Latest / Reformed Thinking / Training the Nations: A Philosophy for Global Theological Education

Transcript

Training the Nations: A Philosophy for Global Theological Education · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Welcome back to the deep dive. We are doing something a little
0:02
bit different today. We are usually we take a broad
0:05
topic and you know, kind of swim around the surface, maybe stick
0:08
our heads under the water for a second to see what is down
0:10
there. But today we are going all the
0:14
way to the bottom. Yeah, we are.
0:15
We are talking about the very machinery of the Christian
0:18
faith. You are listening to Reformed
0:20
thinking. It is really good to be here and
0:23
we should probably establish the ground rules right up front for
0:26
anyone new listening. We are approaching this text,
0:29
and the world really, from a distinctively Protestant and
0:34
Reformed perspective. That is right.
0:36
Both of us hold to the Westminster Confession of Faith.
0:39
We believe in the sovereignty of God over all things, and we hold
0:43
firmly to the sufficiency of Scripture.
0:45
Yes, and we do not just view those as theological bullet
0:48
points to memorize for some exam.
0:50
We view them as the lens through which we interpret all of
0:54
reality. Spot on.
0:55
If you get the lens wrong, well, the picture is distorted.
0:59
And today we are looking at a text that deals with how we
1:02
actually grind that lens, how we teach the church to see clearly.
1:06
We are analyzing a pretty dense, heavy hitting chapter from the
1:10
book Biblical Missions, Principles, Priorities, and
1:13
Practices. The specific section we are
1:15
looking at is written by Mark Tatlock and Chris Burnett.
1:18
And we should warn you, the title of the chapter is a bit of
1:21
a mouthful. It is cold drafting the
1:23
distinctives of a philosophy of global theological education.
1:27
Yeah, it sounds like the kind of thing you would see on a college
1:29
syllabus and immediately try to drop the class.
1:33
It really does. It sounds dry.
1:34
It sounds highly academic. It sounds like it has absolutely
1:37
nothing to do with the guy driving his truck to work right
1:40
now or the mom folding laundry while she listens to this.
1:43
But, and here is the hook, and I want you to really lean in on
1:46
this, this chapter is actually about survival.
1:49
It is it is about the existential threat facing the
1:52
Church today. It is about whether the church
1:54
survives to the next generation. So let us clear the air right
1:57
now. If you are listening to this and
1:59
you are not a seminary professor and you know you are not
2:03
planning to move overseas to start a Bible college, why in
2:06
the world should you care about a philosophy of global
2:08
theological education? Well, because you are a
2:11
Christian and if you are a Christian, you or a disciple, we
2:14
need to strip the religious veneer off that word disciple.
2:18
Great, because we use that word all the time.
2:20
We do, but in the original Greek the word is math eats.
2:24
It literally translates to a learner, a student.
2:27
So you cannot separate Christianity from education.
2:30
You absolutely cannot. To be a Christian is to be
2:31
enrolled in a school. The entire premise of the source
2:35
material we are unpacking today is that the Great Commission,
2:38
that famous command in Matthew 28 that we print on T-shirts and
2:41
coffee mugs, is effectively an educational mandate.
2:45
It is not just about making converts.
2:47
Correct. It is about making learners.
2:49
So the mission of this deep dive is pretty clear.
2:52
We want to understand why the Church simply cannot exist
2:55
without teaching. We want to distinguish, and this
2:57
gets really heated in the source material, which I love, between
3:00
secular education and distinctively Christian
3:03
training. And we also want to look at how
3:05
you actually build a system to train people in the real world.
3:09
Yes, and that system applies whether you are running a
3:13
seminary, leading a small group, or just raising your kids at the
3:16
dinner table. The principles are universal
3:19
because the truth is universal. Let us get right into the text
3:23
then. Section 1 covers the biblical
3:25
mandate. The authors do not start with
3:28
modern educational theory. They do not start with Piaget or
3:31
Dewey. They start with Jesus.
3:33
Matthew 28.1 Teen Go therefore, and make disciples.
3:36
Right. And in the Greek language, make
3:38
disciples is the main verb. It is the imperative command.
3:41
The going part is different. Right, yes, the going is
3:43
actually a participle. It reads more like as you are
3:46
going, but the primary command is to create students, and the
3:50
authors connect that immediately to verse 20, which says teaching
3:54
them to observe all that I've commanded you.
3:56
I think we often miss that link. In the modern church.
3:59
We have this bad habit where we tend to bifurcate, to split
4:02
apart evangelism and discipleship.
