How I Teach Bible
The Bible is not like history, science or math or even art. There is a lot of research in educational psychology, teaching strategies, etc, that is applicable to those other disciplines. I would suppose that some of the strategies for teaching math would be inappropriate for use in teaching English and maybe some of the ones for approaching history wouldn’t work for science. And maybe some would work across the board. I don’t dispute this. I have no basis to dispute it because I am not trained to teach in any area of worldly disciplines except visual arts.
In art, I am well-founded in a lot of different strategies that I have been exposed to over the 35-plus years I have been teaching in that subject area. Some of them I use and some of them I don’t use. Some of them I use under certain conditions. Some I use all the time.
I have been evaluated yearly during 30 years of teaching visual arts in Cleveland, Ohio, public schools; Eagle Heights Academy, in Revere, Massachusetts and at Riverside School. In all my evaluations I was rated excellent in all categories of examination. In Cleveland, I was a department chairperson and was a finalist for the position of Supervisor of Fine Arts, the top job.
But Bible is different. Bible is not taught using the abilities that reside in the teacher alone. It is taught, actually, by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God manifests Himself in the teacher in order to reach to the student with the mind of God and to edify that student, child or adult, with the things that God has for him/her. The teacher is a vessel. The teacher is not a puppet. The teacher is a body, soul and spirit. He is also a combination of flesh and spirit and so-called “old nature” and “new nature”. As such, the teacher has a will which he can use to choose to yield to the Spirit or not. If he yields to the Spirit, the Spirit will use him.
According to1 Corinthians 12 and other passages, God’s way of equipping a person to teach Bible is by grace as a gift/manifestation. The “gifts” of the Spirit are actually, properly translated, the “manifestations” of the Spirit. These are not received by any means that is under the control of man’s will. The Spirit gives them to “whoever he wills”. There is no mention of training, of schooling, or of development under the control of the recipient of the gift. The gift is given in its complete form. It is whole. (The unfortunate rendering of the word “study” in 2 Tim. 2:16 (KJV) has been used to support the study of scripture as a text book. The proper translation gives us this phrase: “be diligent to show yourself approved….” That is an entirely different idea.) There is no need for the recipient to contribute to it anything except acceptance and yieldedness. If there is development it is entirely in the control of God and is done supernaturally. God does a lot of things to/in us that are not even discernible until much later. An example of this would be the way trials create patience. God is able to make us into better Bible teachers his own way. And he does.
What is our part? How do we “prepare” for teaching Bible? We are responsible to read and meditate on the scriptures. We also are to assemble together to be acted upon by the same Spirit through others. That is our part. God will not give us understanding via osmosis. To feed our memory and experience into which the Spirit taps to bring out “things new and old”, we must “walk with Him and talk with him”. We can’t be carnal and expect our gifts to work properly. (That’s what happened in Corinth, remember?) And so, I have acquired in my mind the principles and doctrines that are there for the use of the Holy Spirit through reading, meditating and comparing scripture with scripture either alone or with the help of other gifted ones. Some of those gifted ones have been my pastors, authors, radio preachers, guest speakers, and “laymen”.
I first realized I had the gift of teaching when I was 25 years old. I was in a situation where I had to regularly lead inductive Bible studies and found that I was blessed to be able to take a passage and open it to others’ understanding in ways I realized were beyond my own innate abilities. At this same time I was struggling to teach art in Cleveland. The contrast between the two situations was striking. I had limited knowledge of what was in the Bible, as you can imagine. (I would still say that today.) But for the purposes at hand I knew enough. I found that when it was my turn to expound, my mind was filled with the memory of almost every verse that touched on the matter before us and in an order that was so logical and so thorough, that all I had to do was open my mouth and put it all into words. I have continued to teach this way ever since.
I have never been told that I was teaching heresy by any group that I have taught. I have never been told I was wrong about any passage. I have never had the Lord upbraid me and reveal to me through His word that I had been teaching false doctrine. On the contrary, I have often been told, privately, face to face and in notes and letters, that I have been of great help. I also have had Bible teachers who were ranked higher in the estimation of many tell me that I should never stop what I am doing.
Along with my gift, I use discretion, kindness, love, wisdom, all of which are also given by God and can’t be picked up in in-service or from books. Of course, God sees where there is room for improvement. But this project is under Jesus’ control, in Jesus’ schedule and Jesus’ agenda for his servant. The improvements must be effected spiritually, because the Bible teaching is a spiritual activity. I would not expect to find anything in any education professor’s research which would add to it. I think it’s possible that a researcher might stumble onto something that God has taught me as well, but that would be a possibility that, at this point, is not worth my time and effort to discover.
