“Higher Education”

Saturday, April 26, 2014

We've been described by several in our group as a "blue collar” church.  We have many adults in attendance who don't read well.

Can a church teach reading, English, history, philosophy, Greek, or anything else necessary to understand deeper Bible concepts?

Sincerely,
Well-Read

Dear Well-Read,

Every command that you find in the Bible has specific and general qualities to it.  For example, when God told Noah to build the ark, He told Noah to use a specific kind of wood (gopher wood – Gen 6:14) and build the ark to specific dimensions (Gen 6:15-16), but He left the details of how to cut, fasten, and construct the ark up to Noah.  It would have been wrong for Noah to use oak or birch, and it would have been wrong for Noah to change the dimensions of the ark, but aside from that, Noah had freedom to use his own wisdom in the engineering of the ark.  The things that God was specific on, Noah had to be specific on to… but the things God was general about, Noah had freedom to decide for himself.

Now that brings us to your question.  The church has the authority to do whatever is necessary to teach and preach the Word (Acts 15:35) – the specific quality of that command is that the church must forward people’s understanding of God’s Word.  However, as any good teacher knows, you have to start teaching your students from where they are.  The church shouldn’t become a secular academic institution, but if providing someone with a better understanding of world history, Bible times and culture, language, etc. helps to further their grasp of Bible concepts, it is perfectly permissible.  God left the command to teach and preach as a general command for a reason; the specifics of teaching are left up to the Bible teachers.

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