WHY I AM NOT A BIBLE TEACHER

I just stumbled upon an excellent set of posts by Dave Strain, a Free Church of Scotland minister, at Life Towards God. The posts are in 2 parts called "Why I Am Not a Bible Teacher." Part 1 is a call for Christ-centered preaching, a call I think todays generation of preachers needs to hear badly. Part 2 is a helpful response to a good question left in the comments of part 1. Here's an excerpt from pt. 1:

Here’s the thing. I am a preacher. Every Sunday I stand up and open up the Bible to the congregation. More than anything else that defines my ministry.

But there is a phrase used to describe pulpit ministry that I hear a lot down here in the south east of England that just makes me cross. It’s “teaching the Bible”.

Now don’t get me wrong I believe in teaching the Bible. It’s a good thing to do. Every Christian needs regular Biblical instruction. I just don’t believe that ‘teaching the Bible’ is the best description of the normative work of the Christian ministry. I am NOT a Bible teacher. Here’s why…

I am not primarily here to teach Bible, because I am here primarily to preach Christ, which is something much bigger. That is my job. It’s not at all the same thing as simply teaching the text.

Read more here:

Why I Am Not a Bible Teacher pt. 1

Why I Am Not a Bible Teacher pt. 2

I posted this same article at my blog Solus Christus a few days ago. Somehow Dave knew that I had linked to his blog and posted a couple encouraging comments. Check it out.