In art, I am well-founded in a lot of different strategies that I have been exposed to over the 35-plus years I have been teaching in that subject area. Some of them I use and some of them I don’t use. Some of them I use under certain conditions. Some I use all the time.
I have been evaluated yearly during 30 years of teaching visual arts in Cleveland, Ohio, public schools; Eagle Heights Academy, in Revere, Massachusetts and at Riverside School. In all my evaluations I was rated excellent in all categories of examination. In Cleveland, I was a department chairperson and was a finalist for the position of Supervisor of Fine Arts, the top job.
But Bible is different. Bible is not taught using the abilities that reside in the teacher alone. It is taught, actually, by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God manifests Himself in the teacher in order to reach to the student with the mind of God and to edify that student, child or adult, with the things that God has for him/her. The teacher is a vessel. The teacher is not a puppet. The teacher is a body, soul and spirit. He is also a combination of flesh and spirit and so-called “old nature” and “new nature”. As such, the teacher has a will which he can use to choose to yield to the Spirit or not. If he yields to the Spirit, the Spirit will use him.
According to1 Corinthians 12 and other passages, God’s way of equipping a person to teach Bible is by grace as a gift/manifestation. The “gifts” of the Spirit are actually, properly translated, the “manifestations” of the Spirit. These are not received by any means that is under the control of man’s will. The Spirit gives them to “whoever he wills”. There is no mention of training, of schooling, or of development under the control of the recipient of the gift. The gift is given in its complete form. It is whole. (The unfortunate rendering of the word “study” in 2 Tim. 2:16 (KJV) has been used to support the study of scripture as a text book. The proper translation gives us this phrase: “be diligent to show yourself approved….” That is an entirely different idea.) There is no need for the recipient to contribute to it anything except acceptance and yieldedness. If there is development it is entirely in the control of God and is done supernaturally. God does a lot of things to/in us that are not even discernible until much later. An example of this would be the way trials create patience. God is able to make us into better Bible teachers his own way. And he does.
What is our part? How do we “prepare” for teaching Bible? We are responsible to read and meditate on the scriptures. We also are to assemble together to be acted upon by the same Spirit through others. That is our part. God will not give us understanding via osmosis. To feed our memory and experience into which the Spirit taps to bring out “things new and old”, we must “walk with Him and talk with him”. We can’t be carnal and expect our gifts to work properly. (That’s what happened in Corinth, remember?) And so, I have acquired in my mind the principles and doctrines that are there for the use of the Holy Spirit through reading, meditating and comparing scripture with scripture either alone or with the help of other gifted ones. Some of those gifted ones have been my pastors, authors, radio preachers, guest speakers, and “laymen”.
I first realized I had the gift of teaching when I was 25 years old. I was in a situation where I had to regularly lead inductive Bible studies and found that I was blessed to be able to take a passage and open it to others’ understanding in ways I realized were beyond my own innate abilities. At this same time I was struggling to teach art in Cleveland. The contrast between the two situations was striking. I had limited knowledge of what was in the Bible, as you can imagine. (I would still say that today.) But for the purposes at hand I knew enough. I found that when it was my turn to expound, my mind was filled with the memory of almost every verse that touched on the matter before us and in an order that was so logical and so thorough, that all I had to do was open my mouth and put it all into words. I have continued to teach this way ever since.
I have never been told that I was teaching heresy by any group that I have taught. I have never been told I was wrong about any passage. I have never had the Lord upbraid me and reveal to me through His word that I had been teaching false doctrine. On the contrary, I have often been told, privately, face to face and in notes and letters, that I have been of great help. I also have had Bible teachers who were ranked higher in the estimation of many tell me that I should never stop what I am doing.
Along with my gift, I use discretion, kindness, love, wisdom, all of which are also given by God and can’t be picked up in in-service or from books. Of course, God sees where there is room for improvement. But this project is under Jesus’ control, in Jesus’ schedule and Jesus’ agenda for his servant. The improvements must be effected spiritually, because the Bible teaching is a spiritual activity. I would not expect to find anything in any education professor’s research which would add to it. I think it’s possible that a researcher might stumble onto something that God has taught me as well, but that would be a possibility that, at this point, is not worth my time and effort to discover.
posted by Biblical Christianity at 2:04 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home