Madisonville Church of Christ

by Russell M. Kline

 

In ancient times, it was the prophet Elihu who said, concerning the Lord, "Who teacheth like him?" (Job 36:22). Indeed, who could possibly know better how to penetrate and mold the human mind than He who created it? Jesus set a perfect example before all of His people, concerning every aspect of living a faithful Christian life (I Pet. 2:21), and the realm of teaching is no exception. By studying the qualifications and methods of Jesus, the Master Teacher, we can learn how to make ourselves the very best teachers of God's Word that we can possibly be.

 

 

Jesus was on a mission from God. He was driven by a single-minded sense of purpose, saying things like, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me" and "For this cause came I unto this hour" (John 4:34; 12:27). The same ought to be true of teachers in the New Testament church (Eph. 4:11). Whether we are teachers of toddlers or senior citizens, all of us who teach others about the way of righteousness have been commanded to do so by God's own word (Mat. 28:19,20). The Bible says of all Christians, "ye ought to be teachers" (Heb. 5:12), and those of us who are ought to approach our work with the same sense of mission that Jesus felt.

 

Jesus understood His pupils. He had supernatural knowledge of the minds of every person He met (Mat. 9:4), a fact that only serves to emphasize the need for teachers to know something about the personal lives of their students. What religious education have they had, so far? What kind of example is set before them, at home? What is their greatest spiritual need? In order to answer these and other questions, which every teacher of the Bible must ask about his students, it is necessary for the teacher to get to know them, on a personal level. Why shouldn't a teacher visit his students in their homes? This question is especially relevant to those who teach adult Bible classes. Those who teach children ought to talk to the parents of their students, and find out how they can supplement the teaching that is being done at home. When teachers make an effort to get to know their pupils, it makes them better able to satisfy the needs of their students, and it makes a profound impression upon the parents.

 

Jesus knew the Scriptures. When He was tempted by the Devil, He used the Scriptures to thwart temptation (Mat. 4). When His enemies tried to discredit Him, He used the Word of God to put down their arrogance (Mat. 19:3-6). Obviously, if a teacher is going to impart knowledge to his students, he must be in full possession of that knowledge. "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God..." (I Pet. 4:11).

 

Jesus had wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge, tempered by experience. As the writer of Hebrews put it, "strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Heb. 5:14). Jesus is the source of all wisdom (Jam. 1:5). He showed us that the wisdom of God is superior to the wisdom of man (I Cor. 1:20,25). The difference between a good teacher of the Bible, and a great teacher of the Bible is the number of lessons they have learned f