No Alternative! (1 Tim. 4)

Paul says in verse 6:

If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed.

We read not only about faith and doctrine but also about the proclamation as well as the teaching of the Word of God. We read about the public reading of Scripture in worship. If you have ever wondered about the Biblical basis for our strong classical curriculum, you need look no further than this passage.

The training of ministers and leaders of the Gospel is central to the building up of the Body of Christ. We know that from Ephesians 4 that pastors are given to the Church for the building up of the Body of Christ. This passage teaches that pastors must be trained in faith and doctrine. Paul was the faculty member encouraging this young man, if you will. This was Paul’s way. He would say in 2 Timothy 2:2 that Timothy should not only learn from Paul but also teach others who would be able to teach others. God’s servants require training, grounding, mentoring so that they may be good soldiers. They are being called upon to face the challenges of the day: immorality, oppressiveness of governments that harass the people of God, and an open door into Latin America, Africa, India, and China. There can be no alternative for the work at hand.

I sometimes hear about questionnaires being sent out to pastors with the question, “Did seminary prepare you for the ministry?” Oftentimes pastors “No.” Sometimes that is because they went to a liberal seminary or an inadequate conservative seminary. Now we know we cannot do everything that a pastor needs to fulfill his ministry. Some things are going to come from just going to the first session or deacons’ meeting! Or finding the right words to comfort a grieving widow. Or seeking to handle a couple whose marriage is falling apart. Like a medical doctor, much of what we learn is learned in residency or in internships. I am happy to say that we do a lot of that and try to facilitate our pastors in residency and in their internships under seasoned pastors and elders in real life congregations.

But as Dr. Tim Keller, senior pastor at  in New York City, put it to me when he came to Charlotte last year, “ just because a physician goes through residency should he not have medical school?” He was saying that medical school gave the doctor the anatomy of this subject, but his residency put legs on that knowledge. In a real way that is what we are doing at RTS. We are teaching the doctrines of the inerrant and infallible Word of God. We are teaching the Gospel of grace. We are tracing the lines of God’s sovereign rule and reign in church history. We are teaching the basics of preaching the Word, of leading in worship, of the faith that is passed on from one generation to another.