TEACHING AND PREACHING

During His ministry Jesus Christ spent virtually all of His time teaching and preaching. These two things (teaching and preaching) overlap to a considerable degree. But there is also some distinction between them. But in Christ’s ministry they certainly go together. So in looking at Scriptures about teaching and preaching, for a start let’s just limit ourselves to the Gospel of Matthew, to avoid using Scriptures that refer to the same events in the other gospels.

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. (Matthew 9:35)

And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. (Matthew 11:1)

In Christ’s ministry teaching and preaching are inseparable. Let’s look at the two Greek verbs involved here.

The Greek verb translated as “to teach” (i.e. “didasko”) literally refers to holding a discourse. That implies input from at least two parties. In other words, in the N.T. “teaching” does not refer to “lecturing”. Lecturing is certainly a very valid form of teaching. But that form of teaching is not what the word “teaching” in the N.T. refers to. A discourse is a form of teaching by means of talking with people, answering questions, and discussing things, with input from the hearers. The N.T. form of teaching potentially involved input from those who were being taught, even if that input was mostly only in the form of questions.

Now the Greek verb here translated as “to preach” (i.e. “kerusso”) refers to making an announcement. Preaching does not require any input or feedback from the people who are listening to the preaching. Thus lecturing people, where no feedback is intended during such a lecture, can certainly be included in the word preaching.

However, while the meanings of the Greek words may imply these small distinctions between these two activities, the fact is that in Christ’s ministry these two activities, teaching and preaching, always go together. So there is no point in trying to separate these two activities, as they apply to Jesus Christ’s own ministry.

Regarding what things we are to teach and to preach, Jesus Christ said the following:

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least (by those who are) in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:19)

This statement is not about preaching. It is about teaching. In this case it involves interacting with people by setting an example for other people. By contrast, lecturing people does not necessarily require the people doing the lecturing themselves to set any examples. In this Scripture the negative example is that of breaking God’s commandments, and thereby teaching other people to also break God’s laws.

We need to recognize that setting an example, good or bad, is a form of teaching other people. In fact, this is probably Satan’s most powerful weapon in trying to lead humanity into sin. Setting an example of commandment-breaking will in this age always find some followers. Bad examples are unfortunately some of the most powerful teachers. In this age one bad example will typically gain more followers than 100 good examples.

Note also Christ’s statement regarding setting good examples. Doing good must precede teaching good. We ourselves have to put God’s commandments into practice in our own lives, before we can teach God’s commandments to other people.

And we should recognize that in many cases “the commandments of men” are in conflict with the commandments of God. And so we should not be teaching the commandments of men, meaning religious teachings (e.g. customs and traditions, as the Pharisees were doing) that are contrary to God’s laws

This people draw nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matthew 15:8-9)

After His resurrection in His final instructions to His apostles Jesus Christ said:

Go you therefore, and teach all nations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. Amen. (Matthew 28:19-20, corrected text)

So Jesus Christ gave His apostles, and through them to the whole ministry of His Church, the responsibility to teach all nations everything He had taught them. Again, in this commission the focus is on teaching through interaction with people. In other words, teaching takes place through answering questions, responding to the things that people want to know, and through setting good examples.

The focus in this commission is not on “preaching”, i.e. the focus is not on making some announcement regarding what God will do in the near future. No, the real focus is on interacting with people, giving them answers to their questions, and refuting false teachings that they may present, or that they may be exposed to.

HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TEACHES US

The holy spirit is also identified as a major help in teaching people the truth of God. For the original 11 apostles that had been present at the last Passover, the holy spirit would be an enormous help in teaching others. So notice:

But the Comforter, which is the holy spirit, which the Father will send in My name, it shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26)

This is important to understand.

How was the holy spirit going to teach those original apostles after Jesus Christ had returned to God the Father in heaven? This is where the Greek word for “teach” explains the process to some degree.

