The Fear of Teaching is the Beginning of Wisdom

Photo by Felicia Buitenwerf

“Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1 NIV).

The date was 1995 and I had been a Christian for about one year. For several months I had been hosting a Bible study group in my apartment. A fairly sizable number of friends and acquaintances were regularly attending. Most of the attendees were either new Christians themselves or had yet to commit to the Christian faith. Regardless, there was a high degree of interest from all who came.

A friend who I met at my church was responsible for the teaching. She was a seasoned Christian who knew a good deal about the Bible.

One night when the study was to take place—about 20 minutes beforehand—the teacher called me and said she couldn’t make it. Expecting 15 or so people to be showing up at my door in mere moments, I wasn’t sure what to do. It seemed too late to cancel. In any case, I loathed the thought of losing the opportunity to study the Bible with so many interested people at stake.

So I decided to teach the study myself. I was afraid. But I did it and, all things considered, it went well. From then on, I continued to do the teaching.  

That night radically changed the direction of my life. Less than two years later I moved from New York to the state of Missouri so that I could begin formal training in biblical studies. I’ve been teaching ever since.

After years of study and accumulating more teaching experience, I have far greater confidence in both my understanding of the Bible and my ability to communicate that understanding. Nevertheless, as odd as this may sound, the thing that frightens me most now is the prospect of losing my fear of teaching.

Note that by “fear” I mean the appropriate respect for and appreciation of the responsibility entailed in the act of teaching.

Chapter 3 of the book of James has something to say about this. It discusses the power of speech—how it can be used for good but is also capable of tremendous evil. It can build up or it can destroy. The chapter begins with a warning to would-be teachers. James says that they should “think twice” before taking on this role. But why such a specific warning here?  

Most of us have at least some opportunities to speak our minds to at least a few people with whom we may come in contact or, these days, engage on social media. Though there are many factors that affect how what we say may be received, generally, the impact of such casual speech is more limited.

It is true that the advent of social media has offered a much larger platform than in times past for anyone to propagate their ideas. Notwithstanding, by contrast, far fewer of us possess regular opportunities to present detailed points of view to significant groups of people. Moreover, unlike those making informal remarks, teachers are usually ascribed a high level of authority on the subjects they teach by their students.

Thus, teachers, when they teach, have more influence in the world. Everything that the power of speech can do—both good and evil—is magnified when wielded by them.

And God takes that ability to influence with utmost seriousness. As James points out, teachers will therefore receive a stricter judgment for the things they say.

Over the years, there have been more times than I care to admit where I have lost sight of the gravity of what I am doing when I teach. In such instances, it’s helpful for me to remember the very first time I taught the Bible—the profound concern I had to get it right for the sake of my students. Indeed, no amount of knowledge or experience should ever delude someone into thinking that the fear of teaching is properly for him or her a thing of the past—not least me.

Of course, as any parent can attest, you don’t have to be employed by a school or deliver a formal lesson plan to be acting in the role of a teacher. In this light, I wonder how different our speech would be if we always took our ability to influence those that we do with the same degree of seriousness as God does.