Are You Teaching from Biblical Premises?

What is your motive as a Christian teacher?

Teaching from a Biblical Premise

The primary purpose of Jesus’ teaching ministry was to restore man’s relationship with God and to impel him to spiritual maturity. Our ultimate goal as home school moms, Christian school teachers, and Sunday school teachers should likewise be the same. While knowledge is important, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is more so. Teaching students from biblical premises should be the basis of all teaching.

All teaching should take place from the framework of God’s Word. It is important for every Christian teacher to have a high view of the Bible. A teacher’s “view of Scripture will serve to determine the direction and purpose of his teaching ministry” (1).

There are four basic premises for Biblical teaching:

We find these in Luke 2:52,

“And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature and in favour with God and man.”

In this verse we see Jesus’ intellectual, physical, spiritual, and social development. Effective teachers will incorporate each of these Biblical premises simultaneously while teaching.

Biblical Premises of Teaching: To Help Students Grow Spiritually

A Restored Relationship with God: Our Purpose as a Teacher

I Corinthians 13:2, “And though I have…all knowledge…and have not charity, I am nothing.”

Our primary goal as teachers should be to lead our students into a closer walk with God. No amount of knowledge will replace a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This should be our primary purpose whether teaching in the Sunday school classroom, Christian school, and especially with our own children.

As a teacher, you should seek to know the salvation testimony of every student. So often, young people will make a decision early in life because of pressure from parents or teachers. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to do the convicting and not try to do it ourselves. Unfortunately, I believe many young people raised in Christian environments are on their way to hell because of a “decision” that was made to please a parent or teacher, not because of true repentance.

The fruit of salvation will be displayed in the lives of those who have genuinely been converted.

A Restored Relationship with God: The Example of Jesus

According to Roy B. Zuck, the Lord engaged in three major functions in His ministry on earth: preaching, teaching, and healing (2).

These are summarized in Matthew 4:23, “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.”

Although teaching and healing were important aspects of His ministry, preaching the way of salvation and providing the ultimate sacrifice were His primary reasons for coming to earth.

A Restored Fellowship with God: The Student’s Walk with God

We are filling students with biblical knowledge but failing to make the connection to real life. Facts are important, but a walk with God is more so. Biblical teaching needs to be relevant to the needs of the student. “Spiritual growth should not be compartmentalized, but integrated with every other aspect of life” (3).

As a teacher, it is important to study the characteristics of the age group you are teaching. Getting to know your students on a personal basis will also give key insights into their lives.

The best place to learn more about your students is outside the classroom.

“Great teachers share their lives, as well as their knowledge, with their students” (4).

Students need to be taught their responsibility before God. One day, they will not only give account for their actions, but also for how they applied the truths they were taught.

Howard Hendricks said,

“We overload the circuits with knowledge, and fail to teach people when God reveals himself to you, you are responsible. The ball is in your court” (5).

A Restored Fellowship with God: The Teacher’s Walk with God

If we want to see spiritual growth in our students, we must be leading by example both inside and outside the classroom. If we want to be an agent of change, we must be willing to change (6). Students should be able to witness us participating in soul-winning, discipleship, and other vital ministries of the church.

We need to teach our students that God’s Word is relevant to every subject, even if we only teach academic subjects. We should be teaching from the overflow of our own personal Bible study. If we want God’s Word to impact their lives, it must first impact ours. We should constantly look for ways to bring what the students are learning back to the Word of God. A wise teacher will always be looking for “teachable moments.”

Prayer should be a vital part of every class we teach, regardless of the subject. It must not, however, become merely a matter a routine. Keeping track of prayer requests and how God answers them throughout the year may be a good way for students to personally witness the power of prayer. Too often, young people are living off the faith of those who have gone before them and are not experiencing it for themselves.

As a teacher, praying for our students’ salvation and spiritual growth should be as much a part of our ministry as teaching in the classroom. We should keep a list of their prayer requests to pray over on a regular basis. By checking up on them periodically, students will see our love and concern for them goes beyond the scope of the classroom.

If we are going to accomplish anything of eternal value, we must be filled with the Spirit – doing things in our own strength will prove futile. Our words, actions, and demeanor need to show that we are allowing the Holy Spirit to control every aspect of our lives.

Ephesians 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.”

Biblical Premises of Teaching: To Help Students Grow Socially

When a baby is first born into this world, he expects everyone to cater to his every little need. A child has to be taught respect for others. Hopefully, as he matures, he grows in this area.

I Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

We have an epidemic in our nation where young adults (and sometimes even older adults) have failed to “put away childish things.” We are failing to teach our young people love and respect for others, and as a result, we have created a very self-centered generation.

With their Fellow Classmates

Students need to be taught respect for their fellow classmates in the classroom by raising their hand, speaking one at a time, sharing supplies, etc. On the playground, they need to respect others by taking turns and having a good attitude during games whether they win or lose. These may seem like basic qualities but they do not come naturally. They must be taught.

With their Authorities

Students need to learn to show honor for their authorities by using proper titles and by saying “Yes sir, no sir, etc.” They should be taught to follow the rules and decisions made by their authorities whether or not they agree with them. They may learn to use an appeal process but must respect the final decision regardless of the outcome.

With the Unsaved

We should seek to develop in our young people a heart for souls. As teachers, we need to lead by displaying this passion in our own lives. Students should be involved in soul-winning starting at a young age. It is important that we properly prepare and train our young people, while at the same time, giving them hands-on experience. Taking them on missions’ trips will also give them a burden for the lost and can have a life-changing impact.

Biblical Premises of Teaching: To Help Students Grow Intellectually

The Role of the Teacher

The role of the teacher is to facilitate learning. The teacher should tell the student nothing he can learn from himself.

Carl Shafer said, “Gain and keep the attention and interest of your students. Do not try to teach without student attention” (7).

Even the most boring subject can be made interesting by an enthusiastic teacher. The teacher needs to know his subject well and know his students well. The teacher should be constantly growing and learning. When a teacher stops learning, he stops growing; and when he stops growing, he stops teaching effectively.

The Role of the Student

The role of the student is to be an active participant in the learning process, not merely a sponge soaking up information. One way to motivate students is to create a need. Students will work harder when they see a purpose for what they are learning.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.”

The key to learning is involvement.

Biblical Premises of Teaching: To Help Students Grow Physically

The Spiritual Aspect

I Corinthians 6:19-20, “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Students need to realize that they have been bought with the shed blood of Christ; and if they have been saved, their body belongs to God. They have a responsibility to honor Him with their bodies and live in a way that glorifies Him.

The Physical Aspect

I Timothy 4:8, “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come.”

In light of eternity, exercising and eating healthy may have little value; however, helping students develop healthy habits will only make them more effective for the cause of Christ. It will also build character qualities of endurance and self-control.

Effective teachers will consider all four areas of development – intellectual, physical, spiritual, and social – as they teach their students. The most important aspect, however, is the spiritual development. Most of our universities today are filling the minds of our young people with intellectual knowledge without teaching them a knowledge of God and His Word.

Proverbs 9:10,

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.”

May we strive to keep Biblical principles as the premises of all our teaching!

Julia

Sources:

Richards, Lawrence & Gary Bredfeldt. Creative Bible Teaching. Moody Publishers, p. 21.
Zuck, Roy B. Teaching as Jesus Taught. Baker Books, p. 92.
Hendricks, Howard. Teaching to Change Lives. Multnomah, p. 25.
Richards, p. 226
Hendricks, p. 89
Hendricks, p. 21
quoted in Wilkinson, Bruce. Almost Every Answer for Practically Any Teacher. Multnomah, p. 49.