Tips for Teachers -- 3

We don’t talk much about teaching “theology,” but we all do it – or should. Theology has to do with the study of God, and since all that we are, and hope to be, is tied inseparably to the nature, promises and directives of God, anything we study in the Bible is “theologically” oriented.

Especially do we teach “theology” when we teach by subject rather than by text.

When we teach subject oriented classes, the task becomes infinitely more difficult. We must first ascertain what texts in the Bible address our subject. As we do this, we must be sure that the passages we select, in their context, actually do address our subject.

For example:

I was in a class that had to do with “worship” many years ago. The teacher was talking about the proper “order” of worship and asserted that the last thing we should do in assembly is “sing.” His reasoning was that in Matthew 26 and Mark 14, Jesus and his disciples “sang a hymn” at the end of the “Last Supper.” The problem was, and is, that neither of these passages were written for the purpose of addressing the matter of the worship assembly, much less its order. The passage may specifically mention “singing,” but that doesn’t mean it is instructive regarding the Christian assembly, much less “order of worship.” You cannot use a text to make any point that was not intended to be made in the text itself.

Another:

In 1 John 1:9, John wrote: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Does this mean that if we fail to confess some sin – perhaps one we might be ignorant of – that God will hold that against us? I’ve heard this passage cited to talk about prayer and forgiveness and maintain that God will not forgive a sin unconfessed. But the issue for John was not the need to keep a catalog of sins so that we might be sure to confess them all, but the need to be confessional people in the first place. John’s readers were more likely simply to deny that they had sinned. It was this failure to be introspective and honest that was the point (clearly seen in the “If we” passages of that book).

Once you are familiar with the entirety of scripture on a particular matter, you are then qualified to teach “subjects.” Perhaps you can now see why I regard this as so much more difficult.