In each of his last three letters Paul seems to plunge immediately into statements about the goal of Christian teaching. In 1 Timothy he warned against false doctrine and urged commitment to the truth. He stated succinctly his goal in teaching the truth, which is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Tim. 1:5). In 2 Timothy, Paul brought up the same issue. What you have heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 1:13). And, in the opening of Titus, Paul spoke immediately of the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness (Tit. 1:1). The goals that Paul had in mind for teaching in the church weren’t limited to gaining intellectual knowledge. In fact, even Bible knowledge is never an end in itself-it is to produce love, faith, and godliness in our lives.

Measuring Learning

Paul was not so much concerned that believers knew the truth intellectually as he was that the truth produced a distinctively godly way of life in them. The measure of effective teaching is not what or how much a person knows, but the way he or she lives.

Schools evaluate learning by testing and measuring knowledge. How many books has the student read? What was his final grade? Were the answers on the exam correct? Even in the church, there’s a tendency to think that the “educated” Christian is one who has gone to Bible school, a Christian college, or seminary. The individual who has memorized the most Bible verses, who always has the right answer to a doctrinal quiz, or who can authoritatively chart a pre-millennial picture of the future, may be viewed as the model of a well-taught Christian.

If we take our stance with the Apostle Paul, we will realize that evidence of Christian learning is not found in what is known; it is instead found in the love, faith, and godliness that are to mark a believer’s life. Paul urged Timothy and Titus to be engaged in the kind of teaching that links truth with life; the kind of teaching that has as its product loving, trusting, godly men and women. Paul would say that character is a better indicator of a well-taught Christian than knowledge.

Truth …and Life

One of my old friends, a co-professor at a school where I taught, is a dichotomous thinker. That is, he tends to think in opposites, in either/or fashion. At one time the faculty senate began to talk of redesigning our curriculum to better equip young people for the practical demands of the ministry. My friend was visibly upset. If our curriculum were to be “practical,” we would have to sacrifice “academic respectability.” Education must be either academic (concentrating on knowledge) or practical (concentrating on methodology), and he was going to stand firmly on the side of knowledge! He could never see education involving both the academic and the practical. For him it had to be either one or the other.

Yet nothing could be further from the Apostle Paul’s thought in these letters. To him, teaching’s goal is knowledge manifested in love, faith, and godliness. Truth and life—the academic and the practical—must be intimately linked.

Paul said sinful acts are contrary to sound doctrine and do not conform to the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. (1 Tim. 1:9–11).

Paul expressed concern about how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15).

Paul’s goal was knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness (Tit. 1:1).

Paul taught that temperance, self-control, faith, love, endurance, and reverence are in accord with sound doctrine (Tit. 2:1–3).

Paul encouraged Titus to stress basic doctrinal truths so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good (Tit. 3:8).

Looking over these statements, we can see several things. 1) Knowing the truth and being committed to sound doctrine must lead to godliness, love, self-control, reverence, etc. 2) Not only is truth expected to have an impact on life, but life is to be in harmony with truth. Our good works will reflect our beliefs. 3) Truth produces a godly lifestyle, not vice versa. Being a “good person” does not bring one to the truth. But truth, accepted and applied, does produce godliness in us.

The kind of teaching that Paul urged links truth and life, and communicates both content and lifestyle. Teaching that attempts to communicate the faith simply as a good way of life is woefully inadequate; but teaching that attempts to communicate the faith merely as a system of beliefs is just as wrong.

Our twentieth-century emphasis on teaching as the transmission of information is not an adequate model for teaching God’s Word.

What, then, is the teaching that Paul so urgently demands?

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