104 Bible Verses about discipleship, nature of

It stands written in the Prophets, 'And they shall all of them be taught by God'. Every one who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me.

Another of the disciples said to Him, "Sir, allow me first to go and bury my father." "Follow me," said Jesus, "and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

So they immediately left their nets and followed Him. As He went further on,

At once they left their nets and followed Him.

Therefore be imitators of God, as His dear children. And live and act lovingly, as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up to death on our behalf as an offering and sacrifice to God, yielding a fragrant odor.

And let our people too learn to set a good example in following honest occupations for the supply of their necessities, so that they may not live useless lives.

but--in imitation of the holy One who has called you--you also must be holy in all your habits of life. Because it stands written, "You are to be holy, because I am holy."

And they at once left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

They therefore left their father Zabdi in the boat with the hired men, and went and followed Him.

For I have set you an example in order that you may do what I have done to you.

Then, after bringing their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

But these are not the lessons which you have learned from Christ; if at least you have heard His voice and in Him have been taught--and this is true Christian teaching--

and that He died for all in order that the living may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again.

Let the same disposition be in you which was in Christ Jesus.

For not one of us lives to himself, and not one dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord: if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

And He said to them, "Come and follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

And it is to this you were called; because Christ also suffered on your behalf, leaving you an example so that you should follow in His steps.

that in future you may spend the rest of your earthly lives, governed not by human passions, but by the will of God.

"Come and follow me," said Jesus, "and I will make you fishers for men."

The man who professes to be continuing in Him is himself also bound to live as He lived.

So after He had washed their feet, put on His garments again, and returned to the table, He said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me 'The Rabbi' and 'The Master,' and rightly so, for such I am. If I then, your Master and Rabbi, have washed your feet, it is also your duty to wash one another's feet.read more.
For I have set you an example in order that you may do what I have done to you. In most solemn truth I tell you that a servant is not superior to his master, nor is a messenger superior to him who sent him. If you know all this, blessed are you if you act accordingly.

He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zabdi and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zabdi mending their nets; and He called them.

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will teach you everything, and will bring to your memories all that I have said to you.

As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you: continue in my love. If you obey my commands, you will continue in my love, as I have obeyed my Father's commands and continue in His love. "These things I have spoken to you in order that I may have joy in you, and that your joy may become perfect.read more.
This is my commandment to you, to love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this--a man laying down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you.

for the Holy Spirit shall teach you at that very moment what you must say."

But when He has come--the Spirit of Truth--He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak as Himself originating what He says, but all that He hears He will speak, and He will make known the future to you.

Any one who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and any one who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and any one who does not take up his cross and follow where I lead is not worthy of me. To save your life is to lose it, and to lose your life for my sake is to save it.

"Follow me," He said to another. "Master," the man replied, "allow me first to go and bury my father." "Leave the dead," Jesus rejoined, "to bury their own dead; but you must go and announce far and wide the coming of the Kingdom of God."

Of these we speak--not in language which man's wisdom teaches us, but in that which the Spirit teaches--adapting, as we do, spiritual words to spiritual truths.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If any one desires to follow me, let him renounce self and take up his cross, and so be my follower. For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it.

Passing on thence Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the Toll Office, and said to him, "Follow me." And he arose, and followed Him.

For I always beseech the God of our Lord Jesus Christ--the Father most glorious--to give you a spirit of wisdom and penetration through an intimate knowledge of Him,

Then calling to Him the crowd and also His disciples, He said to them, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross, and so be my follower. For whoever is bent on securing his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, will secure it.

And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the Toll Office, and said to him, "Follow me." So he rose and followed Him.

to grant you--in accordance with the wealth of His glorious perfections--to be strengthened by His Spirit with power penetrating to your inmost being. I pray that Christ may make His home in your hearts through your faith; so that having your roots deep and your foundations strong, in love, you may become mighty to grasp the idea, as it is grasped by all God's people, of the breadth and length, the height and depth--read more.
yes, to attain to a knowledge of the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, so that you may be made complete in accordance with God's own standard of completeness.

And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross day by day, and so be my follower. For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake shall save it.

To them it was revealed that they were serving not themselves but you, when they foretold the very things which have now been openly declared to you by those who, having been taught by the Holy Spirit which had been sent from Heaven, brought you the Good News. Angels long to stoop and look into these things.

After this He went out and noticed a tax-gatherer, Levi by name, sitting at the Toll office; and He said to him, "Follow me."

He charged them to take nothing for the journey except a stick; no bread, no bag, and not a penny in their pockets,

"If you desire to be perfect," replied Jesus, "go and sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you shall have wealth in Heaven; and come, follow me."

The doctrines and the line of conduct which I taught you--both what you heard and what you saw in me-- hold fast to them; and God who gives peace will be with you.

"If any one is coming to me who does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine. No one who does not carry his own cross and come after me can be a disciple of mine.

Then Jesus looked at him and loved him, and said, "One thing is lacking in you: go, sell all you possess and give the proceeds to the poor, and you shall have riches in Heaven; and come and be a follower of mine."

