Matthew 23:10 “And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.”
As with all the ministry gifts there are also various classes of the ministry gift of the teacher. As we will see in this section, there are two classes within the ministry gift of the teacher. We have already seen that the Lord Jesus Christ heads up each ministry gift category, and in each category He is in a class of His own. When you study the gospels you will see that most of Jesus earthly ministry revolved around teaching. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see that our Lord Jesus referred to Himself as our Teacher, and as such He is therefore the pre-eminent teacher in the church. And so we see that the first class of teacher in the church is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 13:1 “Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.”
This brings us to the second class of teacher, which is the class of teacher that exists in the church today. There are no foundational teachers in the church, for as already mentioned, that class of ministry pertained only to the ministries of the apostle and the prophet. We saw earlier in this teaching that the Lord Jesus listed the ministry gifts in order of their importance to the church, which would mean that the teacher is classified as the fifth most important ministry gift in the church. So why is that? The reason is because unlike the other ministry gifts, the teaching ministry fulfils only one role in the church, which is to teach the word of God. Obviously one that is called to be a teacher will not have the gift to preach. As revealed in the above quoted passage of scripture, in the church at Antioch we can see that teachers are based in a local church as part of the ministry team of the local church. We have already established that every church has at least one pastor assigned to it, and depending on the size of the congregation may even have two or more pastors. And so it is for that reason that teachers are normally found in larger churches that are able to support more than one minister of the gospel. For example, Antioch was a large church that supported at least the five ministry gifts quoted in this passage.
2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to show yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
The primary anointing on the teacher is to teach the word of God. They will expound God’s word in a very logical and simple manner, so that all may clearly understand what is being taught. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul admonished Timothy to study God’s word so that he could teach it accurately. Obviously, that same admonition is applicable to the ministry gift of teacher. And so we see that unlike the pastor, one who has the gift of teacher is able to spend far more time studying God’s word, because he is not distracted by having to shepherd the flock in day to day affairs. The reason the teacher studies God’s word in depth, is so that when he teaches on a subject he is able to teach it with authority. As with the office of the pastor, scripture does not reveal to us any specific spiritual gifts that form part of the ministry gift of the teacher.
Michael E.B. Maher
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