Teaching Obedience

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).

Notice three things: study, do, teach.

In the Christian church, we have studiers and teachers. We can study and acquire information. We can teach and impart information. We can get As on our knowledge.

The strong point of the three is to do. Doing validates the studying and the teaching. Teaching, biblically, is not just imparting information. The neglected phrase in the Great Commission is the one on teaching: “teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus gave the commands. We are to teach obedience to His commands. We are not just to teach the commands. We are not to teach information without teaching obedience. If we are going to follow Ezra’s example, we need to study, obey, and teach to obey.

This post coordinates with today's reading in the To the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan, please join us. We would love to have you reading with us.

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