Good Bible teaching does not happen by accident. Behind every well-prepared lesson are countless hours of disciplined study, careful analysis, and serious reflection upon God’s word. It is not uncommon for dedicated Bible teachers to spend six to eight hours studying for every hour they teach. Think about that. Six to eight hours of preparation for a single hour of instruction. And this discipline comes after years of learning the original biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek, ancient and modern history, philosophy, culture, geography, and the many disciplines that comprise a sound theological education. Such preparation requires intellectual rigor, personal discipline, and a deep commitment to the truth of God’s word.
This is telling. I think anyone skilled at his craft, whether a professional athlete, actor, musician, luthier, medical doctor, or scientist, will spend thousands of hours learning his profession and decades afterward refining his skills. Research on expert performance has shown that mastery often requires thousands of hours of deliberate practice. One academic researcher and his colleagues studied accomplished musicians and found that the most advanced performers had accumulated approximately 10,000 hours of practice by age twenty.[1] Though no fixed number guarantees mastery, the research demonstrates the importance of sustained, disciplined effort over many years. Actor Anthony Hopkins once explained that he would read a script or rehearse individual scenes between 100 and 200 times before filming. Such repetition gave him confidence, mastery of his lines, and freedom to perform naturally.[2] That’s discipline. Excellence is not accidental. It is the fruit of years of preparation, countless hours of labor, and a determination to master one’s calling.
The pastor who is good at his trade, if I may call it that, faces a standard no less demanding. In fact, I believe it is higher, considering he is a doctor of souls. The physician labors for the health of the body, but the pastor labors for the spiritual well-being of men and women whose lives have eternal significance. Lewis Sperry Chafer described the pastor as a “doctor of souls,” ministering to Christians suffering from “some spiritual injury which sin has inflicted upon them.”[3] The pastor is not exempt from the same spiritual battles against the world, the flesh, and the devil. To be effective, he must know how to apply biblical truth to his own life and faithfully teach that truth to others. His primary responsibility is to teach sound doctrine so that Christians may advance toward spiritual maturity. As Chafer explained, “Though the pastor is a doctor of souls, his first responsibility to others is so to teach the members of his flock with regard to the whole subject of sin as related to the Christian, that they may themselves be able to diagnose their own troubles and apply intelligently to their own hearts the divine cure.”[4]
Like a physician or attorney, the pastor must devote years to formal education, specialized training, and the continued development of his knowledge and skills. Yet his responsibility extends beyond intellectual competence. He must also demonstrate spiritual maturity in his personal life. A pastor who teaches sound doctrine but consistently fails to apply it undermines his own credibility, much like a physician who warns his patients about the dangers of smoking while habitually smoking himself. His conduct becomes a contradiction of his message. Paul understood this when he instructed Timothy to “Be conscientious about how you live and what you teach” (1 Tim. 4:16 NET). The pastor’s life should give credibility to the doctrine he teaches, demonstrating that God’s word is both understood and applied. The lives of people, whether saved or unsaved, are directly affected by the pastor’s ability to share the gospel of grace and communicate God’s word with clarity, accuracy, and conviction. His responsibility is enormous, for he handles divine truth, and the consequences of his teaching extend far beyond the classroom or pulpit.
Those who possess positive volition toward God and His word can be blessed, both in time and eternity, by the truth they learn from the man God has called to study and communicate His word to others. A single doctrine, properly understood and faithfully applied, may strengthen a believer through years of adversity. A clear presentation of the gospel may be the means by which an unbeliever comes to possess eternal life. A faithful exposition of Scripture may correct years of erroneous thinking and establish a Christian in sound doctrine. Such is the extraordinary value of the pastor’s labor.
Such a calling demands years of preparation, thousands of hours of study, and a lifetime of continued learning and refinement. The faithful Bible teacher never reaches a point where he has mastered all that God has revealed. The more he learns, the more he recognizes the depths of divine truth and the need for continued study. His education does not end with a degree, nor does his preparation end when he steps behind the pulpit or into the classroom. He must return to his books, his lexicons, his grammars, and, above all, the sacred text itself. He studies because he must teach, and he teaches because God has entrusted him with His word.
I suspect very few people know or appreciate the demands that make for a good Bible teacher. They hear the finished lesson but seldom see the countless hours of preparation behind it. They receive the fruit of his labor without knowing the sacrifices that produced it. What is fascinating is that he often does his work with little appreciation, thankfulness, or compensation from those who benefit from his ministry. Yet the faithful pastor continues. He studies when no one is watching. He labors when no one applauds. He perseveres when his efforts seem unnoticed. His motivation rests upon something far greater than human recognition.
He knows whom he serves, and he knows who will reward him in the end. His attitude reflects that of the apostle Paul, who declared, “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). His work is done as unto the Lord, and the Lord Himself will evaluate his faithfulness. The approval of men is encouraging, but the approval of Christ is what matters most. And what greater reward could a faithful servant desire than to stand before his Savior, having spent his life studying, teaching, and defending the truth of God’s word, and hear those blessed words, “Well done, good and faithful slave” (Matt. 25:21).
That is the calling of a faithful Bible teacher. It is a life of study, sacrifice, discipline, and service. And for the man who truly loves the Lord and His word, it is a labor worthy of his best years, his finest energies, and his deepest devotion.
Steven R. Cook, D.Min., M.Div.
