On Sundays in many churches, personal use of a Bible in any form is unnecessary. Congregants know little of its contents and, barring a possible Sunday school or confirmation class, there’s insufficient training on how to handle it correctly. One mom scornfully described the classes of her own children’s church experience as “God loves you. Draw a tree.” Churches like this do not grow strong, mature, devoted disciples who easily think for themselves, discern error, and actively live out their love for Christ.
Instead, they produce disengaged spectators—those who, as they enter adulthood, are more secular than Christian. Indeed, many in our day have left the church altogether. Charles Taylor in his book The Secular Age describes our time as one where people are “haunted by the transcendent” and feel like “I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.” Taylor observes that even “believers are beset by doubt and doubters find themselves tempted by belief.”
Though the cultural water we swim may be different, when it comes to Christian discipleship, we share the same challenges as our brothers and sisters in the early church.
One biblical writer put it like this:
We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:11-14, NIV
And it’s further clarifying to connect this “solid food” and “constant use” to Dr. Luke’s positive comments on the Berean’s enthusiasm and diligence in studying Scripture:
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Acts 17:11, NIV
Commenting on the verse above, The ESV Study Bible notes that, “By commending this activity, Luke encourages this searching of the Scriptures as a pattern for all believers and also gives support to the doctrine of the clarity of Scripture, the idea that the Bible can be understood rightly, not only by scholars but also by ordinary people who read it eagerly and diligently, with conscious dependence on God for help.[1]
Looking at the Hebrews and the Acts passages together, we learn that biblical discipleship:
- consistently points to Christ—In the Hebrews passage, the objective is “deeper understanding of fundamental truths… in the light of teaching about Jesus as Son of God and high priest of the new covenant.” [2] In other words, they needed “some guidelines for interpreting the OT (‘the oracles of God’) from a Christian point of view.”[3] We see this is Acts as well, where the Bereans “studied their Old Testament with Paul to see if it pointed to Christ.”[4]
- grows people who, in time, are able to explain what they’ve learned—This is implied in the phrase “by this time you ought to be teachers.”
- produces disciples who respond with faith and obedience—this is the key idea behind the “constant use” of the Hebrews passage: they respond to what they hear. Additionally, the “teaching of righteousness” in Hebrews 5:13 is “teaching which can motivate them to righteousness (cf. 12:11).”[5]
- engages the heart and is associated with hunger for the things of God—We see this in the Bereans “eagerness.”
- promotes open-minded, fair, and thoughtful engagement with scripture—“Noble” translates “the Greek eugenēs, which originally meant “of noble birth” or “well born.” The word was also applied to people who exhibited noble behavior, in that they were open-minded, fair, and thoughtful.”[6]
As I’ve previously said here, as it relates to the local church or the double helix of faith and family, the discipleship imperative is about transforming babies into Bereans. The goal is to produce followers of Christ that are both well-learned and well-practiced.
Take-away: Build strong, devoted disciples who are constantly pointed to Christ, know how to handle the Bible correctly, can easily think for themselves and discern error, and actively live out their faith.
[1] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2121). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
[2] Peterson, D. G. (1994). Hebrews. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1334). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Polhill, J. B. (1998). Acts. In D. S. Dockery (Ed.), Holman concise Bible commentary (p. 525). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[5] Peterson, D. G. (1994). Hebrews. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., p. 1334). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
[6] Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 2121). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.