Effective Bible teaching is creating Situations in which the Holy Spirit translates Bible truths into personal ex perience in the lives of the students. Why the Holy Spirit? Why not the human teacher? Because the job is bigger than the man. The human teacher can set forth the facts, but regardless of how he may plead or exhort, he cannot translate the facts into the experience of his students. That is the task of the Holy Spirit. “He will guide you into all truth.” This means that in reality the Holy Spirit alone is the teacher, because He alone is able to bring about the learning experience in the lives of the students. As to the human part, in Bible teaching, the human objective should be to create situations in which the Holy Spirit is free to teach—to create situations in which the Spirit is free to employ the teacher and the students to accomplish His own desire and purpose of making God’s Word a living reality to them all. The practical human problem facing teacher and students alike is simply this: How can they create situa tions in which the Holy Spirit is free to teach? Here are some things to consider: NEW BIRTH. The first requirement for the teaching ministry of the Spirit is His indwelling presence that results from a genuine experience of the new birth. This is so obvious it is taken for granted in the case of the teacher, but it is just as important that the student be regenerated also. Before He comes to indwell, the Spirit’s ministry is to convict the unbelieving heart; after He comes to indwell, He undertakes His teaching ministry to the believer. YIELDEDNESS. The next essential for the Holy Spirit’s teaching is human yieldedness. Until the human teacher has yielded himself unreservedly to the will of God in the sense of Romans 12:1, he is not ready to teach Bible truths. And until the students yield themselves in like manner, they are not ready to learn Bible truths. Now, the teacher can yield his own will to the Spirit’s control, but what can he do about the students? He can pray for God to move them to a state of yieldedness, and he can lead them into a discovery of their own need in this area by showing them what God’s Word says on the subject. CLEANSING. The next thing needed for the Spirit’s free reign is cleansing from sin. First John 1:9 shows the Christian that confession is the pathway to cleansing, and this Is a must for teacher and student alike. Any sin can obstruct the teaching of the Spirit. CONTENT. Next on thè list is the subject matter. The human teacher must know his subject, the Bible, and present it clearly. While learning is more than knowing the facts, still the first step in the learning process is obtaining these facts. PARTICIPATION. The next requirement is inter action between students and subject matter. This occurs when students engage in mental discovery. Discussion helps here, and also questions, and examples, and illus trations, and object lessons, and audio-visual aids. PRAYER. Finally, prayer is most important—prayer to request that the Spirit undertake the teaching ministry that is His great desire. The Holy Spirit is God, and prayer recognizes God as sovereign. As a boy, I thought I knew how to fly. Years later, as a man, I learned how to fly. But in order to teach me, a flight instructor had to spend many hours with me in a plane with dual controls, leading me through the experi ences of flight. I gave him freedom to teach, and he taught me as he desired. In the same way, men who give the Holy Spirit freedom to teach will discover the blessings of His ministry as they work together with Him to bring about effective Bible teaching.
by Robert Harrison Hamilton
I k n e w h ow to fly a plane when I was only six years old. Impossible? Not to the mind of a six-year-old boy! I knew how to fly a plane because my aviator uncle had told me all about it. At a family dinner one night I asked him to tell me how, and he came through with a very clear account of the use of the ailerons, rudder, and elevator. Before that evening was over, I had been instructed in the proper manipulation of controls for take offs, landings, and a dozen maneuvers of flight. I knew how to fly! But my six-year-old mind was soon jolted by the discovery that no one believed that I knew how to fly! My parents, for instance, refused to rent a plane for me to demonstrate my new knowledge. They explained to me what was quite obvious to them: Learning is more than knowing the fact — learning is the experience of applying the facts in response to the needs of life. The truth is obvious in relation to learning a skill such as flying. But apparently it is not obvious in relation to learning the truths of the Bible. Many Sunday School teachers appear satisfied when their students merely learn the facts about the Bible. Yet a student may know all the facts the Bible teaches, and still be unable to use this knowledge just as I was unable to fly even after I was told all the facts about flying. In the field of Sunday School teaching as well as in other fields of knowledge, learning is more than knowing the facts •— learning is the experience of applying the facts in response to the needs of life. The Holy Spirit’s part cannot be overlooked. Jesus said, in John 16:13, “when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.” Notice what the Spirit will do — He will guide you into all truth. He will not insert a funnel into your mind and pour in a pollection of truths — He will lead you as a guide down the experi ence of life, showing you the way step by step, so that you learn by experiencing the truth.
JULY, 1961
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