4:04
We really do. We think evangelism is the sales
4:07
pitch to get them in the door, get the card sign, get the
4:10
baptism done and then discipleship is this optional
4:13
advanced class for the Super spiritual people who like
4:17
reading old dusty books. We treat it like a premium
4:19
expansion pack for a video game. You can play the base game
4:22
without it, but the text does not allow for that view at all.
4:27
No it does not. The source points out that being
4:29
a disciple in forensically involves learning to obey.
4:32
It cites Matthew 10.24 which is a disciple is not above his
4:36
teacher, nor a servant above his master.
4:39
That implies a very clear hierarchy of knowledge transfer.
4:42
It does. Or look at John 8.31.
4:44
Jesus says If you abide in my word, you are truly my
4:46
disciples. The condition of being a
4:48
disciple is abiding, living, dwelling in the instruction of
4:51
the Master. You cannot claim to follow Jesus
4:54
if you're not a dedicated student of his teaching.
4:56
The source uses a phrase from Ephesians 4 that I found highly
4:59
compelling. The phrase is learning Christ.
5:02
Not just learning about Christ like you would learn facts about
5:05
Abraham Lincoln or Julius Caesar, but learning him.
5:08
That distinction is vital. In Ephesians 4.20, Paul says,
5:12
But that is not the way you learn Christ.
5:15
It implies that Jesus is both the teacher and the subject
5:18
matter. But, and this is a critical
5:20
point for our Reformed listeners, that process is
5:23
heavily cognitive. It involves the mind.
5:26
You cannot bypass the intellect to get to the heart.
5:28
We are not Gnostics. We do not believe in secret
5:31
spiritual knowledge or mystical emotional zaps.
5:35
We believe God reveals Himself through propositions, through
5:39
actual words, through teaching. Which brings us to the structure
5:42
of how that teaching actually happens.
5:44
If everyone is a student, someone has to be the teacher.
5:47
The source leans heavily on section Timothy 2.2 here.
5:51
This is the absolute keystone verse for theological education.
5:55
Paul writes to Timothy and what you have heard from me in the
5:57
presence of many witnesses and trust to faithful men who will
6:00
be able to teach others also. Let us break that chain down for
6:03
the listener. That is 4 distinct generations
6:05
of believers in one single sentence.
6:08
Let's method out Paul. The first generation teaches
6:10
Timothy who is the 2nd generation.
6:12
Then Timothy entrusted to faithful men.
6:14
That makes them Generation 3 and those faithful men and must be
6:18
able to teach others, which gives us Generation 4.
6:21
It is a continuous cycle of transmission.
6:24
If any link in that chain breaks, the truth stops moving
6:27
forward. And notice the strict
6:29
requirement for that third group.
6:31
The faithful men must be able to teach others.
6:34
This is not just a standard for the senior pastor who stands in
6:37
the pulpit on Sunday morning. No, and the authors make a
6:39
massive point of this. This standard applies to
6:42
biblical counseling. It applies to A1 on one
6:45
discipleship. It applies to small group
6:47
leadership. If you are a leader in any
6:49
capacity in the local church, you must be equipped so that you
6:53
can equip others. You are a conduit, not a bucket.
6:56
The truth is meant to flow through you, not stop with you.
6:59
This connects to a huge theological point the authors
7:02
make about the nature of the church itself.
7:04
They cite First Timothy 3.15 describing the church as a
7:07
pillar and buttress of the truth.
7:09
Now we need to be very careful here because as Reformed
7:12
believers, our ears always pick up when we hear about the Church
7:16
and its relationship to truth. We need to sharply distinguish
7:19
this from the Roman Catholic view.
7:21
Right. The Roman view would argue that
7:23
the church constitutes the truth, or that the church sits
7:26
an act of judgement over the truth, deciding what is and is
7:29
not true. Correct that the Church creates
7:32
the Canon of Scripture. The authors are incredibly clear
7:35
on this point. The church is not the origin of
7:38
the truth. God is the origin.
7:41
The church is the pillar in buttress.
7:43
Think about architecture. Yes.
7:45
Think about a Roman temple. A pillar does not create the
7:47
roof, it supports it. It holds it high so it can be
7:51
seen by everyone around. The author's explained that
7:53
while the word support might sound like a passive word, like
7:57
a column just standing there doing nothing, it is actually an
8:01
intensely active responsibility. It is the last line of defense.
8:05
I love the image of the baton they use in the chapter.
8:08
Think of a track and field relay race.
