Passing on a teaching: telling someone a truth you recently understood

You truly learn something on the day you explain it to someone else. As long as a truth stays in your head, it is blurry; as soon as you put it into words, you see what you have understood and what still needs clarifying. This quest invites you to tell someone a biblical truth you have recently understood.

What it looks like in your day

Choose the truth. Something you discovered this week or this month: a verse made clear, an idea heard in a message, a link between two passages, a point of doctrine better grasped. It doesn't need to be original.

Put it in two sentences. If you can't, it may be that you haven't understood it well enough yet: reread. Try: “I understood that… because…”

Choose the person. A believing friend, your spouse, a child, a member of your group, a young believer. Someone for whom it can be useful.

Say it simply. “I was reading John 15 this morning, and I understood something: Jesus doesn't ask us to bear fruit through willpower, but to stay attached to him. He is the one who produces the fruit. It relieved me.”

Listen to the reaction. Ask a question: “Does that speak to you? How do you see it?” Passing something on is an exchange, not a monologue.

Accept questions. If you are asked something you don't know, say so, and look into it together.

Note what you learned by explaining it. Often, explaining makes you see a new detail.

If you are short on time, thirty seconds are enough. If you are shy, write it in a message. If you feel you have nothing to pass on, remember that you always know more than someone who hasn't read the same text as you.

What the Bible says

Paul asks Timothy to continue the chain of transmission:

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

“The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also”: four generations in one verse (Paul, Timothy, the faithful men, the others). Faith is passed on from person to person. Psalm 78 expresses the same desire:

“Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.”

What we have heard and known, and what our fathers have told us, we will not hide from their children. And Priscilla and Aquila expounded the way of God more perfectly to Apollos (Acts 18:26): transmission can be mutual, between equals.

Pitfalls to avoid

Lecturing. Passing something on is not teaching from a pulpit. Speak like someone sharing what they have received.

Passing on what you haven't understood. If you are not sure, say so: “Here is how I understand it.” Check in the Bible.

Thinking you are an expert. The truth passed on is a gift received, not a personal achievement.

Imposing. Leave the person free to receive. They are not obliged to follow you.

Keeping it to yourself. Conversely, the fear of saying it badly can keep you from sharing. A truth shared clumsily is better than a truth never said.

Today, choose a truth you recently understood. Tell it to someone in two sentences.