My wife and I started a couples Bible study tonight. We picked up a Fisherman Bible Studyguide today on marriage. I’ve done a couple of these Fisherman studies before, even taught from them, and thought they were pretty good source material.
I never read the “How to Use This Studyguide” section, so I don’t know if what I read tonight was new:
Fisherman studyguides are based on the inductive approach to Bible study. Inductive study is discovery study; we discover what the Bible says as we ask questions about its content and search for answers. This is quite different from the process in which a teacher tells a group about the Bible - what it means and what to do about it. In inductive study, God speaks directly to each of us through his word.
I understand why people have a problem accepting teaching from others, particularly when they disagree. It’s pride. We all truly believe that our idea is better than the other guy’s. Not always of course…when it’s someone with special training, who we maybe find particularly likeable, we’ll listen. But even then, if they say something that catches us the wrong way, we become indignant.
I haven’t escaped this trap, which is why I feel pretty comfortable diagnosing the cause. But when we approach the Bible we’re coming to something too serious to let pride deceive us into thinking we all have equally valid interpretations. It just can’t be so.
It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Eph 4:11-13)
Who is “he”? Christ. It was he who gave…Christ selected certain individuals to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the good of the church. If it was he who gave, shouldn’t we trust his decision? Shouldn’t we let the teachers teach?
Technorati Tags: christ, conversation, fivefold ministry, inductive bible study, teaching
Blogs4God