8:10
The church is responsible for handing over the baton of truth
8:13
to the next generation. If the church drops the baton,
8:16
if we get lazy, if we compromise the message, if we stop teaching
8:20
all together, the truth is lost to that entire generation.
8:25
And that truth, as Jew Three says, was once for all delivered
8:28
to the Saints. The authors describe it as
8:30
axiomatic. Can you unpack that term for us?
8:34
Axiomatic. It means it is a fixed,
8:37
unchanging set of propositional truths.
8:40
It is not a cultural vibe. It is not a vague feeling of
8:43
love. It is not something that shifts
8:45
or evolves with the culture of the day.
8:47
It is a rigid body of doctrine. Yes, it is the faith, a body of
8:51
doctrine that has to be systematically explained,
8:53
articulated, defended and taught.
8:55
You see this clearly in Acts 2.42.
8:58
The. Early Church.
8:59
The early church did not just hang out and drink coffee, the
9:01
text says. They devoted themselves to the
9:03
apostles teaching. They could not even conceive of
9:05
a church gathering without rigorous biblical instruction.
9:08
So if the church is the pillar and the truth is the heavy
9:12
object being supported, the structural integrity of that
9:15
pillar depends entirely on the quality of the teachers, which
9:18
naturally moves us to Section 2 of the source material.
9:21
The qualifications of the teacher.
9:23
The source focuses on a very specific Greek word found in the
9:26
Pastoral Epistles, didacticos. Didacticos.
9:30
It is found in First Timothy 3.2 and Second Timothy 2.24.
9:35
In most of our English Bibles it is translated simply as able to
9:38
teach, but the authors argue the translation is a bit weak for
9:41
what the word actually carries. They break it down as skillful
9:44
in teaching. What is the real difference
9:46
between being able and being skillful?
9:49
I mean, I am able to cook dinner, but I would definitely
9:51
not call myself skillful at it. That is a perfect analogy.
9:55
The breakdown in the source suggests A robust twofold
9:58
meaning. First, there's a core virtue
10:01
component. The teacher must be apartment to
10:03
instruct others on becoming virtuous by their own virtue.
10:06
You cannot teach someone how to get to a place where you have
10:08
never been. Spot on.
10:09
You cannot lead someone to personal holiness if you are not
10:12
walking on that path yourself. So character is the very first
10:15
credential. It is not the frame degree on
10:18
the wall, it is the daily life being lived.
10:20
Always in the Kingdom of God, character is the currency.
10:24
But the second aspect is actual training.
10:28
The person has been trained in the truth and is uniquely
10:30
qualified to pass it on. It implies a high level of
10:33
competence. You would not want a heart
10:35
surgeon who is a really nice guy, loves the Lord, but has not
10:38
gone to medical school, and does not know a scalpel from a soup
10:41
spoon. That is a genuinely terrifying
10:43
image, right? But in the exact same way, you
10:47
do not want a Bible teacher who is kind but does not know how to
10:50
handle the biblical text, a teacher who does not understand
10:53
basic hermeneutics, who does not know historical context because
10:57
they are performing surgery on the eternal soul.
11:00
The source holds up the apostle Paul as the ultimate model here,
11:03
and they point to something I think we often completely gloss
11:05
over in the modern church. We think of Paul as an
11:08
evangelist, the guy getting shipwrecked, getting stoned,
11:12
planting churches on the run. But the authors argue he
11:13
basically ran a stationary Graduate School.
11:16
He really did. Look at Acts 19.
11:18
Paul is in the city of Ephesus. He goes into the Jewish
11:21
synagogue, preaches for three months, and gets kicked out
11:24
because the locals became stubborn and hostile.
11:27
So what does he do? Does he just start St.
11:29
Preaching on the corner? He goes to the Hall of Tyrannis.
11:32
A rented secular lecture hall. And the text says he reasoned
11:35
daily in the Hall of Tyrannis for two years now.
11:39
Historians tell us that the lecture halls in that specific
11:42
region, we're usually free during the heat of the day, from
11:45
about 11:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon because
11:48
everyone in the city was taking a siesta.
11:50
It was simply too hot to work. Yes.
11:53
So Paul likely worked his secular job making tents in the
11:55
morning, been taught heavy theology for five hours straight
11:58
during the hottest part of the day, every single day, for two
12:01
whole years. That is intense.
12:03
If you do the math on that, that is thousands of hours of dense
12:06
instruction. It was a literal seminary.
12:08
He was equipping the future leaders of the movement.
