Summary
Instruct One Another
Teaching is not the pastor's work alone. While Scripture lists "apt teacher" as the one competency required of the pastoral office (1 Timothy 3:2; 2 Timothy 2:24), the ministry of teaching is shared throughout the body of Christ. Stephen taught the Jewish leaders Acts 7; Philip taught the Ethiopian eunuch from Isaiah 53 Acts 8; Priscilla and Aquila instructed Apollos Acts 18; older saints are charged to teach younger saints Titus 2; and parents are to teach their children Ephesians 6. When God draws his people into community, he equips that community to teach itself.
Paul's confidence in the Roman Christians stands as a model for every congregation. He writes, "I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another" Romans 15:14. The "goodness" he praises is the fruit of the Holy Spirit at work in them Galatians 5:22-23; the "knowledge" is the sound doctrine the Spirit has filled them with through the proclaimed Word. Right doctrine and visible Christian community belong together—orthodoxy of belief expressing itself in the orthodoxy of life shared as a body, as the ".Instruct One Another." 1-22-23 lesson develops.
Mutual instruction takes several forms. We exhort one another daily so that none is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin Hebrews 3:13. When a brother or sister is caught in transgression, we restore them gently, remembering we too are sinners Galatians 6:1. And we speak the truth in love Ephesians 4:15—the truth that is God's Word and the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. The aim is maturity: not arrested development in the faith, but growing up "in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:15; cf. 1 Corinthians 14:20; 1 Peter 2:2).
Yet Paul reveals a second purpose for teaching that is just as vital: reminder. "Nevertheless on some points I have written to you rather boldly by way of reminder" Romans 15:15. He is teaching them what they already know. Peter does the same: "I intend always to remind you of these things, though you know them and are established in the truth" 2 Peter 1:12-15. Moses warned Israel to take care lest they forget the things their eyes had seen, and to make them known to their children Deuteronomy 4:9. Repetition is the key to learning, because in our sin we are a forgetful people.
So believers must keep telling one another the gospel they already know: that Christ died for our sins, bore the wrath of God in our place as the spotless Lamb, reconciled us to the Father by his blood, and rose from an empty tomb. We must keep reminding one another that he is Immanuel, God with us in the hardest hours; that he is sovereign, working all things together for good for those who love him Romans 8:28; and that we are not made right with God by our own works but by the blood of Jesus. Left to ourselves, we drift back toward thinking we must earn what God has freely given. We need to hear the gospel again—and again.
This is why God places us in community. He has equipped his people to instruct one another, both pressing forward into deeper maturity and circling back to refresh what we already confess. The word entrusted to the church gives life. So the question to each Christian is simple and concrete: Who today can you teach? Who today needs to be reminded of what they already know but desperately need to hear?
Video citations
- "Instruct One Another" 1-22-23 — Would you open your Bibles, please? With me for our time of study today to Romans the 15th chapter. Romans chapter 15, if you're using a Pue edition, you're going to find that on page 143. Romans…