Don't Give Them the Answer

When someone asks you a question, don't give them the answer.

"Whoa, Glenn, what are you saying?!"

Let me back up. When we as teachers are asked a question, we're often too quick to give them the answer. What do I mean by this? First, we're proud beings, so we thoroughly enjoy being perceived as smart and wise and full of knowledge. So we get asked a question about X theological issue, and Wham! we whip back our wise and knowledgeable answer.

Second, our answers are usually summary points -- because we're wise and knowledgeable and want to help people out.

The problem with this is that we're not training people to learn from the Bible for themselves. We're training them to be dependent upon us, the "wise and knowledgeable" ones.

There's a better approach that we need to master. We need to point people to Scriptures, and (as appropriate) help them discern for themselves what God is saying. This is particularly true for believers, because they too have the Holy Spirit!

Jesus modeled it for us. Let's look at a couple of passages to illustrate this:

In Mark 10:2-3 we have the account of Pharisees asking Jesus a question (in this case, as a test):

"Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
"What did Moses command you?" he replied."

Notice that Jesus steered them back to the Torah. Then He continued the teaching from there.

Later in that same chapter we have the account of the young man asking about eternal life:

"As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" (Matt 10:17-19)

Here Jesus reminds the man of the commandments he has already been given; again, He is pointing people back to the existing Word of God. There are several other examples of this pattern in the Gospel accounts.

Could Jesus have given them a theologically sound summary answer? Yes, but He didn't. The fact that He responded to their question by steering them to Scripture is meaningful. Let's pay attention!

Now how does this work for you as a teacher? What does your response look like?

You can ask them "What Scripture passages might be relevant here?"

You can say, "Here's a passage of Scripture that's been helpful to me on this question."

From both of these starting points, you have a great opportunity to help them understand the meaning of the Word. You can dialogue back and forth, look at related Scriptures, etc. But don't just spoon-feed an answer to them -- especially for people who have been believers a long time.

If the person you're working with is not-yet a believer, or a very new believer, you will need to help them more.

One of the primary benefits of this approach is that you're training people to go to God's Word for answers to their questions.

Another benefit is that our teacher "pride" issues are kept in check. We're not feeding that dog!

By the way, your students will not think less of you as a teacher when you teach this way. On the contrary, they'll be more engaged and want to interact with you more.

Let me close by saying that I have a long way to go with this practice. I've made far too many people dependent on me as a teacher. I'm not writing this as one who has "arrived" and always gets this right, but as a fellow learner with you. To God be all the glory!