to cast them out and also to heal every disease and every ailment.
These twelve men Jesus despatched with the following instructions, "Do not go among the Gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town,
At that time Jesus walked one sabbath through the cornfields, and as his disciples were hungry they started to pull some ears of corn and eat them.
Stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
His disciples came and removed the corpse and buried him; then they went and reported it to Jesus.
But he made no answer to her. Then his disciples came up and pressed him, saying, "Send her away, she is wailing behind us."
Then Jesus called his disciples and said, "I am sorry for the crowd; they have been three days with me now, and they have nothing to eat. I will not send them away starving, in case they faint on the road."
As the disciples of John and of the Pharisees were observing a fast, people came and asked him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, and your disciples do not fast?"
Then Jesus and his disciples set off for the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the road he inquired of his disciples, "Who do people say I am?"
and when day broke he summoned his disciples, choosing twelve of them, to whom he gave the name of 'apostles':
The disciples questioned him about the meaning of the parable;
and as he was now close to the descent from the Hill of Olives, all the multitude of the disciples started joyfully to praise God with a loud voice for all they had seen,
It is you who have stood by me through my trials;
Next day again John was standing with two of his disciples;
Now when the Lord learned that the Pharisees had heard of Jesus gaining and baptizing more disciples than John
Now many of his disciples, on hearing it, said, "This is hard to take in! Who can listen to talk like this?"
After that, many of his disciples drew back and would not associate with him any longer. So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go, too?"
after that, he said to the disciples, "Let us go back to Judaea."
One of his disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was to betray him), said,
So some of his disciples said to one another, "What does he mean by telling us, 'In a little while, you will behold me no longer; then, after a little, you shall see me'? and, 'I go to the Father'?"
His disciples said, "Now, you are talking plainly at last, not speaking in figures.