It was not going to be a case of the holy spirit just bringing things into their minds. The holy spirit would only bring things to their minds if the apostles fulfilled their part in this process. But if they did not do their part, then the holy spirit would do nothing to bring things into their minds.

For example, all of those 11 original apostles had been at the last Passover that Jesus Christ observed. Mark’s gospel account was basically dictated by the Apostle Peter. So Matthew’s Gospel and Mark’s Gospel and John’s Gospel all represent eyewitness accounts of that last Passover. Luke was not one of the original disciples, and he wasn’t present at that last Passover, and so we can omit Luke’s Gospel in this specific discussion.

Now neither Matthew nor Peter (i.e. Mark’s Gospel) remembered anything at all about the foot washing that Jesus Christ had introduced at that last Passover. Why didn’t the holy spirit bring this to their minds when they were writing these events down in their accounts of Christ’s ministry? I mean, it is a major omission in Matthew’s Gospel and in Mark’s Gospel, to say nothing at all about the foot washing.

Christ didn’t say that the holy spirit would “preach” to those apostles. No, Christ said that the holy spirit would “teach” them certain things. As already stated, the Greek word for teaching involves a certain amount of give-and-take, a certain amount of interaction between two parties. A basic thing for us to understand here is this:

The holy spirit never makes any decisions!

The holy spirit is not a decision-making entity. The holy spirit cannot make any decisions. The holy spirit cannot decide what we need to understand, or what the original apostles needed to understand. The holy spirit does not have a mind of its own; it is just a source of staggering power. But it does not have the ability to think any thoughts!

It is only individual beings that have the ability to think any thoughts. But since the holy spirit is not “a person” or an individual, therefore the holy spirit itself cannot think any thoughts.

So here is the process of what happened with those apostles:

Let’s take Matthew and Peter (for Mark’s Gospel) as examples. For Matthew and Peter to correctly recall everything from that last Passover, they had to focus their minds on recalling those events. For example, Peter himself had to think about and recall the incident when Christ washed their feet. Had Peter done that, then the power of the holy spirit would have helped him to recall all the details correctly. If Peter himself didn’t think about the incident when Christ had washed his feet, then the holy spirit was also not going to be able to help Peter recall correctly the details at that occasion. And that is precisely what happened with Peter ... and so Mark’s Gospel does not mention anything at all about the foot washing.

For this type of situation (not necessarily for other situations) we might think of the holy spirit as a large database. But if we don’t know what to search for, then that data base doesn’t tell us anything. By “this type of situation” I mean occasions that require perfect recall of things that happened in the past. The information which the database will reveal to us depends on the questions we ask; it depends on the search criteria we enter into that database.

None of those 11 original apostles, including the Apostle John, recalled the foot washing during the next 30 years after Christ’s ministry. And then in teaching the Apostle Paul “out of season” Jesus Christ Himself didn’t mention the foot washing to Paul either. It’s not that Peter and Matthew were somehow not as good at remembering things as John. During those first 30 years none of them remembered the foot washing from amongst the many hundreds of other things they had experienced during Christ’s ministry.

It was only another 30 years later, in the 90s A.D., that the Apostle John recalled the foot washing. How did John recall it? By asking himself the right questions about Christ’s last Passover. And once John asked himself the right questions, then the holy spirit gave him access to the database with all the relevant information pertaining to John’s questions.

It always comes back to “ask and you shall receive ...”. What God gives us to understand always depends on the questions we ask God. And when we don’t ask, then frequently we also don’t receive. God does not spoonfeed anybody. The questions we ask God reveal what our minds are focusing on. Our questions reveal to God how our minds work.

So when those original apostles asked the right questions, then the holy spirit would help them find the correct answers. That is how John 14:26 worked for those apostles. But the holy spirit did not give them any recall information about other events that had happened, when the apostles themselves did not focus their own minds on those other events.