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[1] Ericsson, K. Anders, Ralf Th. Krampe, and Clemens Tesch-Römer. “The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance.” Psychological Review 100, no. 3 (1993): 363-406, esp. 393-394. https://share.google/KIkAs57vtABIlsut1
[2] “Dialogue: Anthony Hopkins,” Backstage, March 25, 2013, https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/dialogue-anthony-hopkins-39713/
[3] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1993), 325.
[4] Ibid., 325.
At a point in time, without surrendering deity, God the Son added true humanity to Himself. John wrote, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14a). Paul states, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col. 2:9). Jesus was “born of a woman” (Gal. 4:4), born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14; Luke 1:35), entering the human race without inheriting Adam’s sin. He lived under genuine human limitations while perfectly relying on the Father and the Spirit. He “emptied Himself” not of deity, but of the independent use of His divine attributes, taking “the form of a bond-servant” (Phil. 2:6–7). According to Fruchtenbaum, “The kenosis does not imply that He divested Himself of the form of deity. Rather, it means that He laid aside the independent exercise of His divine attributes by which the form of God expresses itself.”
Jesus’ earthly life displayed perfect righteousness in thought, word, and deed. Scripture affirms, “in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5; cf. 2 Cor. 5:21). Peter testifies, “Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22). Though He faced real temptation, He was “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). He fulfilled the Law in its entirety, for He said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets… but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17), and Paul states, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4). His obedience was active and continuous, grounded in love for the Father’s will, for of the Son it is written, “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness” (Heb. 1:9).
Jesus’ saving work was substitutionary, sufficient, and final. On the cross, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). The penalty of sin is death (Rom. 6:23a), and He bore that penalty in our place. Paul states, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). The issue for salvation is not human merit or reform, but faith in Jesus to save. Scripture states, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31), “For by grace you have been saved through faith… not as a result of works” (Eph. 2:8–9). Because Jesus’ work is complete, forgiveness is secured, for “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” (Eph. 1:7), and eternal life is granted to all who believe, for “He who believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36a).
The risen Christ did not abandon His Davidic claim. After His resurrection He declared, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18), and He ascended to the Father’s right hand (Ps. 110:1; Acts 2:33–35). He now awaits the appointed time when He will return visibly and bodily. The angelic promise stands: “This Jesus… will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). At His second coming He will sit on “His glorious throne” (Matt. 25:31) and fulfill the covenant made with David, for God swore, “I will raise up your descendant after you… and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Sam. 7:12–13). He will reign from Jerusalem as King over all the earth, for “The Lord will be king over all the earth” (Zech. 14:9), and “the government will rest on His shoulders… on the throne of David and over his kingdom” (Isa. 9:6–7). The One who came in humility will return in glory, and His kingdom will be righteous, visible, and everlasting.
Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life” (John 8:12). And He also declared, “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). When we trust in Christ as our Savior, God rescues us “from the domain of darkness” and transfers us “to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:13). This domain of darkness refers to Satan’s kingdom, a spiritual realm in which the majority of this world live. When one hear abouts Christ and the good news of the gospel, it affords them the opportunity to “turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18). Writing to Christians in Ephesus, Paul said, “you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light—for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth—trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Eph 5:8-10).
To us who are in Christ, Paul writes, “walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8c). This is the Lord’s will for us. The directive assumes we can walk in darkness, otherwise it’s an unnecessary command. The word walk translates the Greek verb peripateō, which is used here as a metaphor for how we live. The verb is in the active voice, present tense, and imperative mood. The active voice means we have the responsibility to act as God directs, and the present tense refers to habitual conduct, and the imperative mood means it’s a command to be obeyed. To walk as children of light means living transparently before God who sees all we think, say, and do. It also means we live in way that reflects His glory for others to see, and we seek to bring others to God through Christ and His Word that they might know and walk with the Lord too. But those who love the darkness (John 3:19)—and they are the majority of humanity—will avoid spiritual Christians because our values and lifestyle reveal the darkness of their hearts and lives, and they want nothing to do with us and will avoid biblical conversation and fellowship at all costs, even resorting to violence when they feel threatened.
Paul does not leave us guessing as to what the production of our walk with the Lord should look like, as he states, “for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Eph 5:9). The fruit refers to the qualities that are seen in God Himself (Gal 5:22-23), and when we are filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:15), and walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16), the Light within us will shine forth and bear fruit for others to see. This requires us to walk in fellowship with God, to “walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light” (1 John 1:7), which means submitting to Him (Jam 4:7) and walking by faith (2 Cor 5:7) as obedient-to-the-Word believers. But if we “walk in the darkness” (1 John 1:6), which is always a possibility for the Christian, there will be nothing noticeable to distinguish us from an unbeliever who lives in perpetual carnality (1 Cor 3:1-3).
Those of us who learn and live God’s Word on a regular basis are “trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Eph 5:10). There’s only one way to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord, and that is to learn His Word and walk by faith (2 Cor 5:7; Heb 10:38). God has revealed Himself and His will through His written Word, and when we devote ourselves to the daily study of Scripture, we come to know what pleases the Lord. Every thought, word, and deed must be measured by the Word God as it speaks to our conversations, friendships, resources, work ethic, and every aspect of life. When we yield our lives to God and walk by faith in obedience to His Word, we know that it pleases Him, for “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Heb 11:6).