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Abstract
This article presents the idea that the Early Church supported teachers as one of the ministry offices within the local church. These teachers worked to mature the spiritual life of the congregation and so helped to free the pastoral ministry to focus on other duties, many of which fall on pastors. Most ministers, pastors, and others teach at one time or another, but the main task of teaching in the Early Church was carried on by (not merely overseen or administrated by) highly qualified Christian teachers. Three questions help explore the position of teachers in early Christianity: How does the New Testament define the teacher? How did the early church employ teachers? What principles helped to direct the Christian “Life of the Mind” in the Early Church?
Notes
1The usual English translation, “Therefore go and make disciples …” is misleading since the word make is not in the original Greek. To the Greeks, discipling was serious teaching and learning, pure and simple. For example, if the usual translation were applied to my job as a college teacher, it would change my job from teacher to an admissions-recruiter! The text tells the apostles (and us) to “go and teach,” not to “go and make non-students into students.” Evangelists have that job, and usually do it exceedingly well. Of course, much may be implied by the text of the Great Commission, and much interpretation has gone into it, but what the text says is, ‘disciple them and teach them.’ The immediate implication is that honest teaching by Christians becomes a tool that creates interest among non-believers, helping them cross over to becoming believers.
2The 1 Cor 12: 27–29 passage continues to separate out the gifted position of teacher, as does Rom 12: 6–8.
3For example, Acts 2: 42 the “apostles' teachings”; John 15: 20; Matt 28: 18–20; James 3: 1; Heb 5: 12, 6: 1–2; 1 Cor 4: 17; 2 Thess 2: 15.
4cf also Rom 12: 4–7, 1 Cor 14: 26.
51 Cor 4: 14–15 also puts the office of teacher below others as does Acts 13: 1.
6cf also 2 Pet 2: 1–3 on false teachers.
7On Christian teachers teaching Christian content, cf also Titus 2: 7–8; Matt 28: 20; Heb 5: 12–6: 2; Col 3: 16; Acts 15: 35, 18: 25; 2 John 1: 9–10; 1 Tim 1: 8–10; 1 Cor 14: 26.
8John 13: 13 for one example of many.
9There is New Testament support for the office of teacher, while there is no such support for many of the offices in churches such as warden, archdeacon, archbishop, youth minister, music minister, organist, children's ministries, finance director, arts director, technical director, smoke machine operator, and so on. I must say that I love my music minister and I have played bass guitar in worship bands pretty much every Sunday for years, but just because the ‘bass guitar’ is not mentioned in the New Testament, that does not remove its divine sanction and usefulness! Nor is the divine sanction removed from any of these other offices. The point is not to argue against them, but that biblically, there is a stronger and a prior case to have teachers on church staffs. The reality is that teachers are usually volunteers of varying quality. Most are untrained amateurs. Many teach Sunday School because the Superintendent insisted that if your child is in Sunday School, a parent must participate. Having excellent teachers paid to teach full-time would also serve to model good teaching for volunteers who do so much with so few resources.
10The translations are my own, but do not depart radically from standard translations.
11She had just identified that building as the universal church in 1: 3: 3, Holmes, 1999, p. 351.
12Stromata 1: 19; similarly Str 1: 7, 11 & 12.
13Stromata 1: 4 through 1: 6 develops this idea at length; Str 1: 11 & 1: 20 argues that classical studies are necessary for an accurate understanding of scripture and for the ability to teach it clearly.
14The Focus on the Family's The Truth Project works toward just such an end, but its limited scholarly expertise, and the limited time that students spend studying a Christian Worldview reduces success. Of course, Francis Schaeffer and L'Abri attempted a similar approach and goal, but again, it lacked the on-going commitment of years in students' lives, and instead tried to concentrate its advanced teaching into weeks and months.