In my ministry context, we train and empower ordinary people to teach the Bible. That is one reason I favor the term “teaching” over “preaching,” since the latter implies professionalization.
Our main venues for unpacking scripture are gatherings in people’s homes. These house churches are led mostly by people working regular jobs. These folks don’t have time to put together sermon-level content or plan stimulating spiritual discussions every single week. At least not all on their own. And so, we develop and raise up teams - each with a number of sharp and capable Bible teachers.
A few different streams typically come together in forming reliable Bible teachers. It’s not as simple as putting people through a training program or attending workshops - although these can be helpful. We do need to give people reliable systems and best practices for study, making out an outline, and delivering content. It’s unrealistic to assume that teachers will be able to grow in confidence and excel without some kind of baseline equipping.
But any training of this nature must sit well on a foundation of inductive study and a general ability to comprehend scripture. People pick these aptitudes up through personal Bible study, and being discipled by other mature Christians. Rarely can these skills be gleaned just by sitting under traditional preaching. There is apprenticing that needs to take place - similar to how a person learns a trade. Think less of a program, and more of an intentional, instructional relationship.
There is also “teaching culture” which leaders pick up through their church environment and the Bible teachers they are exposed to. Common language, rhythms of speech, or certain spiritual emphases tend to be “caught” over time, rather than explicitly “taught.” If you’ve ever sat under preaching in a church culture different from your own, then you might know what I mean.
Finally, there are stylistic elements that are somewhat subjective, and influenced by gifting and personality. Not all Bible teachers, even when thoroughly trained, can pull off the same approach. My good friend Nate for instance has a sharp analytical mind and a natural sense for how to make a thorough argument. When he finishes speaking, you leave with a sense that no stone has been left unturned. He’s also incredibly clear and concise in how he distills and delivers high volumes of information.
It’s a literal super power. Not all of us have it, and we shouldn’t pretend like we do. A key part of being a quality Bible teacher, regardless of gifting, is learning how to play to your strengths. Those of us who struggle to hold people’s attention or stay on track in our explanations should aim to get better. But we should probably spend even more time learning how to become effective facilitators - breaking up didactic teaching portions with engaging group discussion.
But these are just the fundamentals. Assuming these core elements are already in place, what distinguishes exceptional Bible teaching?
I see four primary factors: gifting, burden, strong antitheses, and spiritual authority. Relatively speaking, there is less that can be done about the first and fourth of these, and more we can do to develop the second and third. We will take them one at a time and consider how each has the potential to elevate teaching from good to great.
Gifting
Multiple authors in scripture list teaching among the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:28, 1 Peter 4:10-11). Spiritual gifts are ways that God chooses to specially use or empower certain people. They aren’t autonomous abilities we turn off and on, but qualities that manifest as we obey and rely on the Holy Spirit.
Gifting is an overlapping category however with talent and opportunity. After all, God made us who we are, even before we knew Jesus - and has always had good works in mind for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). He also ordains our life circumstances and designates where and how we serve (1 Corinthians 7:20, John 21:21-22).
Also, not all communication gifts appear the same. Someone could be gifted in teaching, but mostly expressed in the context of same-gender focused Bible studies. Someone else might be well suited to preaching in large venues. All of this comes down to God’s intention for a person’s life and ministry. A key to spiritual fruitfulness is to be hard working, grateful, and faithful with what God has given you. Reaching for the “higher” place of influence can be dangerous. Even if we achieve an idealized opportunity or role - we risk losing our spiritual peace and becoming less effective in the long run.
Francis Schaeffer warned,
“God must be allowed to choose when a Christian is ready to be extruded into such a place, for only he knows when a person will be able to have some quietness before him in the midst of increased pressure and responsibility. Quietness and peace before God are more important than any influence a position may seem to give, for we must stay in step with God to have the power of the Holy Spirit.”1
Gifting can’t be forced, though Paul does seem to imply that some spiritual gifts can come to us through prayer (1 Corinthians 12:31). He also encouraged Timothy to “fan the flame” of his own gifts, which probably included teaching. Furthering the analogy, we may not be able to start the fire, but if a flame already exists then we can tend to it and possibly make it grow. For gifted Bible teachers this means not coasting off natural ability, but working to grow in skill elements through practice, soliciting feedback, and deepening your own study of God’s Word.
Even if we aren’t sure about our gifting, we can still buy up every opportunity to learn and communicate truth to others. As we are faithful, God will make it clear in what manner and scope he intends for us to serve.
Burden
“Burden" refers to the deep sense of spiritual responsibility, urgency, or divine compulsion that a teacher feels regarding a specific message or topic they are called to deliver. It often reflects the weight of a message that God has laid on the heart - something that cannot be ignored or set aside until it has been faithfully communicated.
We see examples of burdens being developed in scripture when Jesus wept over Jerusalem before crying out (Matthew 23:37), or when Paul was “provoked in Spirit” while observing the idols of Athens. He then went on to preach at Mars Hill, referencing what he saw (Acts 17:16). These are often emotional in nature and connected to a strong sense of what should or should not be.
