In the previous post we considered that a goal of “doing church” is unity in sound doctrine (Eph 4:13). In today’s post, we consider further the importance of faithful teaching.

11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Faithful Teaching

The faithful teaching of God’s word is a non-negotiable necessity for the health of the church. If a church doesn’t have sound teaching, then it won’t have sound doctrine, and it won’t experience meaningful growth (see Eph 4:15-16).

How do you know when you are sitting under faithful teaching?

We can be tempted to believe that we know we’re sitting under faithful teaching when we agree with everything that’s being taught. But we know that’s not the case because teaching God’s word accurately involves correction (see 2 Tim 3:16). Instead of the amount we agree with being the measure for faithfulness, the measure is the word itself and how the teacher handles the word (see 2 Tim 2:15). So, at any point during the teaching, you should be able to look at the verse or phrase or word as you’re listening and clearly understand that that is what the verse teaches by what it says. Whether the teaching is in its explanation, illustration, or application phase, you should be able to draw a bold line between what this verse says and what is being said about the verse.

In other words, the teaching should be answering simple questions like: what does the passage say? Why does the passage say it? And for what outcome does the passage say it (so what?)?

Of course, this requires you as a listener to be prepared to listen and to put forth intentional effort to listen attentively. But the point is this: the measure of faithful teaching is not how much you already agree with what is taught. The measure of faithful teaching is its clear conformity to the passage or passages that is being taught.

And that requires a lot of personal preparation from the teacher of God’s word!

It requires an understanding of the historical, cultural, geographical, and language backgrounds of the passage.

It requires knowing the surrounding context of the passage (whether immediately in the book or across books of the Bible).

It also requires mastering the message of the passage so that it can be said in only a few words.

And it requires that the teacher to do the work of personal application before he exhorts others to the same. This means that he should understand the passage to such an extent that he understands the author’s intended application of that passage. It’s one thing to have a general personal application from a passage. It’s an entirely different (and better!) thing to understand the author’s intended application!

When the teacher of God’s word faithfully carries out his task, the church can be confident that the Spirit of God will use the word of God to produce the outcome that God intends for the church: God’s people equipped for ministry work and edification.