Scriptural Issues With Bible Classes and Sunday School Programs
In the great commission Jesus commanded His apostles to teach believers to observe all things He had commanded them. Teaching is a necessary element of Christian life and worship. Without considering the rest of the New Testament’s instruction on the teaching of God’s word, it appears that Jesus allows it to be taught in any manner a congregation deems fit. However, an honest look into the scriptures will give us a clear understanding of how to teach the word. The Apostle Paul taught “publicly and from house to house.” (Acts 20:20) Public teaching includes that which is done in the assembly of the church. This seems simple enough to grasp, but there is disagreement concerning what falls under the umbrella of public teaching, and how it should be carried out.
Some immediately object to this discussion, claiming that such arguments are nit picking and splitting hairs. Some wonder if it matters how the word is taught and who teaches it in the assembly as long as it’s being taught. Others ask why time is spent discussing a matter like this when there are much more important issues to be teaching about. God never warns against being too careful in following His word. In fact, scripture repeatedly teaches obedience to God's will in everything, whether it’s considered great or small. (Matthew 5:19; Luke 16:10; 2 Corinthians 2:9) Sunday school programs and bible classes are a well-intentioned concept, but the intention does not nullify the Bible’s clear instruction on how to teach the word. These programs are an innovation that did not become a practice of any church until nearly 1,800 years after the church was established. This fact alone should provoke an investigation into whether or not it is a scriptural practice.
In Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth he addresses some serious moral issues and answers some questions that the Corinthians asked him in a previous letter. In chapter 11, Paul begins to address various disorders in their assemblies. He speaks specifically about the orderliness of public worship in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40. There are sections of this passage that are relevant to our question and some that are not, but we can identify four issues concerning the modern innovation of Bible classes in this passage.
Classes divide the assembly
What could be wrong with dividing up to provide individualized instruction to people based on age, gender, marital status, or spiritual maturity? Truthfully, there’s nothing wrong with giving or receiving instruction from the word of God that is tailored to specific circumstances, but there is a scriptural way to give and receive that instruction. The New Testament provides examples of individualized instruction being delivered in a private setting, in homes, not in the public assembly of the church.
Some claim that children need instruction that is on their level and insist that they cannot learn anything in the worship service. This position assumes the only time a child receives biblical instruction is during the Lord’s Day assembly. It is the responsibility of parents to teach and train their children at home, providing instruction to meet their specific needs. (Ephesians 6:4) It is not the responsibility of a Sunday school teacher, a Christian school, or a Bible release program. Putting the responsibility of biblical instruction on someone else teaches children that the biblical pattern for teaching doesn’t matter and that Bible study programs are a scriptural way of hearing the word taught. Children can and do learn in an undivided Lord’s Day assembly if they are disciplined. Even when it seems like a child isn't listening, they are absorbing what they hear.
If it's possible for a child to learn and be edified in the Lord’s Day assembly,, it’s definitely possible for every other Christian or community visitor to learn in the one, undivided assembly. An Old Testament example of the public teaching of God’s word, which was effective for all ages assembled together, can be read in Deuteronomy 31:9-13. All the people of Israel were called together into one place to hear the law read to them. There was no separate reading for women, children, or any other group within the congregation. Moses says of the man, woman, child, and even the stranger in their midst, “that they may hear, and that they may learn” when they were all called together to have the law read to them. This arrangement made it possible for all to come to an understanding of the law of God. Therefore, families should be worshiping together when the church assembles.
What then does the New Testament say about assembling for Biblical teaching? Did the early church come together, then separate into small groups for the teaching of God’s word? Paul’s teaching affirms that the whole church came together into one place to hear the word taught (1 Corinthians 14:23;26) Scripture is clear that when the church comes together, it is in one undivided assembly. Sunday school programs divide the congregation into separate assemblies, with each class being assigned a different teacher. What if someone suggested dividing the congregation for communion? That’s an item of worship just as the teaching of God’s word is an item of worship.