12:10
All those churches in Asia Minor, Colossi, Haropolis, the
12:13
seven churches mentioned in Revelation?
12:15
They are likely planted by the guys Paul trained in that hot
12:18
lecture hall. He was not just fishing for
12:20
converts, he was teaching men how to fish.
12:23
And he told the Corinthians, Imitate me as I imitate Christ.
12:28
Part of that imitation involved this rigorous, disciplined
12:31
commitment to training. It is not just about having
12:35
spiritual zeal. It is about acquiring actual
12:38
knowledge. Which leads the authors to make
12:40
probably the most provocative statement in the entire chapter.
12:43
I know the one you're talking about, I highlighted it in red
12:46
ink in my copy. A congregation that neglects
12:49
such teaching has forfeited its biblical right to exist.
12:53
Let that hang in the air for a second.
12:54
Forfeited it's biblical right to exist.
12:57
That is incredibly heavy. It is heavy, but follow the
13:00
logic they present. If the Great Commission is to
13:02
make disciples, which we establish means learners, and if
13:06
a New Testament church is defined by carrying out the
13:08
Great Commission, then a church that is not making learners is
13:12
simply not a New Testament church.
13:13
It might be a fun social club. It might be a concert venue
13:16
featuring a motivational speaker.
13:18
It might be a really nice community Resource Center, but
13:21
it is not a church. Precisely.
13:23
And this is not just about the 30 minute sermon on Sunday.
13:26
The authors list the vital tasks of a healthy church.
13:30
Preaching, giving, corporate worship, leadership, evangelism.
13:34
Their core argument is that absolutely none of these things
13:38
happen intuitively. You do not just wake up 1
13:40
morning knowing how to worship biblically.
13:42
You do not naturally wake up knowing how to share your faith
13:45
without being weird or unbiblical about it.
13:47
Every single aspect must be taught.
13:50
So if we accept that teaching is existential, meaning it is quite
13:53
literally life or death for the survival of the church, the next
13:56
logical question is who gets taught?
13:59
Is this robust theological education just for the guys who
14:02
want to wear a tie and stand behind a wooden pulpit?
14:04
This brings us to section three of our discussion.
14:07
Who is it for? And the authors are very careful
14:11
to thread a specific needle here.
14:13
They're exceptionally clear that this does not mean every single
14:16
local church needs to launch a formal seminary with printed
14:19
degrees and regional accreditation.
14:21
Right. We're not saying every church
14:22
needs a registrar's office and a financial aid department.
14:25
But they sharply distinguish between formal and informal
14:28
education. Both are desperately needed, but
14:31
then they address a specific demographic that is very often
14:34
left out of the theological education conversation in some
14:37
conservative circles. Women.
14:40
This was fascinating to read because the authors hold to a
14:42
strict complementarian view. They believe the office of elder
14:46
is restricted to men as per First Timothy 3, but they are
14:49
emphatic that deep theological education is for women too.
14:54
And they use scripture to prove it.
14:55
They do not just say it is a nice idea because it is the 21st
14:58
century and we want to be polite.
15:00
They point directly to Mary sitting at Jesus's feet in Luke
15:03
10. Context is everything there.
15:05
It is in the 1st century. Sitting at the feet of a rabbi
15:08
was the specific physical posture of a typo.
15:12
It was the posture of someone actively training to be a
15:14
teacher themselves. For a woman to take that spot
15:17
was culturally radical in that era, but Jesus explicitly
15:21
defends her right to be there learning theology.
15:24
They also mentioned Lydia in Acts 16, who responded
15:26
intellectually and spiritually to Paul's teaching, and
15:29
Priscilla. Priscilla is a massive example.
15:32
Acts 18. Apollos comes to town.
15:35
He is an eloquent man, mighty in the Scriptures, but his theology
15:39
is incomplete. He only knows the baptism of
15:41
John, who pulls him aside to fix his theology.
15:44
Aquila and Priscilla. Both of them together.
15:47
The text explicitly says they took him aside and explained to
15:51
him the way of God. More accurately, that heavily
15:53
implies Priscilla possessed a very high level of theological
15:56
proficiency. She was not just in the other
15:58
room making the coffee while the men talk deep doctrine.
16:01
She was engaging theologically at a high level.
16:04
She had the theological vocabulary and the conceptual
16:07
understanding to correct a fiery, eloquent preacher.
16:11
The authors also cite Proverbs and Titus 2 regarding women
16:14
teaching women. Older women must train the
16:16
younger women. The logic is simple.
16:19
You cannot teach what you have not learned.
