What is the difference between apostles and disciples?

Difference between apostle and disciple can be understood when you know what the two terms stand for individually. The words apostle and disciple are often encountered in biblical study. Many treat apostles and disciples to be the same and often use these words interchangeably. read more

In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to the twelve apostles. In addition, the gospels and the Book of Acts refer to varying numbers of disciples that range between 70 and 120 to a "growing multitude". read more

Those same twelve apostles are also frequently called the "disciples." Disciple comes from an educational context and is similar to "student." So the word apostle defines a person in terms of their purpose or mission, while disciple emphasizes the person's relationship to the teacher. In the case of the 12 apostles, all of them are disciples. read more