What God’s Word Teaches About Teaching
Teach the Bible Biblically
God intends Biblical teaching to …
1)result directly in active ministry (Eph. 4:11-16)
2)integrate old and new truths (Matt. 52:13)
3)include interaction (teaching and exhorting one another, Col. 3:16, etc.)
4)be used by the Holy Spirit to convince sinners (1Cor. 14:3, 24-26)
5)deal with immediate concerns (before teaching, a wise teacher determines people’s need, problems, and current opportunities to serve others, which requires folks to listen to one another, as Jesus did, Luke 10:17-20)
6)use stories, preferable from Scripture, that illustrate truths, as Jesus did (Mat. 13:34)
Teaching achieves these results when teachers avoid excessive or exclusive use of popular methods that are not exemplified in Scripture, such as abstract analysis of doctrine, conventional homiletic structure of formal monologue sermons, and verse-by-verse exposition of Bible books or long passages. These popular methods are not wrong, but must be supplemented with the methods that Christ and His apostles used and required.
One way to facilitate the six action points listed above is to deal with three vital aspects of every major Christian doctrine. These correspond to the roles of the three Persons of the Trinity, andto the three major epochs of sacred history. Teachers deal fully with a doctrine only when they touch these three crucial dimensions:
Three Crucial Dimensions of Every Key Doctrine
- Its authoritative source in God the Father.
Old Testament events revealed God’s attributes and eternal decrees. All key Christian truths are rooted in Old Testament events. - Its earthly outworking to perfection by God the Son, our perfect model.
The Word of God took on flesh and fulfilled the Old Testament Law, bringing all of God’s attributes and decrees to perfect fruition within time and space, as recounted in the Gospels. - Its current practice by believers empowered by God the Holy Spirit.
Every key doctrine has a corresponding duty. The written Word takes on flesh in our lives as we apply God’s Word.
The following excerpt from Hasten, O Dawn! (Patterson, Paul-Timothy Trainers) gives an example of how to include these three dimensions when dealing with any doctrine.
My mentor, Carlos, told me, “You’ll teach more effectively, Pedro, if you avoid excessive abstraction. Link every doctrine to its duty, and recount biblicalevents to lay the
historical foundation for both. This diagram will help. Study it.” He handed me a schematic showing how Bible stories depict the roles of the three Persons of the Trinity.
“All major Bible doctrines grew out of historical events,” Carlos continued. “Narrate these events to teach a doctrine and its matching duty. The chart shows how Scripture uses foundational stories to portray the roles of the three Persons of the Trinity, and at the same time apply any doctrine to our lives. This integrated approach to doctrine links the abstract with the concrete, doctrine with duty, and the Old Testament with the New, like Jesus and His apostles did. It’s the pastoral way to systematize theology, more down-to-earth than the abstract, linear analyses of some academicians. You don’t fully teach a divine truth, Pedro, until you connect these three dimensions…
“First, its origin in an attribute or decree of God in the Old Testament.
“Second, Jesus’ perfect fulfillment of it in the flesh in the Gospels.
“Third, how the Holy Spirit enables us to practice it now, in Acts and the rest of the New Testament.”
“Give me an example, Carlos, of this Trinitarian approach to apply a truth.”
“Okay, Pedro. What’s a current need in your cell group?”
“Ah… Holiness. Some don’t take it seriously. I’ve been sloppy, too.”
“All right ─ holiness. The three Persons of the Trinity work together to do all the vital works of God, which include sanctifying us ─ making us holy. Foundational Old Testament stories showed God the Father’s attributes. He decreed with eternal authority, ‘Be holy as I am holy’. In one story, the High Priest’s sons Nadab and Abihu entered God’s holy presence in the tabernacle without the required blood; fire burst out and zapped them.”
“That makes a point about holiness!”
“Next, events in the Gospels show God the Son working out holiness on earth in obedience to the Father. In His agonizing prayer in Gethsemane, the ‘final Adam’ yielded perfectly to the Father’s will, to an agonizing death.”
“Holiness at its zenith!”
“Now, in Acts, the letters and Revelation, stories and exhortations deal with holiness by showing God the Holy Spirit apply Jesus’ work to us, making us holy. Ananias and Saphira in Acts lied to the Holy Spirit, a very unholy thing to do, and God zapped them like He did Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus.”
“I hope I’ve followed you, Carlos. Let me see. The three Persons of the Trinity work together to bring about holiness in us. First, the Father decrees holiness from heaven throughout eternity as revealed in the Old Testament. Second, the Son worked holiness out to perfection historically on earth as seen in the Gospels. Third, the Holy Spirit transforms us now to live holy lives, as seen in Acts, the letters and Revelation.”
“Yes, Pedro. Do you see why this is a better way to systematize doctrine?”
“Yes! Does this historical and Trinitarian analysis fit all key doctrines?”
“Oh yes! The three Persons of the Trinity work in harmony in all that they do; they are One. Linking stories from the Old Testament to corresponding accounts from Jesus’ life and the apostolic church brings out the vital facets of every divine truth. Lazy teachers present doctrines as mere abstractions. Don’t do that, Pedro. The apostles always linked abstract truth to its practical duty.”
“But how do we teach a doctrinal book like Romans that has no stories?”
“It’s easy, Pedro. Paul based the doctrines in Romans on the stories of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jacob and David, assuming that his readers knew them. To teach any New Testament letter, tell the stories that correspond; otherwise your instruction will be too abstract and boring.”
“I like your emphasis on stories, Carlos.”
“It’s God’s emphasis. Our faith differs vastly from all other religions; it bases all key doctrines on historical events. The Koran, Book of Mormon and writings of Confucius, Buddha and Hindu holy men all originated from mystical musings and dreams; men used stories, but only to illustrate their abstract ideas. Our key doctrines originated in the real, historical events of creation, the fall, the flood, God’s covenant with Abraham and so on.”