16:21
If the older women are commanded to teach the younger women what
16:24
is good, how to love their husbands and children, how to be
16:27
workers at home, how to be pure, those older women desperately
16:30
need to know the theology of the home.
16:32
They need to know the biblical theology of marriage and
16:34
sanctification. So the firm conclusion is that
16:37
the thriving of the global church requires theological
16:40
education at multiple levels for all believers.
16:43
If we leave half the church theologically literate, we are
16:46
crippling the body of Christ. Yes.
16:48
We want women who are robust theologians.
16:50
We want mothers who are theologians, we want
16:53
grandmothers who know their Bibles better than the associate
16:55
pastor does. That is a massive strength to
16:58
the church. So everyone needs to be taught,
17:01
but what is the actual goal here?
17:03
Is it just to have a head stuffed full of historical
17:06
facts? Is it to dominate Bible trivia
17:09
Knight who is the father of Marsha Shalal Heshbaz?
17:11
Well, I always appreciate a solid Bible trivia victory.
17:15
No, that is not the goal. And this is where the
17:18
distinctively Christian philosophy of education
17:20
completely diverges from the secular academic world.
17:23
The goal is not mere information transfer.
17:26
The goal is maturity. Section 4 breaks this down
17:28
beautifully. The authors define success
17:30
strictly as maturity, and they analyze 3 specific traits based
17:34
purely on scripture. What does a mature theological
17:37
student actually look like? The first trait is love for
17:40
Christ. They cite First Timothy 1.5.
17:43
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart
17:47
and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
17:49
This is a metric you will never find on a standardized multiple
17:52
choice test. Never.
17:54
But if a student graduates with a perfect grade point average,
17:57
can parse every single Greek verb in the New Testament, and
18:01
can recite the institute's of the Christian religion backward,
18:04
but loves Jesus less than when they started the program, the
18:09
education has entirely failed. It is a terrifying standard for
18:12
a seminary professor to be held to.
18:14
You are actively responsible for stocking the spiritual
18:17
affections, not just filling the biological brain.
18:19
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
18:21
What is the second trait of maturity they identify?
18:24
Practical holiness. This comes from Hebrews 5.14.
18:27
It describes mature believers as those who have their powers in
18:30
discernment, trained by constant practice to distinguish good
18:33
from evil. Trained powers of discernment.
18:35
That clearly implies it is a skill you have to develop over
18:38
time through effort. It is not automatic upon
18:40
conversion. Right.
18:42
It means actively submitting your own personal
18:44
presuppositions to the text of Scripture.
18:46
It means letting the Bible ruthlessly critique your
18:49
culture, your daily habits, your politics, and your entertainment
18:52
choices. It is the ability to look at a
18:55
cultural situation and say this looks good on the surface, but
18:58
biblically it leads St. to death.
19:00
And the third trait. Doctrinal Discernment.
19:04
Ephesians 4 says we should not be children tossed to and fro by
19:08
every wind of doctrine. The authors put it very bluntly
19:11
in the text. Without these 3 traits, love,
19:15
holiness, discernment, a student simply does not qualify for
19:18
ministry. They explicitly say a
19:21
knowledgeable student without character cannot feed or protect
19:24
the flock. In fact, they argue they are
19:26
highly dangerous. A smart wolf is much worse than
19:28
a dumb wolf. A heretic who knows Greek and
19:30
Hebrew is far more destructive to a congregation than one who
19:33
does not. This intense focus on maturity
19:36
brings up a huge practical issue in global missions which the
19:39
author's term contextualization and they issue a massive warning
19:43
against the copy paste method. This is a devastatingly common
19:46
failure in Western missions. We take a theological curriculum
19:50
that works perfectly in Dallas OR London or Seoul.
19:53
We translate it word for word into Spanish or Hindi.
19:56
We drop it into a rural church in Peru or India and we just
20:00
expect it to work perfectly. But theology is universal,
20:03
right? God is the same, the Bible is
20:05
the same. So why should the curriculum not
20:07
be exactly the same? The theology is universal.
20:10
The truth does not change at all, but the application of that
20:14
truth is intensely contextual. The authors use Paul and Titus
20:18
as a brilliant case study for this.
20:20
Paul Lee's Titus on the Island of Crete to minister.
20:23
Now, do you know what the Pagan culture of Crete was actually
20:27
like? All quotes one of their own
20:28
secular poets to describe them. Cretans are always liars, evil
20:31
beasts, lazy gluttons. A truly charming culture.
20:34
A very difficult place to plant a local church indeed.