Let’s apply this to us receiving God’s holy spirit after repentance and baptism.

We ourselves determine what information the holy spirit will enable us to understand. Depending on the questions we ask God, the holy spirit will then open to us access to information / understanding that is connected to the questions we ask. But the holy spirit will not just make available to us understanding that has nothing to do with what we were thinking about. So, for example, if we have no interest in establishing whether or not God wants us to use the Jewish calendar, then God’s spirit will assuredly not give us any understanding in this matter.

Now you and I did not experience any part of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry. And so we have not been promised perfect recall of anything. So how does God’s spirit teach us today? For us it is a matter of the first part of John 14:26. The holy spirit will “teach us all things” that we put our minds to.

For us it is not a matter of recall. For us it is a matter of receiving correct understanding. But the process is basically the same. We have to focus on a specific subject or question. And we have to ask the right questions. If we earnestly “ask ... seek ... knock ...”, then God’s spirit will give us access to a better and more complete understanding.

So note!

The holy spirit can “teach” us, but it cannot “preach” to us!

The holy spirit, which we received from God after baptism, cannot make an announcement to us, and it cannot give us a lecture or a specific message. This is another way of saying that the holy spirit cannot preach to us.

Here I am not talking about God in the Old Testament giving certain prophets “thus says the LORD” messages. Those “thus says the LORD” situations involved Jesus Christ (and at times an angel), in addition to the holy spirit. Those messages didn’t originate with the holy spirit; they originated with Jesus Christ, who used the holy spirit as a vehicle for conveying messages to His servants.

Here I am talking about New Testament times, the time period in which all of us live. Without additional input from God the Father or from Jesus Christ the holy spirit cannot convey any messages to us. But the holy spirit can, without additional input from God, give us access to information from “the database” that makes up the truth of God.

But to be of any benefit in the area of activity we are discussing here, the holy spirit requires input from us. We have to ask the right questions; we have to look for a better understanding. Once our minds have asked the questions, then the holy spirit can make access to the answers available to us, provided that we are willing to work in order to get the correct answers. That is the access that every person, who has God’s spirit, automatically has, and that form of teaching requires no additional input from God the Father or from Jesus Christ.

That form of teaching is the benefit of having God’s holy spirit. And people who don’t have God’s spirit simply don’t have any access to that “database” of God’s truth. So when God opens a person’s mind to the truth of God, then that is God’s doing, and not the holy spirit acting on its own. And if that person responds the right way to that limited amount of understanding that God has made available, then God will open up more information to that person.

This process continues as long as that person progresses towards real repentance. And if that person then does indeed repent and is baptized, then God will give that person His holy spirit. And the holy spirit will then give the person total access to the whole “database” of God’s truth, but always contingent on whatever “search criteria” the person presents to the holy spirit. Our input is “ask ... seek ... knock”.

That is teaching, as identified by the N.T. Greek word “didasko”.

For Paul and the other apostles at that time the two activities of teaching and preaching also always went together. The word “apostle” refers to “one who is sent with a message”. And delivering a message does not require any input from those who receive that message. So the word “apostle” automatically requires that apostle to preach. The “message” those original apostles were to preach is that they were eyewitnesses of Christ’s ministry. They were to faithfully transmit what they had seen and heard. For all those who have been called by God to be apostles, preaching is a major component of their calling.

If a man who is sent with “a message from God” does not deliver any message, then that person is also not an apostle. “Apostle” is not a title but a job description. And if there is no message that needs to be delivered, then there is also no need for any apostles.

Here are some references that demonstrate that the apostles also did both, teaching and preaching.

Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. (Acts 15:35)

Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him. (Acts 28:31)

Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the nations in faith and truth. (1 Timothy 2:7)

Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the nations. (2 Timothy 1:11)

It is interesting to note how God has structured His Church. Paul spelled this out to the Corinthians as follows. Note:

And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of languages. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? (1 Corinthians 12:28-29)

By using the terms “first ... second ... third ... after that ... then ...” Paul is establishing a type of hierarchy, going from top to bottom. Back in the early 1950s the ministers under Mr. Armstrong were very eager to establish a hierarchy of authority, in which hierarchy they all featured right under Mr. Armstrong. And these are two of the verses they appealed to. But these verses are not about a hierarchy of authority in the Church!

Yes, there is and there must be authority within the Church of God. And that means that some people will have greater authority than other people, as far as the functioning of the Church is concerned.

But that is not what these two verses are talking about!

These verses present a hierarchy of responsibilities!

In other words, this hierarchy means that some responsibilities in the Church need to be given a higher priority than other functions in the Church. If there are any apostles in the Church, then the job God has given them must always receive the top priority. If there are no apostles, but there are some prophets in the Church, then the highest priority in the Church must be to enable those prophets to fulfill the job God has given them. That is what first and second means.

Now Peter and Paul were apostles, and Elijah was only a prophet. So does that mean that Peter and Paul had greater authority than the Prophet Elijah? No, of course not! The various responsibilities listed in 1 Corinthians 12:28 have nothing to do with any positions of authority. Some prophets may well have more authority in God’s Church (e.g. Moses and Elijah) than some apostles (e.g. Thomas, Andrew, Matthew, etc.).

Now the designations “apostles” and “prophets” both refer to such men delivering messages from God, with “prophecies” being a very specific

category of messages from God. And yes, when a man (i.e. either an apostle or a prophet) is given a message which God wants delivered, then that must always be given the highest priority within the Church of God.

To my knowledge God has not used any man as a “prophet” in this age (i.e. since the start of Mr. Armstrong’s ministry about 100 years ago). And I myself am certainly not a prophet in the meaning of 1 Corinthians 12:28. And neither was Mr. Armstrong a prophet.

Now the word “prophet” is in different contexts also used to refer to any minister who is preaching the truth of God. And that is a valid meaning in our present age. But that is not the meaning for “prophet” that Paul had in mind when he wrote 1 Corinthians 12:28-29, because a number of the categories Paul mentions after “prophets” would also have included ordained ministers. And that would render the reference to “prophets” in this list somewhat meaningless. So Paul was thinking of prophets as men with the responsibilities which prophets had in Old Testament times, and also in very early New Testament times.

Now consider this:

If there are no men in the Church who have been given specific messages to deliver, then the highest priority in the Church becomes teaching the truth of God. That’s what “thirdly teachers” tells us.

 

Specifically, teaching the truth of God, correctly explaining the truth of God, is of a higher priority than the God-given ability to heal people, and it is also a higher priority than being given the gift of speaking different languages, without having had to learn those languages. Outside of delivering any God-given messages to specific groups of people, there is no higher priority within the Church of God than to correctly explain and teach the truth of God.

Why is that? Why is teaching the truth the top priority within the Church, apart from delivering God-given messages? It is and must be the top priority within the Church of God because teaching people the truth of God is the most important building block for the Church of God. Teaching the truth is the foundation for growth within the Church of God. The members of God’s Church must understand the truth, because their commitment to God must be based on truth. If people base their commitment on anything other than the truth, then that calls their commitment into question.

For example:

If some people in the world base their commitment to God on God supposedly being “a trinity”, then that commitment isn’t worth anything. What do they do when they find out that God is not a trinity? Do they just “adapt” their commitment? Or do they go back to square one, and make a totally new commitment?

Even the Spirit of truth; which the world cannot receive, because it sees it not, neither knows it: but you know it; for it dwells with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:17)

Making our commitment to God based on anything other than the truth means that we are still a part of this world. A lack of understanding the truth is a hallmark of the world.

Therefore being able to teach the truth is of the greatest importance. Teaching the truth enables the hearers to lay the foundation of a truly committed Christian life.

Paul explained this responsibility to present the truth as follows: