Yesterday we learned that in 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul warns against “unhealthy teaching” which is where people just want to hear more and more teaching, and rarely, if ever, put what they have learned into actual practice. Instead, Paul wants Timothy to provide “healthy teaching” by leading his church out into the streets and houses of their community to put into practice the things they have learned from Scripture.

All too often, it seems that the “application of Scripture” is limited to an short exhortation at the end of the sermon, providing some examples or tips on how to live out what has been learned. But along with this, what is often emphasizes is the importance of doing everything possible to learn more about the Bible.

In the churches I have attended and pastored, we placed a heavy emphasis on faithful church attendance at both the church service and at Sunday school, and highly recommended that people attend a mid-week Bible study. Those who are really mature were encouraged to take copious sermon notes, study the Bible on their own for an hour or two every day, listen to sermons on the radio while driving to work, download sermon MP3s from the internet for listening while jogging or weeding the garden, read Bible study books and theology books in their spare time, and attend one or two Bible conferences or retreats every single year.

Could it be that maybe a better application of Scripture would be to invite people to study the Bible less, and put it into practice more?

Love  for Learning

I was one of these types of Christians. I listened to sermons every chance I got, read books only about the Bible, and could only have discussion with people if they talked about the Bible. My primary interests were the newest interpretation of a tough biblical passage, the greatest insight into a unique Greek word, or the best explanation of a theological debate. I traveled across the country to listen to this teacher, attend that conference, or understand a new theological development. I gathered around myself books, CDs, and tapes of all the best preachers and teachers.

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The verse that is most widely used to defend the modern practice of preaching where a person gets up on stage on Sunday morning to teach for 30-40 minutes from Scripture is 2 Timothy 4:2. In this verse, Paul instructs Timothy to “Preach the Word.”

So far, in my series on preaching, we have seen that there is a huge difference between preaching and teaching. In Scripture, preaching was often an open-air, spontaneous proclamation in a (usually) secular setting to announce something about Jesus, the Gospel, and the Kingdom of God.

Teaching, on the other hand, was an interactive discussion among followers of Jesus about Scripture.

Preach the Word

If this is the case, what then do we do with the instruction of Paul to Timothy to “Preach the Word”?

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Yesterday, we looked at the teaching method of Jesus, and saw that His preaching method differed from His teaching. Just as we learned when we looked at the definition of preaching, His preaching was to mixed multitudes of people, often proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom of God, and then answering questions and objections related to this announcement. Often, the answers were given in the form of parables and miracles.

Teaching, however, was in smaller settings, to groups of disciples or others who wanted to learn Scripture, and focused on explaining and applying the Bible for the audience. This setting also contained interactive questions and answers brought out by the text of Scripture.

How did the Apostles Preach and Teach?

Not surprisingly, after Jesus ascended into heaven, the apostles who had been with Jesus seem to have followed the example of Jesus in their own preaching and teaching.

Using books of the Bible as their primary texts, and following a set pattern, one person would read the text in Hebrew, and another would interpret it into Greek, and then the text would be explained and applied (cf. Acts 2:42; 13:14-15; 14:1-3; 15:21; 18:4; 19:8-10; etc.). John Lightfoot, in his Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Hebraica, writes that the one who interpreted from Hebrew to Greek was called “an interpreter,” and the teaching as an “interpretation” (cf. 1 Cor 12:10; 14:26). The regular times of teaching were often done in the homes of followers of Jesus, and were usually accompanied by a meal and prayer (Acts 2:42).
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Whether I am listening to someone teach Scripture, or doing it myself, my preferred style is book by book, verse by verse, line by line. I think it helps make the most sense of Scripture, provides the overall context of passages and hard-to-understand texts, and forces teachers to speak about things that they normally might skip over and avoid.

When I was a pastor, I often quoted Isaiah 28:10-13 as proof that God’s preferred method of teaching was also line by line, precept upon precept. Also, I once wrote an entire book attempting to prove that this is how Jesus probably taught (No, the book has never been printed anywhere, or even posted on this blog, but you’ll get a summary of it in the next post or two).

But in the last three years, as I have begun to question and challenge certain elements of how we “do church,” I decided to seriously examine Isaiah 28:10-13 for the first time in my life.

I came away shocked with what I read. This verse does not prove that expository book by book teaching is God’s preferred method.

How To Translate Isaiah 28:10-13

First, it is important to recognize that there is some disagreement on how to translate verses 10, 13. Traditionally, they have been translated “precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little” or something similar to this.

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