Any man who makes it his object to keep his own life safe, will lose it; but whoever loses his life will preserve it.

On receiving this answer Jesus said to him, "There is still one thing wanting in you. Sell everything you possess and give the money to the poor, and you shall have wealth in Heaven; and then come, follow me."

He who holds his life dear, is destroying it; and he who makes his life of no account in this world shall keep it to the Life of the Ages.

The next day, having decided to leave Bethany and go into Galilee, Jesus found Philip, and invited him to follow Him.

to put away, in regard to your former mode of life, your original evil nature which is doomed to perish as befits its misleading impulses, and to get yourselves renewed in the temper of your minds and clothe yourselves with that new and better self which has been created to resemble God in the righteousness and holiness which come from the truth.

This He said to indicate the kind of death by which that disciple would bring glory to God; and after speaking thus He said to him, "Follow me."

In writing this much, brethren, with special reference to Apollos and myself, I have done so for your sakes, in order to teach you by our example what those words mean, which say, "Nothing beyond what is written!" --so that you may cease to take sides in boastful rivalry, for one teacher against another.

You however are to be complete in goodness, as your Heavenly Father is complete.

and any one who does not take up his cross and follow where I lead is not worthy of me.

There is no disciple who is superior to his teacher; but every one whose instruction is complete will be like his teacher.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If any one desires to follow me, let him renounce self and take up his cross, and so be my follower.

Be imitators of me, in so far as I in turn am an imitator of Christ.

For those whom He has known beforehand He has also pre-destined to bear the likeness of His Son, that He might be the Eldest in a vast family of brothers;

Brethren, vie with one another in imitating me, and carefully observe those who follow the example which we have set you.

Then calling to Him the crowd and also His disciples, He said to them, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross, and so be my follower.

I plead with you therefore, brethren, by the compassionsof God, to present all your faculties to Him as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to Him. This with you will be an act of reasonable worship. And do not follow the customs of the present age, but be transformed by the entire renewal of your minds, so that you may learn by experience what God's will is--that will which is good and beautiful and perfect.

And He said to all, "If any one is desirous of following me, let him ignore self and take up his cross day by day, and so be my follower.

For you yourselves know that it is your duty to follow our example. There was no disorder in our lives among you,

No one who does not carry his own cross and come after me can be a disciple of mine.

On the contrary, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for gratifying your earthly cravings.

A woman should quietly learn from others with entire submissiveness.

My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

And all of us, with unveiled faces, reflecting like bright mirrors the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same likeness, from one degree of radiant holiness to another, even as derived from the Lord the Spirit.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let these learn first to show piety towards their own homes and to prove their gratitude to their parents; for this is well pleasing in the sight of God.

But you must cling to the things which you have learnt and have been taught to believe, knowing who your teachers were,

Having therefore these promises, beloved friends, let us purify ourselves from all defilement of body and of spirit, and secure perfect holiness through the fear of God.

If a man wishes to be my servant, let him follow me; and where I am, there too shall my servant be. If a man wishes to be my servant, the Father will honour him.

even as, in His love, He chose us as His own in Christ before the creation of the world, that we might be holy and without blemish in His presence.

These are those who had not defiled themselves with women: they are as pure as virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men, as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.

Him we preach, admonishing every one and instructing every one, with all possible wisdom, so that we may bring every one into God's presence, made perfect through Christ.

For you know that it is from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. Christ is the Master whose bondservants you are.

Clothe yourselves therefore, as God's own people holy and dearly loved, with tender-heartedness, kindness, lowliness of mind, meekness, long-suffering;

But Jesus called them to Him, and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. Not so shall it be among you; but whoever desires to be great among you shall be your servant, and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant;read more.
just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as the redemption-price for many."

so that the man of God may himself be complete and may be perfectly equipped for every good work.

Jesus, however, called them to Him and said to them, "You are aware how those who are deemed rulers among the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men make them feel their authority; but it is not to be so among you. No, whoever desires to be great among you must be your servant; and whoever desires to be first among you must be the bondservant of all.read more.
For the Son of Man also did not come to be waited upon, but to wait on others, and to give His life as the redemption-price for a multitude of people."

And, since you delight in obedience, do not shape your lives by the cravings which used to dominate you in the time of your ignorance, but--in imitation of the holy One who has called you--you also must be holy in all your habits of life.

Do not be indolent when zeal is required. Be thoroughly warm-hearted, the Lord's own servants,

But for this very reason--adding, on your part, all earnestness-- along with your faith, manifest also a noble character: along with a noble character, knowledge; along with knowledge, self-control; along with self-control, power of endurance; along with power of endurance, godliness; along with godliness, brotherly affection; and along with brotherly affection, love.

For when others speak of us they report the reception we had from you, and how you turned from your idols to God, to be bondservants of the true and ever-living God,

Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been fully revealed. We know that if Christ reappears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And every man who has this hope fixed on Him, purifies himself so as to be as pure as He is.

