Five Marks of a Disciple in Jesus' Day

October 7th, 2026
by Kurt Olson

This is Part 8 of an 18-part series drawn from Kurt Olson's book, The Endgame of God. New posts publish every Wednesday at GoMultiply.org/blog.

Five Clear Marks — and Five Honest Questions

When Jesus said "make disciples," He had something very specific in mind. In His day, disciples had five clear characteristics — and each one still asks a searching question of us today.

Whenever I train believers around the world, I ask a question that grabs people's attention: when Jesus said, "go and make disciples" (Matthew 28:19), what did He actually mean by disciple? We have seen that a disciple was simply someone following their rabbi — but in Jesus' day, that following had culturally understood requirements. Within the rabbi-disciple relationship were five clear marks of a true disciple at the time of Christ. Let's walk through them together, because each one still holds up a mirror for each one of us to examine ourselves today.

Number One — Obedience Without Question or Hesitation

Remember Peter in the boat, worn out after a long night of fishing and catching nothing? Jesus told him to push out into deep water and let the nets down one more time. Peter answered, "Master, we worked hard all night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again" (Luke 5:5).

Notice the reason he obeyed. Not because it made sense — it was the wrong time of day to fish. Not because he expected to catch anything. He obeyed for one reason only: his Master said so.

That is the first mark. A disciple obeys immediately, before the reasons are clear, because the one they follow has spoken. So here is the honest question: does that describe the way you and I follow Jesus? Or do we treat His clear commands as suggestions to weigh against our own preferences, comforts, and desires?

Number Two — His Words Stored Up in You

In Jesus' day it was actually against the rabbis' rules for a disciple to write down the rabbis' teaching. They were required to memorize it — all of it. Why such a demanding standard? Because the only teaching of Jesus you can actually obey in everyday life is the teaching that is already stored inside you. In other words, you cannot obey what you do not know. Jesus said, "But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!" (John 15:7). Where does He want you to store His words? In you — not on a shelf, not in an app, not even on your Bible alone, but in your heart and mind, ready to obey at any given moment.

Number Three — Agree With the Rabbis’ Interpretation of The Old Testament

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeats the same phrase 6x: "You have heard that it was said... But I tell you..." (Matthew 5:21–48). He is claiming to be the final authority on what God's Word actually means.

A disciple does not get to pick and choose which of the Master's interpretations to accept. When Jesus clarifies what Scripture means — about anger and lust of the heart, about marriage, about money, about the cost of following Him — a disciple agrees with the Rabbi and adjusts their life to match His requirements. If you ever find yourself in a quarrel with the plain teaching of Jesus, understand that the quarrel is with Him, not with me or any other messenger. And He is always right.

Number Four — Imitating His Actions

When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he called out, "Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water" (Matthew 14:28). Do you hear the question there? "If it's really you." It's as if Peter is saying, "It looks like you and it sounds like you. But I'm not sure it's really you." You see, it was, and still is, the rabbi's job to equip his disciples to do whatever he does — so Jesus empowered Peter to walk on water, until "he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. 'Save me, Lord!'" (Matthew 14:30). Here is the whole lesson for us as believers today: we can imitate Jesus while our eyes are fixed on Jesus. The moment Peter looked at the storm instead of the Savior, he sank.

When you encounter an evil spirit, don't focus on the spirit; focus on Jesus who still casts out evil spirits today.

When you encounter sickness, don't focus on the sickness; focus on Jesus the Healer who still heals the sick today.

When you encounter any problem in life don't focus on the problem; focus on Jesus who still calms all the storms of our lives today.

Let me share how real this can be. Once I was preaching on Easter Sunday morning in Central Asia. The message was broadcast by loudspeaker to the entire Muslim, Hindu, and Christian community. I had preached on how Jesus' resurrection gives us the power and ability to cast out demons, heal the sick, and raise the dead. As I finished the closing prayer, I heard a bloodcurdling scream from my left, and a mother carrying her child came rushing out of her house and ran toward me. She was holding a limp, gray, lifeless little boy in her arms. I laid my hands on him and declared life, health and wholeness over him in the Almighty name of Jesus. About an hour later I was told that just five minutes after that prayer, the boy was completely restored — awake, alert, happy and playing. The doctors were unable to find anything wrong with that child. All the glory belongs to God. I simply kept my eyes on my Rabbi in the midst of that storm and did what He empowered me to do.

Number Five — Gathering More Disciples to Your Rabbi

This was so natural in that culture that Jesus' followers did it almost by default. Watch how Jesus goes from zero disciples to five in the first chapter of John (John 1:35–50). John the Baptist points two of his own disciples to Jesus. One of them, Andrew, immediately goes and gets his brother Simon Peter. Jesus finds Philip. And Philip runs off to find Nathanael and bring him to Jesus. Count it up: of the first five, Jesus personally called only one. Every other one came at the invitation or suggestion of a friend or brother who simply could not keep their discovery of the Rabbi/Messiah to themselves.

That is the fifth characteristic of discipleship in Jesus’ day, and it is the one that leads to multiplication. If you and I are genuinely His disciples, we must find ways to develop the simple, joyful habit of introducing other people to the One we follow.

Not a Checklist — a Portrait

Please do not read these five as a scorecard to earn God's approval. They are not five boxes to check off. They are the original blueprint of the life of a true disciple that was genuinely following a rabbi at the time of Christ. Our Rabbi is Jesus — So, obeying His commands, memorizing His teachings, trusting His interpretation of Scripture, imitating His actions, and bringing others to Him is what Jesus had in mind when He commanded His disciples to “make disciples” of everyone on earth. The best thing we can do is simply to ask which of them is strong in us, and which is weak. Then take one genuine step this week toward the Master in the area where you need Him to help you grow as a disciple the most.

Look back over the five characteristics and be honest: which one is most alive in your daily life right now, and which one is most absent? What is one concrete step you could take this week to grow in these areas?