by J. Randal Matheny

"Si vis doceri, doce." --Marcus Tullius Cicero

"If you want to learn, teach." Perhaps Cicero's phrase lies behind the adage that no one learns more than the teacher.

Perhaps this was, in part, the Hebrew Christians' problem, when the writer of that letter expressed exasperation over their condition.

"Concerning him [Melchizedek] we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil" (Hebrews 5:11-14, NASB).

They should have been teachers. But they had not learned beyond the basic elements of the faith. Because they had not exercised themselves in more challenging material. They had not taken on the task of knowing and passing on what they knew.

Too many are waiting to learn before they start teaching. Wrong approach! Certainly, one must prepare and know one's subject, but what better way than to accept the challenge of teaching!

James doesn't want to discourage Christians from teaching, but he does tell us to weigh the responsibility. "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment" (James 3:1). Rather than diminish their ranks, he wants to increase the company of qualified teachers. He wants us to get serious with the task of teaching.

The old problem of credit and loans doesn't apply here. How to get credit? Get a loan. But to get a loan you need credit. (Actually, we can do very well living on a cash basis, without loans or credit, but that's another article.)

To learn, start teaching. To teach, start learning.

The dearth of teachers, when it occurs in Christ's church, is not from God's miserliness. It means somebody must be hiding his talent. Or not developing it.

Might that someone be you?