Here's another ham hock for you, guys. I'm sure that it'll go into good soup with some and bring roars of contention from others. �'est la vie!
More than a few good believers claim �I don�t need a teacher� to understand the Bible. They love to cite part of 1st John 2:27 (��ye need not that any man teach you�), ignoring the rest of the verse and its larger context � especially overlooking the fact that John was writing those words to a very spiritually mature Body of believers, all of whom (John says) had been baptized into the Holy Spirit.
�� the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.�
The larger context of verses 20 through 27 of John�s first letter makes it even clearer that John was writing to Christians who were far more spiritually mature than those who so arrogantly claim that they don�t need a teacher.
�20 But ye have an unction [anointing] from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life.
26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.�
If the Body doesn�t need teachers now, it certainly did when Paul wrote, in the fourth chapter of his letter to the Body of Christians at Ephesus,
�11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors [literally, shepherds] and teachers;
12 For the perfecting [literally, completing] of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.�
Has the Body, since then, all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ? When did this happen? In nearly forty years of study and ministry in the Spirit, I have yet to see the first sign of such Bodily unity and completeness.
Are we no longer tossed to and fro, no longer carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and the cunning craftiness of the deceivers? When did we become so wise, either individually or collectively as a Body?
The need for teachers is another diagnostic irritant � those whom the idea of needing teachers irritates are those whose need for teachers is greatest. The irritation diagnoses the need.
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