The local church, part 3/5

John writes in his letter: “And as for you, the anointing which ye received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as his anointing teacheth you concerning all things…” This is one of the misunderstood passages of Scripture, and at the same time a verse used to build thinking that belittles the significance of the local church.

A closer look at the verse above shows that the plural form “ye need not” is used there, and by no means the singular “thou needest not.” So John means that the local church is “not in need of any one’s teaching.” And perhaps he refers specifically to the teaching of those of whom he writes earlier in the same connection: “They went out from us, but they were not of us…”

This “ye need not” is at one with the testimony of Scripture that encourages us into fellowship so that we may learn from one another. Scripture compares both the universal church of Christ and the local fellowship of believers to a body in which “the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee.” Below, listed, are those passages that show how we should also receive teaching from one another, and not only from the Holy Spirit:

1. “And he gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ…” In this familiar verse teachers are mentioned separately, from whose special gifting we can learn much from God’s word.

2. “The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach; no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money…” Why should a bishop be apt to teach, if there were no need of teaching at all?

3. “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.” This passage shows that teaching is a demanding task, for it is defined as work. Teaching others is so valuable that Scripture exhorts us to give double honor to teachers who serve in the church.

4. “But let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.” The apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, exhorted people to respond to the teaching they had received, and not to treat it with indifference.

The first church lived according to the pattern above from the very beginning. Those who on the day of Pentecost received the word Peter proclaimed “were baptized: and there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching…” Of course the Holy Spirit guided them — as he does us — but not in such a way that they would not have received teaching from the leaders of the church, whose role we treat in the next part.

– 1 Cor 12; Gal 6; Eph 4; 1 Tim 3, 5; 1 John 2 –

Scripture:

1 Cor 12 Gal 6 Eph 4 1 Tim 3, 5 1 John 2