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"APT TO TEACH" "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;" (I Tim. 3:2) If you'll read the entire list of pastoral qualifications (verses 2-7), you will not find preaching on the list. But Paul does list teaching in the very first verse of seven qualifications. Then if you'll study through the pastoral epistles (I Timothy thru Titus), you will find twice as many references to teaching as preaching. In the four gospels, teaching is mentioned more than preaching by about a 60/40 ratio. Yet, for some strange reason, in looking back over my years of being a Christian, I can't name over 10 men who impressed me as being good Bible teachers. Most all of the emphasis and energy has gone towards preaching while not one preacher out of twenty ever turned out to be a good teacher or even wanted to be one. Even had high hopes of being a preaching evangelist, but he finally yielded to God's will and agreed to be a teacher of the Book. Thank God for that! I don't mean to downplay the importance of preaching, but I find it very sad that so many have downplayed the importance of teaching. Preaching gets all the spotlight and praise and name recognition while teaching gets to ride in the backseat in hopes of getting a chance to utter a few words somewhere along the way. In reality, by the Bible standard, it should be the other way around. That's why I recently stated that a preacher who doesn't get people interested in the Bible. A true Bible preacher is a God-called man who is "apt to teach." He doesn't just yell and "run the bases" for a weekly religious show, and he doesn't just give sweet devotions. A true Bible preacher is also an able teacher who studies and rightly divides the word so that people go home with a better understanding of God's word. Because of his studying and teaching, people don't just follow a list of religious do's and don'ts that they were pressured into following; they actually develop an interest in the Bible and begin to grow in their understanding of it and in their desire to obey it. They are truly LED by the Holy Spirit, rather than being pressured into following religious rules. I will add that some have the idea that teaching has to be dry and boring, while preaching is more passionate and exciting. That's just not true. It all depends on the individual and his attitude and knowledge about the subject matter. Both preaching and teaching can be very interesting and edifying when the man is prayed-up and prepared. In fact, a wise and experienced preacher knows how to balance a message with a good blend of both. The reality is that good teaching requires WORK (II Tim. 2:15), and most men are too lazy to put forth the effort, so the "teaching is boring" myth gives them a convenient excuse. But my words will be largely ignored while preachers continue to send young men to "Bible school" to learn the Book that THEY should have taught them. The fact that almost no one sees a problem with this is quite alarming, or at least it is to THIS preacher AND teacher.