1. The work of teaching.— The ability to impart Christian truth was looked upon by the members of the early Church as a spiritual gift of Divine grace. Teaching was therefore numbered among the charismata ixaplo-iwra) which resulted from tlie
bestowal of the Holy Sjiirit, and which included such gifts as prophesying, healing, working of miracles, and ' tongues' (Ko 12«, 1 Co 12"").
(1) Teaching and preaching. — Wliile mentioned in close association with preaching, tlie gift of tea<-liing was regarded as conferring on its recipient a distinct function in the ministry of the Word. As in the Gospels our Lord is described first as ' preaching' the glad tidings of the Kingdom (Mk 1'^) and then as 'teaching' His disciples the inner meaning and principles of the gospel (4'), so, in the early Church, preaching was one thing and teach- ing another, although in both instances they were often combined (Mt 4'^, Ac 5^ 28^'). Preaching was primarily the proclamation of the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, whereas teaching was the calmer and more systematic instruction in the details of Christian truth and duty which followed the summons to repentance and saving faith. While preaching and teaching were distinct as functions, they might, in some cases at least, be united in the ministry of one person (1 Ti 2', 2 Ti 1"), especially as the content both of the preaching and of the more elaborated instruction was neces- sarily often the same (Ac 5^- 15^^, Col 1'^}.
(2) The position of teaching. — In the two more formal lists of the spiritually endowed, given by St. Paul, ' teachers ' are mentioned after apostles and prophets (1 Co 12^'-, Eph 4"), and in a less formal list of spiritual functions ' teaching' is men- tioned after ' prophecy ' (Ro 12*'-), whereas in 1 Cor. the ' word of wisdom ' and the ' word of knowledge,' which together constituted charismatic teaching, are placed before prophecy (12'- '"), and ' a teaching ' comes before 'a revelation' (14^*). Prophecy was a specialized form of teaching. 'The difference between the two,' says A. C. McGiffert, ' lay in the fact that while prophecy was the utterance of a revelation received directly from God, teaching, specifically so called, was the utterance of that which one had gained by thouglit and reflection. The teacher might be led and guided by the Spirit, — indeed, he must be, if he were to be a true teacher and his teaching truly spiritual, — but what he said was in a real sense his own ' {History of Christianity in the Apostolic Age, Edinburgh, 1897, p. 529). Some prophets were able also to teach, but not all teachers were able to prophesy. The apostles might also teach. St. Paul speaks of himself as appointed to be both an apostle and a teacher (1 Ti 2', 2 Ti 1"). Teachers, like apostles and prophets, travelled about from place to place, being greatly honoured {Did. iv. 1) and having the right to expect support {ib. xiii. 1-3). They were not officials appointed by any ecclesiastical body. Teaching was not a clerical ofBce, for even as late as the 5th cent, laymen are mentioned as teachers {Apostolic Constitutions, VIII. xxxii.). But local congregations tested both the message and the moral character of these visiting instructors. Teachers were more likely than apostles and prophets to settle down in one place, and the reference to ' pastors and teachers' (Eph 4") shows this tendency at ^\•ork. At a later stage it was one of the qualifications of a bishop that he should be 'apt to teach' (1 Ti 3=).
(3) Limitations and dangers. — Women were not permitted to teach (1 Ti 2'-) — at least in public — although, apparently in harmony with St. Paul's 'healthful teaching' (Tit 2'), it was allowable for aged women to impart moral instruction (privately, it would seem) as part of the Christian training of young women in such duties as love of husband and children, sobriety, chastity, and kindness (Tit 2^'-). Warnings against 'false teacliers' occur frequently in apostolic and sub-apostolic times. From the first, Judaizers dogged the footsteps of the apostles (Ac 15' 21"'-, Gal 1') to pervert the
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teacliing of the gospel. Next, the existence of ' m.iuy teachers' witliin tlie Cliuich (Ja 3') pro- moted an unhealthy spirit of rivalry and faction wliidi could lie eliminated only liy a demand for a ' good life ' in one who jirofesseil, as a teacher, to be ' wise and understanding' (v.'"). Then 'strange teachings' began to multiply (He 13"). False teachers arose, encouraging ' lusts of the llesh ' (2 P 2-- '*), ' fornication ' (Kev 2"- -»), ' false doctrine ' (1 Jn 2-'''- 4"-, 1 Ti P, 2 Ti 4="-), being prompted, too often, by a covetous love of gain (2 P 2'- ", Tit 1").
(4) Methodn of teachinq. — Instruction was often given collectively, in public or in private, 'in the temple and at home' (Ac S''^), in the Christian con- gregation (11-''), and more generally in the meeting for edihcation such as St. Paul describes in detail (1 Co 14). In the latter the teaching came between the ' psalm ' (or hymn of praise) and the prophetic ' revelation ' (v.""). Supplementary teaching was given privately ' from house to house ' (Ac 20™) or to individuals (18-*). The Imparting of Christian truth to catechumens, who were to contribute towards the support of their teacher (Gal 6*), de- veloped in the more settled churches of cities and even villages (Eusebius, HE VII. xxiv. 6). Many churches came to have regular schools for the teaching of catechumens, that of Alexandria being especially famous in later times.