Burdens are developed through prayer as the teacher moves between studying God’s Word and observing the world around them. At their strongest, burdens don’t emerge just in the midst of teaching prep, but are already there roiling in the background. They come from numerous conversations with church members, neighbors, and non Christian friends. These interactions then remain with the teacher as they pray and mull over their Bible passage, asking “why do these truths matter for these specific people?” and “what is the Spirit trying to say right now to me and my friends?”
Charles Spurgeon recommends,
“A minister of the gospel [cannot] be anything but a mere empiric unless he mingles with men, and studies character for himself...Read men as well as books, and love men rather than opinions, or you will be inanimate preachers.
Get into close quarters with those who are in an anxious state.... It will help to make you earnest when you see their eagerness to find peace...
The world is full of grinding poverty, and crushing sorrow; shame and death are the portion of thousands, and it needs a great gospel to meet the dire necessities of men’s souls.... Go and see for yourselves. Thus will you learn to preach a great salvation, and magnify the great Saviour, not with your mouth only, but with your heart.”
We don’t always need a fully clarified burden before teaching. It’s enough to get up and faithfully preach God’s Word, even when we are uncertain. At a minimum we should be burdened for our friends to comprehend life-giving truth. But we should also seek this special kind of conviction and pray the Spirit would help us see clearly the living implications of our text.
Strong antitheses
Related to burden is the notion of antithesis. In Bible teaching, antithesis refers to the use of contrast - specifically, a sharp, deliberate opposition between ideas, values, or spiritual conditions - to communicate truth more clearly and powerfully.
Antithesis goes beyond what truths are being positively asserted, to what is being spoken against. For instance, we can declare that Jesus called his disciples to love one another, and give examples of how they lived this out. But in order to effectively drive the message home we will need to go further and expose the ways that Christians often don’t do this. We can point out that even the disciples were prone to back biting and competition. In our own day, the American church is famously disunified. Even when Christian community is real and qualitative, Christians are often so socially removed from their non Christian neighbors, that no one ever gets to see their love in action.
When a teacher takes the time to unpack antitheses like these, it will be much clearer to anyone listening why it’s so important that Christians truly and visibly love one another. They may even realize the ways in which they personally are falling short.
Strong antitheses grab people’s attention and help make truth personally applicable. Outdated or limp antitheses are those that aim at an irrelevant target, or set up an opponent that doesn’t really exist. Christians have long been guilty of speaking effectively to one cultural moment, only to lose proximity and fail to discern the ways people’s thinking has changed.
There may be “nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) when it comes to human sin and error, but it’s also true that culture is ever-morphing. For example the “hard atheism” that characterized the early 2000’s (headlined by thinkers like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens) has greatly diminished in popularity. Most young people are currently open to God, and Gen Z is significantly less likely than previous generations to identify with atheism.2 Savvy Bible teachers are aware of shifts like these and factor them into their teaching.
It’s crucial to remain in touch with what people in the world actually think and be aware of what is holding them back from faith. To this end we should absorb newer books, articles, and podcasts that reflect culture. We shouldn’t lose ourselves in the news cycle, and we don’t need to watch every show or read every New York Times best seller in order to stay relevant. But we must strive for an up-to-date awareness of the unbiblical and sub-biblical ideologies at play in the church and broader culture, lest our teaching lose its prophetic edge.
Spiritual authority
Spiritual authority is a mysterious concept, mostly seen in the special impact of certain individuals and their ministries. Sometimes referred to as “unction”, it is the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon a teaching so that something holy and powerful is added to the message that no communicator can generate, no matter how great their skills.
Jesus had spiritual authority (Mark 1:22). He was God’ son, and knew himself as the Messiah, having come to both rescue and eventually judge the world. Paul also was conscious of special authority in his ministry. He knew it to be derived from his calling to be an Apostle and a bondservant of Jesus (2 Corinthians 10-13), as opposed to something he achieved or earned.
Spiritual authority in preaching then is closely linked to the notion of calling. We can speak and operate with an active confidence and manifest humble strength when we know we are only doing what God has sent us to do. Any authority we have is of course delegated, and only present in the sphere in which God has called us. And, if our words have any special weight to them, it’s only because we are speaking accurately about the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13), which is where true power lies.
Spiritual authority also emerges from Spirit wrought character. When any of us get up to teach, it’s more than just our mouths speaking. Our way of life looms large in the background with the potential to credit (or discredit) everything we say. Therefore Paul encouraged Timothy “Keep a close watch on your way of life and on your teaching. Persist in this, for in doing so you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Timothy 4:16). We will be taken seriously to the extent that our life decisions, humility, repentance, earnestness, wisdom, and lived convictions both echo and inform our teaching.
This is one important reason why social media influencers and content creators should only ever receive peripheral credence in the church. Even those who deliver helpful messages have no contextual credibility, at least not in the sense of being proven pillars in the local church. We can of course still appreciate and absorb solid Biblical teaching from afar. But it’s only teachers we can know holistically and communally that bring this unique factor to the table when they speak.
We cannot muster up spiritual authority going into any particular teaching. If it is there, it will have emerged through quiet abiding in Christ, deep character formation, and God’s choosing. However, we can always seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18, Acts 4:8. Acts 13:9) and expect miracles to occur, even if at first they remain unfelt or unseen.
Francis A. Schaeffer. No Little People (Introduction By Udo Middelmann). Crossway. Pp. 65.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gen-z-religion-spritual-atheist-b2687395.html