What is the difference between believer and disciple
The word ‘believers’ appeared twice in the New Testament, KJV – Acts 5:14 and 1Timothy 4:12. Disciples and believers are synonymous just like Christian and disciple. Let verify it by comparing these two Scriptures –
Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied
greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the
faith. (Acts 6:7)
And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among
the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. And believers
were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, (Acts
5:12, 14)
In the days that Jesus taught, people who believed and followed Him were called or referred to as disciples. It was after His resurrection from
the dead, during the maiden stages of Christianity and the apostolic age that
the term believers had its first appearance in Acts 5:14 of the New
Testament. On the first occasion that it was used in Acts 5:14, it was
meant to refer to certain people who believed in the Lord Jesus and have
joined the Christian faith on hearing the word of God or on hearing and seeing the many signs
and wonders God was doing by the hands of the apostles.
Moreover, in Acts 6:7, the word disciples was rather used to refer
to a similar group of people who on hearing the word of God came to believe and
join the church.
The two words, believers and disciples, were used in the same sense to refer to people who heard or saw and believed and join the christian faith. Thus the word ‘believers’ seems to have been coined to be an alternative of disciples to refer to people who were preached to and on hearing the word, came to accept Jesus. In other words, the term believers was used to refer to people who upon witnessing the power of God in the church, believed and joined the church. The Bible does not show any difference between these two terms, disciple and believer. Rather, there is evidence that the words ‘disciples’ and ‘believers’ are synonymous; they serve the same purpose and one can be used in place of the other.
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