The Best Answer

 

Every Monday the students in my Latin classes copy a verse from the Bible into the faith section of their notebooks.  Each day of the week after that, students take turns writing it on the board and reading it aloud in unison before one of them reads it individually.  Then we spend few minutes talking about it before moving on with the rest of our work.  In today's discussion of 1 Timothy 2:3-4 in the second-year class, a student said something in our discussion that went to the very heart of the Christian faith.

Wikipedia Faith

In the English Standard Version of the Bible, 1 Timothy 2:3-4 reads, "This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."  As we discussed the Latin translation, I began by pointing out that instead of using the word veritatis, "of the truth," Paul could have said Christi, "of Christ," and then asked why that would have been an appropriate synonym.  One young man, a sophomore, quickly referred to John 14:6 in which Jesus said that He was the way, the truth, and the life.  Quite honestly, I was impressed with that answer.  Too often we think that students do not know the Bible, or too often we do not teach it to them, thinking, mistakenly, that it is too complicated, but a few minutes later, this sophomore would offer an even more impressive answer to another question.

I then pointed out that there are different kinds of knowledge and asked if anyone thought Paul could have been referring to basic, factual knowledge about Jesus, the kind you can find on Wikipedia.  The students agreed this was not what he would have had in mind, and then, on a whim, I asked someone to look up the name "Jesus" on Wikipedia.  I had no idea what the popular, encyclopedic website would have to say and was curious to find out.  One young lady quickly brought up the site on her laptop and read the following.

Christ Pantocrator, St. Catherine's Monastery, Mt. Sinai, 6th century

"Jesus (c. 4 BC - AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious teacher."

I asked her to pause for a moment, and once again we agreed that this was not the kind of knowledge to which Paul had been referring, and then I asked her to read some more.

"He is the central figure of Christianity, the world's largest religion.  Most Christians believe he is the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah (the Christ) prophesied in the Hebrew Bible."  At that point I had to stop and make the obligatory teacher-comment about the perils of using Wikipedia by observing the error that most Christians believe Jesus is the incarnate Son of God and the Messiah.  All Christians believe this, else they are not Christian.  To claim to be a Christian while not believing this core statement of faith would be similar to teeing up a small, white ball with dimples and then smashing it down the middle of the fairway with a 3-iron, all while claiming to be playing baseball.  This time I asked, "So what kind of knowledge of Jesus is Paul talking about," and it was then that I got the best answer ever.

Do You Know Him?

Dr. S.M. Lockridge, 1913-2000

The same sophomore young man who had answered earlier raised his hand and said, "It means you have to know Him by having a personal relationship with Him."

There was no need of comment by me, which is fortunate, for I had none to make.  Instead, I walked silently to the computer screen at the front of our class and pulled up this video of the famous ending from a sermon by Dr. S.M. Lockridge.  I encourage you to watch it at the link below.

Not Out of the Ordinary

It would be easy to think that this was a one-off moment, one of those rare experiences that teachers treasure, but it was not, nor was that young man entirely out of the ordinary.  The night before, I had received an email from one of our young ladies, a senior in Latin III.  Our verse for the week in that class had been Matthew 6:34, and she wanted to tell me about a deeply personal connection she had had with it.

Good evening Mr. Perkins,

A new thing I have been trying to do is read the gospels before I go to bed (starting from Matthew chapter 1). Today's gospel included Matthew 6:34. As I read deeper, I was so incredibly touched by all that Matthew chapter 6 had to offer. I just thought I would let you know that I came upon that. It is

so interesting how God aligns things within perfect timing of each other. Anyways, have a great night!

When I talked with her about this the following day, she went on to explain that she and her boyfriend would FaceTime in the evening to read from the Bible together.  She said that he had a Bible with many explanatory notes, whereas she had the King James Version.  As she explained it, his notes helped her understand the text better, but she was also able to understand much on her own because of what she had learned in her English class studying Shakespeare, who wrote at the same time as when the KJV was published.

There is much to ponder here...what it means to have saving knowledge of Jesus, what young people are capable of when it comes to their faith...so it's probably best that I say no more and that you do just that.  Take some time to ponder what God is showing you through these stories.  I know I will.