Is God a teacher?

n Can we truthfully say that God is a teacher? I think we can. A teacher is one who has more knowledge than his students and knows how to communicate this knowledge to them. If he is a good teacher, after his instructions the pupils know almost as much as the teacher, at least in the area studied.

The Bible is the word of God and contains his revelation to us. He has revealed to us his love for us, the creation of the world, the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation of the Second Person, that is, Jesus Christ the Word of God, the sending of the Holy Spirit, the foundation of the Church and the Sacraments, and so forth.

Through his prophets during the time of the Old Law he instructed the chosen people on his will for them; much of this, such as the Ten Commandments, is still applicable to those of us who follow Christ under the New Law of the Gospel.

In the Bible, it seems to me, God teaches us both by his deeds and his words. As described in the Torah or Pentateuch, he is a God of action and words. He instructed Adam and Eve; he instructed Abraham; he instructed Moses and the prophets. John the baptist taught the people down by the Jordan River about the coming of the Messiah. And when Jesus did come, he came as both a teacher and a wonderworker. Certainly he spent a significant portion of his time during his public life teaching his twelve disciples the basic principles of the Gospel-love of God and neighbor, the Beatitudes, the Eucharist, the nature of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the reality of the Church, and so forth.

Actions speak louder than words. The Lord God of the Old Testament formed his own people from Abraham; he delivered them from the power of Pharaoh; he brought them through the wilderness to the Promised Land; he set up David and his dynasty; he sent Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Isaiah and all the prophets to proclaim his word and call his people to worship the true God and to practice righteousness. Finally he sent his only-begotten Son to teach us the way to heaven and to die and rise from the dead for us.

Our God is a God of deeds and words. The words explain the deeds and the deeds give credence to the words. A real teacher, in order to persuade his students, must be something like that. If he is going to have an impact on his students, he must embody in his own life, at least in some way, the truth that he is trying to hand on to his pupils.

God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of truth are in their very essence the fullness of being, wisdom and truth. Whatever God says is true, no matter how difficult it may be for man to understand what he is saying. For God can neither deceive nor be deceived.

Jesus teaches us to be perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect. For man to grow in perfection or holiness, it is first necessary to know God's will for him and then do it. How do we know God's will? We know it from his revelation as it is contained in the Bible and Tradition, from the Magisterium of the Church and from the circumstances of our daily life.

Why do I stress the fact that God is our Teacher? The reason is that the whole Bible, each and every one of the 72 books, was inspired by God and so authored by him for our instruction. Thirty thousand books in English are printed each year, but not one of them is as valuable as any of the books of the Bible. All of them put together, along with all the books in the world, are of less value than the Bible. For the Bible contains divine truth and divine wisdom meant for all men of all times; all other books contain only limited human knowledge of one kind or another. So if you want to be a pupil of the greatest Teacher in history, then read and study your Bible faithfully every day. It will grow on you and you will grow in spirit and in truth, before God and men.

Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor