To Teach

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

TO TEACH

Rom 12:3-8

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

NIV

If the Spirit expresses himself through someone in the area of teaching, let this person then teach as they are both inspired and influenced by the Spirit. We would have to believe there is a difference between teaching and facilitating, which seems many of us would rather say that we are only facilitators of a discussion regarding the scriptures. However, this Greek word, didaskoo, means to hold discourse with others in order to instruct them, as well as to discharge the office of the teacher, thus conducting oneself as a teacher. So then if the Spirit expresses himself through a person to be a teacher, then let that person instruct others. If for example, we were used by the Spirit as a teacher, then it would behoove us to prepare properly through the study of the scriptures in order to bring the truth to others. There is somewhat of a problem in the sense that each teacher might well be restricted in a certain sense by denominational bias, or rather its interpretation of various scriptures, which would be contained within the denomination's statement of faith, or what they believe. However, we would also think that this office of the teacher is inspired and expressed through the Spirit, which should then bypass all denominational limits on the instruction of scriptural truth. This may well be why so many shy away from referring to themselves as teachers and refer to themselves as facilitators, which allows them to be bound to their particular denomination's view of scripture, as well as allows them to be free from the inspiration and influence of the Spirit, thus leaving them only to the human element. Still, the meaning of being a facilitator is to be a true educator acting as a facilitator of learning. That is to help others learn, and if that is in regards to the scriptures then perhaps it would be better to look to the Spirit and simply realize that one is, in fact, occupying the position of teacher. Of course, then we would have to consider the “gifts” given to the church as Paul mentions in his letter to the Ephesians, where one is the Pastor and teacher. This is usually seen as one person serving the role of both the Pastor and the Teacher of the people of God. However, here in this letter to the Romans, the role of the Pastor is not mentioned in association with the teacher. So then, let us be diligent in our understanding and pray that if the Spirit decides to manifest himself in us to teach, let us teach with the authority of the Spirit.