Discipleship

It is a common misconception that those who are studying with Jesus have already realized in themselves the vision and practice of the kingdom. You often hear being a disciple spoken as if it were an advanced spiritual condition. Not necessarily. The disciple has made a major step forward, to be sure, but may in fact still have a solid hold on very little of the kingdom reality.

Jesus' disciples are those who have chosen to be with him to learn to be like him. All they have necessarily realized at the onset of their apprenticeship to him is, Jesus is right. He is the greatest and best. Of this, they are sure. That initial faith is God's gift of grace to them. So they have him. They do not yet have it. Living as his apprentices, they are increasingly getting "it." And as they move along they do indeed attain, by increasing grace, to an "advanced spiritual condition." They increase in the amount and quality of grace (interaction with God) they have in their real life. That is the same as increasing in their experiential knowledge of the real person, Jesus Christ, which in our current condition just is the eternal kind of life (2 Peter 3:18; compare John 17:3)

Excerpt from "The Divine Conspiracy" - Dallas Willard