Bible Teaching in Our Schools--2

Christ was the greatest teacher this world has ever seen. What, therefore, was His teaching method? The four Gospels may be re­garded as providing us with the material and the method used by the Master Teacher in the training of Christian workers. His method deserves our study as the model for Christian teachers today. Let us notice seven leading elements which marked the work of the pat­tern Teacher.

1. His teaching was first of all authoritative. He spoke not as the scribes and Pharisees. Men marveled at Him because He taught as one having authority. His instruction pos­sessed definiteness, born of a heart conviction that what He said was a "Thus saith the Lord." The same ring of certainty must mark our teaching. We must be impelled by a power of earnestness and certainty from within that will encourage belief and confidence by our students. So much teaching today is indefinite. It propounds, philosophizes, theorizes, and then leaves the hearer in mid-air. Such teaching can never send forth men and women who will lift up their voices like a trumpet with the warning message for the hour. As teachers of the Word, we must have something in our souls that we want to express.

2. Another characteristic of Christ's teach­ing was its marked simplicity. His language was pure and clear as an Alpine lake. He used no words that the common people could not understand. It was not necessary to con­sult a dictionary to understand His meaning. His arguments were in the plain, unadulterated speech of His hearers, free from extravagant ornamentation. He never seemed to be seek­ing to display His wisdom or to create an im­pression. And yet His lessons constitute the wonder gems of the ages, bringing forth beauty ever fresh to the admiring gaze of wondering mankind.

Our aim as Christian teachers is to make God's word plain. Some of the unintelligible nonsense that goes under the name of Chris­tian teaching is disgusting. We hear it from the pulpit, in the Sabbath school, in the prayer meeting, in the classroom—high-sounding, philosophical, speculative talk, mere wordiness that obscures the few precious grains of truth in a heap of dry chaff, and the hungry sheep look up and are not fed. "It is a hideous gift," says Spurgeon, "to say nothing at great length." Let us remember that language is an instrument to an end. The end is not to im­press the hearers with our learnedness. The purest atmosphere is that which reveals the stars, not that which preaches itself.

3. Again, the teaching of Christ was con­structive. True, it was necessary for Him to issue a stern condemnation to formalists and false teachers, and to give open rebuke to evil­doers, but His work was not to tear down. It was to build up. We must be careful not to bring an antagonistic, condemning spirit into our teaching of the Word. While it is no doubt necessary to know the tactics and teach­ings of opposers, that is only that we might know better how to present truth in a win­ning way. If the teacher manifests a biting, hard spirit toward others, the same spirit will be carried by the graduate into the field.

4. The teaching of Jesus was illustrative—so much so that it is said that nature is clothed with the parables of Jesus. He made the com­mon things all around Him teach lessons of truth. The hills, the grass, the flowers, the fisherman with his net, the housewife with her dough—all served to make truth more in­telligible and practical. Like the Master, the successful teacher will illustrate his lessons. The Holy Spirit will reveal to him "sermons in stones and books in brooks." Illustration will add tremendously to the interest of his class. Who has not noticed the stimulating effect of an illustration upon a group of hear­ers ! The Bible teacher should study how to use the blackboard, and should bring to his aid suitable charts, maps, and pictures. I would suggest that every Bible teacher, and every teacher, for that matter, take at least an ele­mental course in art.

5. We also would observe that the Master's method was stimulative. By that I mean He did not tell His hearers everything, but often He sought to stimulate them to discover for themselves. His questions, "What saith the Scriptures ?" "How readest thou ?" "Whose image and superscription is this?" drove the hearers to find truth for themselves. We are all aware of the fact that education is a drawing-out process. If we would produce Bible students who are thinkers and who know hove to find the solution for their problems in the word of God, we should not rely upon the lecture method in our work. We must know that after a student leaves college, he will meet many questions which he has never heard in the Bible class. Blessed will be that student who has been taught how to solve problems for himself.

6. Furthermore, the teaching of Jesus was practical. He was no theorizer. His method was to press home every lesson of truth to the individual conscience. Scripture to Him was something to be lived rather than dis­cussed, and He always connected His instruc­tion with service. He fastened the gaze of His pupils on the whitening harvest field. He sought to instill a vision of a mighty work to be accomplished. He considered the educa­tion of the mind of little value unless the feet were shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And His method in doing this was to lead His students into the field where they could be laborers together with Him. Oh, that we could do more of this definite practical field work with our students. Our congested pro­grams afford far too little time when teachers and students can go forth to put into practice what they have been learning. We are in­structed in "Counsels to Teachers:"