Reflections of a Sunday school teacher

Stanley A. Clark

Along with the joy of teaching the Bible comes the challenge of handling God's truth responsibly. What does that mean? Is it even possible?

I love to study the Bible. It is one of the greatest joys I have in life. But, as the teacher of an adult Sunday school class, I sometimes worry about the very serious responsibility of teaching the Bible to others.

I'm not a Bible scholar by training, and am therefore a "victim" of the commentaries I read. I study them with care, but do not pass along everything I read. Many times I tell my fellow class members what I personally believe to be true, and don't bother to tell them which statements are from me and which are from some scholar. That makes them victims too.

I've concluded that, in the long run, the only way we can claim the Bible as our own is by approaching it directly ourselves. We can't depend on the "screen" of other people, even godly ones, and especially not Sunday school teachers. Wisdom comes from the Lord, not from people, although God sometimes does allow for wisdom to emerge collectively as we compare notes from our personal search for truth.

As a believer and as a Sunday school teacher, I believe the Bible contains God's truth. It is meant to be studied, but not worshipped. It is a guidebook for living. It is not just a collection of words; it is a collection of messages.

Whether as teachers or students, we often treat the Bible intuitively; if an interpretation sounds good, it must be right. If it agrees with my biases, it must be true. But beware! This book is full of hard teachings and mysterious passages. If we always try to interpret the words literally, to seize them from their context and lay modern meanings over ancient ones, we run the risk of missing the point entirely.

Stanley Clark, a long-time Sunday school teacher at Hillsboro MB Church and administrator at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan., is now Executive Vice President at Russian-American Christian University in Moscow.

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