Could the pattern for the Lord’s Supper be followed if the church was called together, then divided into groups to commune? The same language used to teach that communion must be done together also confirms that teaching must be done in one undivided assembly. (Acts 20; 1 Corinthians 14) No statement in the New Testament suggests in any way that the church was divided into separate groups to be taught. Dividing for singing, praying, communion, or collection could be supported in the same way dividing for the teaching is supported. We assemble together for the purpose of exhorting one another to faithfulness. Bible classes create an arrangement that the Bible says nothing about. If a practice has no basis in scripture, is it not a transgression?
2. Classes make it impossible to judge all of the teaching
“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.” (1 Corinthians 14:29)
Elders and congregational leaders oversee and pass judgment on the teaching. However, simultaneous classes hinder them from fulfilling that responsibility. Without oversight, well-meaning instructors could teach errors that would go uncorrected or false teachers could intentionally infiltrate the church with false doctrine. When everyone is gathered together to hear the teaching of God’s word, each one can listen and follow along to determine whether or not the teaching is true. If an elder or congregational leader hears something false being taught from the pulpit, they can address the issue, but they cannot address all errors if they cannot hear and judge all the teaching.
There’s no concern about this when the biblical pattern for public teaching is followed and the assembly remains undivided. Nobody claims that Bible classes are required to fulfil the command for the public teaching the Scripture. If it’s not necessary to fulfill the command, why incorporate them and risk doing something unauthorized?
3. All teachers are speaking simultaneously
“For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.” (1 Corinthians 14:31)
There should only be one speaker at a time during the public assembly of the church. If the assembly is divided into multiple groups, where simultaneous teaching is occurring, it violates both the command to gather into one place and the command for only one man at a time to speak. In the Bible class arrangement, you could potentially have dozens of people speaking at once during a public assembly of the church.
Under God’s pattern (one by one) everyone can hear what is being taught, be comforted, and be built up in the faith. Sinners can be converted and God can be glorified. Paul says all prophets in the assembly could prophesy, but only one at a time. All can learn and be encouraged under this scriptural arrangement. Don’t misunderstand, everyone has the right to teach others about scripture. Any Christian can teach, but it depends on the setting (public or private). Many of the Corinthians were being disorderly and speaking over one another in the assembly. Paul tells them that every teacher will have their chance to teach, not by splitting into classes, but by the congregation insisting on each speaker taking his turn, speaking one at a time, following the pattern for orderly worship.
4. Classes can be taught by women and women are permitted to speak
“Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says. And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.” (1 Corinthians 14:34-35)
The Bible class system often allows women to teach, participate in discussion, and ask questions in class, which is a public assembly of the church. What Paul writes to the church at Corinth concerning this is one of the most clear, specific commands in the scriptures regarding the public assembly. Women are to learn in silence and ask questions only in a private setting. They may ask clarifying questions after services have been dismissed or ask their husbands at home. The Scriptures forbid women from teaching or preaching in the assembly and they are not allowed to ask questions within the assembly.
Paul writes, “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.” (1 Timothy 2:12) Is Paul saying that women can’t teach at all? Certainly not. Christian women are commanded to teach, but they teach in private. Bible class supporters say a woman can teach publicly as long as she is not teaching a man. There’s no scriptural basis for that claim. 1 Timothy 2:12 contextually refers to the public assembly of the church or other public situations. In private a woman can teach anyone. Men, women, children, an unbelieving husband, whomever. (1 Corinthians 7:16; Acts 18:26) Scripture is condemning a woman teaching publicly and usurping authority over a man. When a woman teaches a Sunday School class, she is publicly teaching the Bible regardless of who is in her class, whether it be men, or women, or children. The Lord says that she is to learn in silence when the word of God is being taught in public.
The most common argument against the position that Bible classes are forbidden by Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 14 is, “When the common assembly is divided into classes, each class is now private and the rules of 1 Corinthians 14 do not apply.” The claim that Bible classes are private is fundamentally false. When Bible classes are advertised publicly and everyone in town is invited, they cease to be private gatherings.
No matter how you look at it, the Bible class and Sunday school system is unscriptural because it divides the assembly of the church, when it is commanded to come together, and there is no authorization for such a practice in the New Testament. There is beauty in God’s pattern for the public teaching of Scripture. For nearly 1,800 years, the assembly was never divided for teaching. Under God’s prescribed pattern, families, brothers, sisters, children, and strangers in the midst can worship and learn together.
Eric Bullock, Evangelist
