THE TEACHERS

I read the post of GB "Elders making the kind of disciples Jesus commanded," and decide to make this thread.

Matthew 28.19
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (KJV)

19.Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

20.teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (KSB) (GNB) (NRSV) (NIV) (ESV) (Gideons).

The verse(s) have much broader meaning. "teach all the nations" and "make disciples of all the nations" have very much the same sense and significance. But on the other hand "teach all the nations" (KJV only) can be understood as only teaching, as to provide information and no more. Just like it is done in schools.

To "make disciples of all the nations" is a little bit a different statement. Under word "disciples" meant students who will follow the teachings of their teacher and teach other the same teachings, and possibly make more disciples of that teachings. In this sense such teaching has much higher value than just "teach the nations."

In schools teaches teach, and the students can may learn something or learn nothing, or reject it completely. Same things happened when Christ teach crowds of people. Some accepted, some rejected, some misunderstood, and some does not understand it at all.

And this is why at the beginning Jesus have only 12 disciples, all dedicated to His teachings. But even among disciples was one who learned a lot but did not followed the teachings of His Teacher. So success rate of discipleship much higher that just of teachings material.

Therefore, majority of the Bibles translates verse 19 as to "make disciples of all the nations" (except KJV) which is much higher standard than "teach all nations." And so this means that the effort of spreading and teaching the Gospel of Christ must be done on much higher level.

It is means that just teaching is not enough, but to make faithful, trustworthy, reliable and dedicated to GOD disciples is a much higher priority and duty of every true Christian who cares for the Word of GOD and its propagation.

So, what we shall teach? Verse 20 precisely revealed that we must teach, we must teach the same teachings that the Christ teach His Own disciples and Commanded them to teach and to make disciples of others" of all the nations."

In other words we must teach all the Commandments, Statutes, Ordinances, and Laws of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But in order to teach and to make disciples, the students themselves must be good students and understand fully the material, and only then to teach others. Because poor teachers make poor students.

Hebrews 5.12-14
12.Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the Oracles of GOD. You need milk, not solid food,

13.everyone who lives on milk being still an infant is unskilled in the Word of Righteousness.

14.But solid food is for mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

James 3.1-2
1.Not many of you should become teachers my brothers and sisters, you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

GOD always finds good teachers, and those teachers we should follow.

Jeremiah 3.15
15."I will give you shepherds after My own Heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding."

Isaiah 50.4
4."The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher that I may know how to sustain the weary with a Word. Morning by morning He wakens, wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught."

The will and the power of GOD will create a miracle and change people to extend that they will know and understand their GOD by their heart.

Jeremiah 31.34
34."No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, 'Know the Lord,' They shall all know Me from the least of them to the greatest (Isaiah 54.13) (Jeremiah 31.34) (Habakkuk 2.14) (John 6.45) says the Lord, I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sins no more."

But not every teacher is from GOD, we had, we have, and will have many false teachers.

John 10.12-13
12."He who is a hireling (hired man) and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

13.He flees because he is a hireling and is not concerned about the sheep." Means paid priests, pastors, and ministers.

Micah 3.11
11.Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, *her priests instruct for a price, and her prophets divine for money, yet they lean on the Lord saying, 'Is not the Lord in our midst? Calamity will not come upon us.'

*Teaching for monetary gain: (Micah 3.11) (Acts 20.33-35) (John 10.1-12-13-16) (1Timothy 6.3-5) (Titus 1.10-11-16) (1Peter 5.2-4)

1Timothy 6.3-5
3.Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound Words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness,

4.is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid carving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions,

5.and wrangling among those who are deprived in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

Titus 1.10-16
10.There are many rebellious men, empty-talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,

11.who must be silenced, because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain.

And the days are coming:

Amos 8.11-12
11."Days are coming,' declares the Lord GOD, "When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the Words of the Lord.

12.And people will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they will go to and from to seek the Word of the Lord, but they will not find it."

So while we have our Gospel and the Bible as our teachers, we shall learn the Word of GOD as much as we can, in order to fill up our souls with spiritual knowledge and understanding - the living water that gives everlasting life.

 

You expressed well your thoughts GB.

Despite the fact that we understand passages of the Bible in different ways but the general idea remains the same, we shall imitate our GOD in all His works.

Jesus Christ teach and make disciples, we also instruct and teach others, and some of them may follow our instructions and teachings and reach the Christ.

Isaiah 11.2
2.The Spirit of the Lord shall rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

James 5.20
20.you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering, will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Proper understanding is the key to success in everything, in spiritual and in physical matters.

Job 32.8-9
Elihu speaks to Job and his friends.

8.But truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the Breath of the Almighty that makes for understanding.

9.It is not the old that are wise, nor the aged that understand what is right.

Psalm 111.10
10.The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.

Isaiah 56.11
11.The dogs have a mighty appetite, they never have enough. The shepherds have no understanding, they have all turned to their own way, to their own gain, one and all.


Jeremiah 3.15
15.I will give you shepherds after My own Heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Knowledge and Understanding will eventually come to all the nations of the Earth. All the nations of the Earth will come to Jerusalem to worship the Lord GOD, no matter who they are and where they are live, all of them will come to GOD to worship and to service Him in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 29.24
24.And those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.