A Biblical view of learning (2)

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail.”
-John 6:63

Ever learning, but…
Paul’s complaint about certain disciples in his day, that they were “ever learning” but never quite able to arrive at the truth (2 Tim. 3:4), can be said of many in our own generation as well. We are the most Christian-educated generation in the history of the Church, but we have less to show than many of our forebears for all our efforts at teaching and learning.

We need to reconsider the nature of learning – and, hence, the nature of discipleship – and examine whether what we’re doing in our churches, Bible study groups, seminaries, and all the rest really corresponds to the Biblical view. I don’t question the desire to learn or the sincerity with which many Christians pursue learning today. It just seems to me that we’re running hard in the wrong direction and making progress only toward less-than-Biblical ends.

As we begin to consider the nature of true learning we need to be clear about this first principle: Learning is a work of God, specifically, of God’s Spirit. It’s not something we can achieve on our own, and it doesn’t come as a result of sitting at the feet of some individual who has mastered the content and all the latest teaching techniques. Learning happens in us because it pleases God to bring it to pass. And, since learning is something only God can do, we have to accept that we are only truly learning when we are experiencing Him working within us to accomplish His ends in His ways.

The first point, then, about a Biblical view of learning is that true learning is a work of God’s Spirit. Everything else we shall say about learning must be viewed within the light of this one central and undeniable fact.

The Holy Spirit as Teacher
The Scriptures testify that the Holy Spirit is the primary Teacher of God’s people. He instructed Israel in the wilderness through the teaching of Moses and the various experiences into which God led His people (Neh. 9:20), and He was sent to be the primary Teacher under the New Covenant, unpacking the Law and Word of God for the sanctification of His people (Ezek. 36:26, 27; Jn.17:17). Jesus promised that the Spirit would guide us into all truth and teach us everything He wanted us to know (Jn. 16:13; 14:26). And Paul insisted that only the Spirit of God could teach us the things that pertain to the life we have from God (1 Cor. 2:12, 13).

How can we know when the Spirit has taught us? First, the experience of learning under the Holy Spirit is unique. The Spirit brings us into the presence of divine revelation; there He exposes us to the glory of God, showing us the character of God, revealing something of His will, and bringing us near to Him (2 Cor. 3:12-18).

Now this – to paraphrase Captain Hook – is no ordinary learning experience. This is not just an “aha!” of new insight or a twinge of excitement from some new take on a familiar text. Confronted with God’s glory, people in Scripture typically experienced a kind of “heaviness” that led them to fear, worship, and wonder, all at the same time. On the mount of Transfiguration Peter was terrified; yet he wanted to stay in the presence of the glorified Christ. Men experience the glory of God under the teaching of the Holy Spirit as God’s weighty presence presses through the veil that separates the eternal from the temporal world, and penetrates some aspect of our souls like a two-edged sword.

You can know that you are in the midst of a true learning experience when the glory of God shudders and thrills you. But this alone is not true learning.

Spiritual outcomes
True learning, the teaching of God’s Spirit, comes to completion in particular instructional outcomes. They who have been taught by the Spirit of God will reflect His holy character, bear His spiritual fruit, wield His spiritual power for witness, and engage His spiritual gifts for ministry. The Spirit, in other words, is not content in His teaching merely for us to gain more information about the life of faith. He is seeking not merely to inform us, but to transform us, into the very image of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself (2 Cor. 3:12-18). Moreover, by His transformative teaching, He is working to build up the Body of Christ as one Body in Him, characterized by His unity and peace (Eph. 2:19-22; 4:3).

So we can know when the Spirit has been teaching where individuals are being transformed into Christ-likeness and churches are being built up in unity and maturity in the Lord (Eph. 4:11-16).

We’ll have more to say about how the Spirit accomplishes this work of teaching, and we’ll see that there is a place for us in the teaching and learning process. But unless we acknowledge the primacy of the Spirit’s role in effecting true learning, we will continue to think that somehow it’s up to us to carry the weight of responsibility in instruction and learning, and that we only have to teach better or study harder if ever any real learning is going to occur. And while there is certainly truth to that, still, it is the Spirit Who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit.

All of which means, at the very least, that we must devote ourselves to the work of prayer more than we are presently accustomed to; we must work to discover the tools and methods the Holy Spirit prefers to use in helping God’s people learn; and we must aim at achieving the same results that He Himself is striving to bring forth in the followers of Jesus Christ – without compromise, without distraction, and without apology. For anything short of the kind of learning the Spirit of God is working to achieve is no true learning whatsoever.

For more insight to this topic, get the book, Rediscovering the Lost Tools of Learning, by Douglas Wilson, from our online store.

Or read the article, “Listen to the Spirit,” by T. M. Moore.

Photo: djcodrin