Jesus therefore said to those of the Jews who had now believed in Him, "As for you, if you hold fast to my teaching, then you are truly my disciples;

Now there was one of the Pharisees whose name was Nicodemus--a ruler among the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher from God; for no one can do these miracles which you are doing, unless God is with him.

He who has my commandments and obeys them--he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will clearly reveal myself to him."

Nicodemus interposed--he who had formerly gone to Jesus, being himself one of them.

If you obey my commands, you will continue in my love, as I have obeyed my Father's commands and continue in His love.

And by this we may know that we know Him--if we obey His commands.

and whatever we ask for we obtain from Him, because we obey His commands and do the things which are pleasing in His sight.

Love for God means obedience to His commands; and His commands are not irksome.

Jesus however came near and said to them, "All power in Heaven and over the earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations; baptize them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and teach them to obey every command which I have given you. And remember, I am with you always, day by day, until the Close of the Age."

*You* are the light of the world; a town cannot be hid if built on a hill-top. Nor is a lamp lighted to be put under a bushel, but on the lampstand; and then it gives light to all in the house. Just so let your light shine before all men, in order that they may see your holy lives and may give glory to your Father who is in Heaven.

All that you have been taught by me in the hearing of many witnesses, you must hand on to trusty men who shall themselves, in turn, be competent to instruct others also.

And He Himself appointed some to be Apostles, some to be Prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers, in order fully to equip His people for the work of serving--for the building up of Christ's body-- till we all of us arrive at oneness in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and at mature manhood and the stature of full-grown men in Christ.read more.
So we shall no longer be babes nor shall we resemble mariners tossed on the waves and carried about with every changing wind of doctrine according to men's cleverness and unscrupulous cunning, making use of every shifting device to mislead. But we shall lovingly hold to the truth, and shall in all respects grow up into union with Him who is our Head, even Christ. Dependent on Him, the whole body--its various parts closely fitting and firmly adhering to one another-- grows by the aid of every contributory link, with power proportioned to the need of each individual part, so as to build itself up in a spirit of love. Therefore I warn you, and I implore you in the name of the Master, no longer to live as the Gentiles in their perverseness live,

and they were constant in listening to the teaching of the Apostles and in their attendance at the Communion, that is, the Breaking of the Bread, and at prayer.

Jesus therefore said to those of the Jews who had now believed in Him, "As for you, if you hold fast to my teaching, then you are truly my disciples; and you shall know the Truth, and the Truth will make you free."

"I am the Vine--the True Vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in me--if it bears no fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are cleansed--through the teaching which I have given you.read more.
Continue in me, and let me continue in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself--that is, if it does not continue in the vine--so neither can you if you do not continue in me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who continues in me and in whom I continue bears abundant fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If any one does not continue in me, he is like the unfruitful branch which is at once thrown away and then withers up. Such branches they gather up and throw into the fire and they are burned. "If you continue in me and my sayings continue in you, ask what you will and it shall be done for you. By this is God glorified--by your bearing abundant fruit and thus being true disciples of mine. As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you: continue in my love. If you obey my commands, you will continue in my love, as I have obeyed my Father's commands and continue in His love. "These things I have spoken to you in order that I may have joy in you, and that your joy may become perfect. This is my commandment to you, to love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this--a man laying down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all that I have heard from the Father I have made known to you. It is not you who chose me, but it is I who chose you and appointed you that you might go and be fruitful and that your fruit might remain; so that whatever petition you present to the Father in my name He may give you. "Thus I command you to love one another.

A new commandment I give you, to love one another; that as I have loved you, you also may love one another. It is by this that every one will know that you are my disciples--if you love one another."

"If any one is coming to me who does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be a disciple of mine.

Just as no one of you who does not detach himself from all that belongs to him can be a disciple of mine.

But as for you, you must speak in a manner that befits wholesome teaching. Exhort aged men to be temperate, grave, sober-minded, robust in their faith, their love and their patience. In the same way exhort aged women to let their conduct be such as becomes consecrated persons. They must not be slanderers nor enslaved to wine-drinking. They must be teachers of what is right.read more.
They should school the young women to be affectionate to their husbands and to their children, to be sober-minded, pure in their lives, industrious in their homes, kind, submissive to their husbands, so that the Christian teaching may not be exposed to reproach. In the same way exhort the younger men to be discreet, and above all make your own life a pattern of right conduct, having in your teaching no taint of insincerity, but a serious tone, and healthy language which no one can censure, so that our opponents may feel ashamed at having nothing evil to say against us.

And, as they proceeded on their way, a man came to Him and said, "I will follow you wherever you go." "The foxes have holes," said Jesus, "and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." "Follow me," He said to another. "Master," the man replied, "allow me first to go and bury my father."read more.
"Leave the dead," Jesus rejoined, "to bury their own dead; but you must go and announce far and wide the coming of the Kingdom of God." "Master," said yet another, "I will follow you; but allow me first to go and say good-bye to my friends at home." Jesus answered him, "No one who has put his hand to the plough, and then looks behind him, is fit for the Kingdom of God.