20:37
But look closely at the instructions in Titus.
20:39
One Paul tells Titus to appoint elders and correct opponents.
20:43
The specific instructions were totally tailored to the Cretan
20:46
problem. They were directly addressing
20:48
the specific cultural lies the Cretans were prone to believing.
20:51
If Paul had sent the letter to the Ephesians to the church in
20:54
Crete, it might not have hit the same mark at all.
20:57
So a philosophy of education has to be specific to the students
21:01
cultural context. It has to answer the burning
21:03
questions their specific culture is asking, not just to
21:07
philosophical questions the West is asking.
21:09
Spot on. If you're training pastors in a
21:12
context of animism and worship in rural Africa or Asia, you
21:16
need a massive, robust theology of spirits and the afterlife.
21:21
Yes, and if you are training pastors in a secular postmodern
21:25
city in Europe, you need a robust apologetic against
21:28
relativism deconstruction. If you just copy paste you are
21:32
giving them brilliant answers to questions they are not even
21:34
asking while completely ignoring the questions that are keeping
21:37
them up at night. The authors point out that this
21:39
contextualization applies even to non pastoral degrees.
21:42
You might think, well, coin Greek is coin Greek anywhere in
21:44
the world, but why are you learning it?
21:47
You are learning it to resource local pastors to defend the
21:50
truth against worldly academic attacks in their specific
21:54
cultural context. It is about equipping them for
21:56
their actual battlefield, not ours.
21:58
OK, let us pivot to the heavy theological core of this
22:02
discussion. We have talked about the
22:03
mandate, the people, and the goal.
22:06
Now we need to get into the actual fight.
22:08
Section 5. Distinctives.
22:11
How does Christian education functionally differ from secular
22:15
education? The authors start with a severe
22:17
warning. They say if the distinction
22:19
between the two is blurred, you do not get theology at all.
22:22
You get Christianized humanism. Or religious studies.
22:24
Right religious studies is looking at religion from the
22:27
outside, like a scientist examining a bug under a
22:29
microscope. Theology is looking at the
22:31
entire world from God's perspective.
22:34
There are three key distinctives the authors list, and the first
22:37
one is the absolute bedrock for us as Reformed believers.
22:40
Scripture as final authority. Sola Scriptura.
22:43
The logic they use here is airtight.
22:45
It is a classic syllogism. Premise one, God is true, based
22:49
on Romans 3.4. Premise 2.
22:51
God cannot lie, based on Hebrews 6.18.
22:54
Premise 3. The Bible is God's word.
22:56
Conclusion. Therefore, his written
22:57
revelation is entirely true, based on John 17.1 scene.
23:01
They touch on inerrancy, the infallibility of the original
23:04
manuscripts, but they also hit incredibly hard on the doctrine
23:07
of sufficiency, and I think sufficiency is where the modern
23:10
Church actually struggles the most today.
23:12
This is where the rubber really meets the road.
23:14
Sufficiency means there is no truth external to scripture,
23:18
like modern psychology, secular philosophy, sociology, or
23:21
natural science that is necessary for salvation or
23:25
sanctification. Pause right there.
23:27
That is a massive, bold claim in today's therapeutic world.
23:32
They are saying you do not need Freud or Maslow to be sanctified
23:36
and holy. That is exactly what they are
23:37
saying. They cite TP Peter 1.3 that his
23:40
divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life
23:43
and godliness. If the Bible is sufficient, then
23:45
when external truth claims clash with scripture, the Bible always
23:49
wins. Always.
23:50
And this is the fundamental, irreconcilable conflict with
23:53
secular education. Secular education relies
23:56
entirely on human reason as the final arbiter of truth.
23:59
The question in a secular classroom is always does this
24:01
make logical sense to me? Whereas theological education
24:05
submits human reason entirely to divine revelation, the question
24:09
is, what has God said? Correct.
24:11
And that shifts everything. It changes how you teach
24:13
history. Is history just a random
24:15
sequence of violent events, or is it God's sovereign, unfolding
24:19
Providence? It changes how you teach
24:21
counseling. Is crippling anxiety a merely a
24:24
chemical imbalance or a trauma response?
24:27
Or is there a deep spiritual component of trust and fear that
24:30
needs to be addressed? Biblically, the Bible claims
24:33
absolute authority over the interpretation of all reality.
24:36
The second distinctive they list is the necessity of conversion.
24:40
This seems obvious to us, but it is routinely overlooked in
24:43
academic settings today. You simply cannot train an
24:46
unregenerate person for Christian ministry.
