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What is the Church?: Part III
Part III: Biblical Education
Read What is the Church? Part I and What is the Church? Part II first.
I would like to forewarn readers of this entry that this is once again my opinion and thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head. Please feel free to send me an email or leave a comment if you have reflections or ideas of points that I may have missed. Thanks!
What if we approached theology the same way we do our college education? You'll find people who boast of the many all-nighters then spent in college cramming for an exam or working on a project, but you don't hear of many people displaying the same level of devotion and even excitement toward their biblical theological understanding. Most Christians don't approach their understanding of the scriptures with the same focus and intensity that they do their work.
Our work is important, do not get me wrong. But the seriousness with which we approach our work is usually not comparable with how we approach our biblical understanding. I believe that many people would be surprised to come away from a Sunday School class or bible study with homework. I also think that in some situations people can come to an expectation that biblical study and theology in general is and should be left up to the pastor or minister. Edward Farley makes a similar observation:
"Why is it that the vast majority of Christian believers remain largely unexposed to Christian learning--to historical-critical studies of the Bible, to the content and structures of the great doctrines, to two thousands years of classic works on the Christian life, to the basic disciplines of theology, biblical languages and Christian ethics? Why do bankers, lawyers, farmers, physicians, homemakers, scientists, salespeople, managers of all sorts, people who carry out all kinds of complicated tasks in their work and home, remain at a literalist, elementary school level in their religious understanding? How is it that high school age church members move easily and quickly into the complex world of computers, foreign languages, DNA, calculus, and cannot even make a beginning in historical-critical interpretation of a single text of Scripture? How is it possible one can attend or even teach in a Sunday school for decades and at the end of that time lack the interpretive skills of someone who has taken three or four weeks in an introductory course in the Bible at a university or seminary?"
Edward Farley, "Educated Clergy, Uneducated Laity"
Farley has a good point: the majority of people in our churches have an elementary school level understanding of scripture. How did we arrive at the mindset that only those behind the pulpit are to be pursuing a theological understanding? The scriptures paint a very different picture of how the body of the Church is to be learning. In the letter to the churches in Rome, Paul writes:
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Romans 12:1-2
Remember that Romans was written to the church as a whole and that he's speaking to everyone in the church. Two points that I wanted to bring to light is that we are to "present our bodies as a living sacrifice" and being "transformed by the renewal of [our] minds". Living sacrifice is the orientation we are to have, our bodies, and even our lives, are to be lived sacrificially to God. Christ paid the ultimate sacrifice by dying on the cross, our duty is to be living sacrifices for the work that He has given to us. Renewing our minds assumes growth in our understanding through prayer, confession, meditation upon God's word, and participation in the local church. We study scripture and study God so that we can "discern the will of God", so that we can understand His plan for our lives and apply it to our lives. Paul was very concerned with firmly establishing the churches. He wanted them to be able to go through life and examine everything brought to them through the lens of God, so that they would not be easily swayed in their belief. That they would have a sturdy foundation of knowledge that can't be wavered by every new controversy or false teaching that comes along (Colossians 2:6-8).
In the letter to the churches in Ephesus, Paul says:
"Therefore it says, 'When he ascended on high he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men.'... And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ...."
Ephesians 4:8,11-15
I think that this is where the ball was dropped. Somewhere along the way we lost site of how this was to work. God gave gifts for a couple main reasons: to equip the church, for building up the body of Christ to obtain unity of faith and knowledge, with the goal of mature manhood (or womanhood) so that we may no longer be children in our belief tossed waves of doctrine, craftiness, and deceitful schemes. What I'm getting at here is that those in leadership in the church are not the only ones who are to be growing in their biblical understanding and ministering to people. They are the ones who are to be equipping those in the church so that the church (meaning everyone in the church) can be doing the work of ministry. The apostles refer to the church as the body throughout the New Testament letters. The imagery is perfect. The church is the body of Christ, and just as the human doesn't work without EVERY part doing its job, the same is with the church, every member even the guy who shovels snow, is a part of the body and is equally important.
Think of the implications of this. Is this what we see in most churches today? Or do we see one, or maybe two, people who went to seminary, learned the scriptures, then came to a church and teach once a week on an obscure passage or subject. It is good to have application for daily life, but having a fractured understanding of scripture as a whole or having verses of scripture randomly pulled out of the text to give emphasis to an obscure subject does not build a true theological understanding. We need to be approaching scripture in a new way. We need to equip our churches to handle the scripture so that the whole church is participating in ministry so that "we may not longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves of doctrine."
Lastly, imagine if you approached your college education as most people do their biblical education. Learning from a teacher one day a week, then not studying the material at all the rest of the week. Would you end with a firm understanding of the material? What if the material was taught by the teacher picking parts here and there? How would your understanding change?
I think that many people in our churches, as I quoted Edward Farley earlier, have an elementary school level in their theological understanding. We need to get back to the New Testament. To establishing our churches (everyone!) in their faith and biblical understanding. Then we can strengthen as a church and live godly sound lives adorning the gospel.
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Blando's Blog
Disciple of Christ, Husband, Father, and IT-guy.
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