24:49
Let. Me, play devil's advocate for a
24:50
second. If a guy is incredibly smart,
24:52
highly charismatic, a great public speaker, and can easily
24:56
pass all the theology exams, why can he not lead?
24:59
Why can he not teach a congregation?
25:02
Because the goal is the renewing of the mind from Romans 12.2,
25:06
not just informing the brain with data.
25:08
The ultimate goal is conformity to the image of Christ.
25:11
That is a spiritual impossibility without the new
25:14
birth. As Paul says, the natural man
25:16
does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
25:19
folly to him. He is not just stubbornly
25:22
unwilling to understand them, he is structurally unable to
25:25
understand them. A dead man cannot grow a corpse
25:28
cannot run a race. Exactly.
25:30
So schools must rigorously verify the spiritual state of
25:33
the incoming student. It is not just an annoying
25:36
admissions formality or paperwork.
25:38
It is a structural necessity for the school to function.
25:41
You are screening for spiritual life.
25:43
And that leads directly to the third distinctive the role of
25:46
the Holy Spirit in the classroom.
25:48
In a secular university, the professor depends entirely on
25:50
his intellect and research grants, and the student depends
25:53
on their IQ and study habits. In Christian education, both are
25:58
completely dependent on the Spirit.
25:59
The authors say the spirit is the active agent who works on
26:02
the written word to internalize it in the believer.
26:05
Right. It is the theological doctrine
26:07
of elimination. You can understand the basic
26:10
grammar of the biblical text without the Spirit.
26:12
You can parse the Greek verbs. You can outline the logical
26:16
argument. But you cannot truly grasp the
26:18
spiritual reality. You cannot taste the truth
26:21
without the Spirit illuminating the text for you.
26:24
It is like the difference between reading a love letter
26:26
written to someone else versus reading a love letter written
26:30
directly to you by someone you intimately love.
26:32
That is a phenomenal analogy. Without the Spirit, you are just
26:36
reading someone else's mail. It is interesting, but it does
26:39
not change you. With the Spirit you are hearing
26:42
the voice of your Father. This changes the classroom
26:44
dynamic entirely. It turns the academic classroom
26:47
into a place of active worship and dependence.
26:50
It means prayer is not just a polite ritual before the lecture
26:53
starts. It is a desperate
26:54
acknowledgement that unless you teach as God, we learn
26:57
absolutely nothing. OK, so we have covered the why,
27:01
The Who, the what, and the distinctives.
27:03
Now let us get to the how. Section 6, the mechanics, the
27:08
author switch gears here and get highly practical.
27:10
They say OK you want to build this, here is how you do it.
27:13
They offer a detailed method for evaluation.
27:15
They start by defining education as a deliberate, systematic and
27:20
sustained effort. It is never accidental.
27:22
You do not accidentally build a working theological training
27:25
program. They list 4 specific questions
27:28
for program design. I found these super helpful for
27:31
anyone trying to organize anything really.
27:33
Not just a seminary question, one what contents or skills
27:37
should be learned. Question 2.
27:39
How should they be taught? Question three.
27:41
At what point in the curriculum that deals with sequence?
27:44
And question 4, how to evaluate that deals with assessment and
27:47
grading. Answering those four questions
27:49
leads you directly to what they call the three educational
27:52
layers. Think of this as the
27:54
architectural blueprint of a school.
27:55
Let us walk through these layers one by one.
27:57
Layer 1. The academic layer.
27:59
This is the 30,000 foot view. The focus is vision and
28:03
existence. The core question is what does
28:06
the school aim to accomplish and in whom if?
28:10
You do not answer this clearly. You are just running random
28:13
classes for no reason. This drives the high level
28:16
planning. Every single course must fit
28:19
this specific puzzle. If your stated goal is to train
28:22
rural bivocational church planters, your academic layer
28:25
will look vastly different than if your goal is to train PhD
28:28
scholars in ancient Near Eastern languages.
28:31
Layer 2, the program layer. This is mapping the path to
28:34
success. This is where you actually
28:35
decide on the degree, certificate, undergraduate,
28:38
graduate. You define your target audience
28:39
very tightly. Are you training guys with
28:41
masters degrees or guys who did not finish high school?
28:44
They also talk a lot about modality here.
28:46
Is it residential? Do the students physically move
28:49
their families to a campus? Is it fully online?
28:52
Is it modular when they come for a week at a time?
28:54
Right. Or is it entirely mentor based
28:56
within the local church? And the tangible outcome of this
28:59
layer is the course catalog. You're grouping courses into
29:02
logical departments. You are creating a skeleton
29:05
structure. And finally, layer 3, the
29:08
curricular layer. This is where the rubber meets
29:10
the road. This is the individual syllabus.
29:13
This is the specific learning outcome for this particular
29:16
class on this particular Tuesday morning.
29:18
What books are they reading? What is the weekly workload?
29:21
How are you grading their essays?
29:23
It is amazing how much thought goes into this.
29:26
I think people sitting in the pews often assume a seminary
29:28
just sort of happens naturally. Like oh we will just gather in a
29:31
room and teach the Bible. But it is a highly designed
29:35
engineered system. It is entirely architectural.
29:37
You are building a complex structure to house and transmit
29:41
the truth of God. If the architecture is bad, the
29:44
building eventually collapses. If the sequence is wrong, for
29:46
example, if you teach advanced systematic theology before you
29:50
teach hermeneutics, which is how to actually study the Bible, you
29:53
produce arrogant students who know what to believe but have no
29:56
idea how to prove it from the text.
29:58
Section 7 covers implementation and encouragement.
30:01
The authors openly admit this is a daunting task.
30:04
It really is. It is overwhelming when you look
30:08
at the massive global need, especially in the global S where
30:11
the church is exploding in numbers but biblical leadership
30:15
training is severely lagging. It feels completely impossible.
30:19
But they encourage leaders to take a one step at a time.
30:21
You do not build Westminster Theological Seminary in a single
30:25
day. They point out the massive
30:27
opportunity. Though many faithful pastors,
30:29
especially in developing nations, totally lack access to
30:32
solid Orthodox programs. Missionaries and local church
30:36
leaders have the amazing opportunity to build these
30:38
frameworks from the ground up. And they know the really
30:41
encouraging point. Formal institutions take decades
30:44
to build an accredit, but informal training in the local
30:47
church can happen immediately today.
30:49
You can start mentoring a young man tomorrow morning.
30:52
You do not need regional accreditation to do Testy
30:54
Timothy 2.2. You just need an open Bible, a
30:57
cup of coffee, and a willingness to give your time.
31:00
The ultimate goal of all of this is glorifying God by equipping
31:03
qualified, mature leaders. Christians are lifelong learners
31:07
of His ways. And that really is the beating
31:09
heart of it all. We are not building these
31:11
schools for the sake of academic prestige.
31:14
We are not building them so we can wear fancy robes and funny
31:17
hats at graduation. We are building them so that God
31:20
is glorified in the local church, because a well taught
31:23
church is a strong church and a strong church glorifies Christ.
31:28
So let us summarize where we have been today.
31:30
We have looked at the mandate. The Church is the pillar of
31:33
truth and teaching is it's absolute lifeblood.
31:36
We have looked at maturity. The true goal is love, holiness
31:41
and discernment, not just memorizing data.
31:43
We have looked at the distinctives.
31:45
Scripture is supreme over all other knowledge, conversion is
31:48
strictly necessary, and the Holy Spirit is the ultimate teacher.
31:51
And we have seen that building this requires A deliberate,
31:54
structured, layered approach. It is a true call to arms for
31:58
the Christian mind. Here's a final thought for you
32:00
to chew on, something to take with you into your week that we
32:03
did not cover in our main discussion.
32:04
The source mentioned earlier that a church forfeits its right
32:07
to exist without teaching. Yes, it is the most haunting
32:11
sentence of the entire chapter. So if we view the Great
32:14
Commission primarily as an educational mandate make
32:18
learners, how does that completely change the way we
32:21
view our weekly Sunday church service?
32:23
That is the defining question for the modern believer.
32:26
Is Sunday morning a curated emotional experience?
32:30
Is it a rock concert paired with a Ted Talk designed to make you
32:33
feel slightly better about your week?
32:35
Or is it a rigorous classroom for holiness?
32:38
If it is a classroom, then we need to come prepared to learn.
32:41
We need to come with our Bibles open, our minds fully engaged,
32:44
and our hearts ready to be shaped by the text.
32:47
We need to stop being passive consumers of religious goods and
32:50
start being active students of the king.
32:52
That is the shift we all need to make.
32:54
Whether you are standing in the pulpit or sitting in the Pew,
32:56
you are called to be a lifelong learner of Christ.
32:59
Thanks for joining us on this deep dive into Reformed
33:02
thinking. Go read the Word, learn the
33:04
truth, and pass it on to the next generation.
33:06
We will see you next time.