Matthew 11:1: Why We Need Both Teaching and Preaching

“After Jesus had finished instructing his disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.” —MATTHEW 11:1

Teaching is primarily addressing the mind, and the end result of good teaching is that people know something. This should be the basis on which any significant response to God is made. We must be careful that we are not emotionally driven, but adequately rooted in an understanding of who God is, otherwise our faith will be short-lived. 

As teaching is primarily addressing the mind so people will know something, preaching is primarily addressing the will so that people will do something. The subject of Jesus’ preaching was ‘the good news of the kingdom’. The good news only becomes good news when the will is made to respond. Minds may be stretched, stimulated and even dazzled by impressive teaching, but lives are only changed when the teaching becomes preaching, and hearers are motivated to do something. On the Day of Pentecost, the hearers of Peter’s preaching were cut to the heart, and compelled to ask, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37)

The necessity of both teaching and preaching is kept in balance throughout the New Testament. Between the first and second missionary journeys, Paul and Barnabas, on return from the meeting of the Council in Jerusalem, “remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord” (Acts 15:35). The book of Acts concludes with Paul in Rome, and says, “Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 28:31). On another occasion, Paul exhorted Timothy, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13).

Teaching is the foundation to preaching, and the two must not be divorced from one another. To teach and not preach may produce a wealth of knowledge, but will leave lives dull and barren. To preach and not teach may evoke a response that is in danger of being little more than seed that springs to life, but without being rooted, withers and dies.

We can settle down with our Bibles every day, and fill our minds with knowledge of God, but without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that knowledge remains dormant. The Holy Spirit is the Good Teacher who plants the seeds of truth into our hearts, and they spring to life. The end result - good preaching…. and we are compelled to do something.

Dear Lord, I pray for a deeper work of your Holy Spirit in me so that I may be a means of motivating others to want to know and experience You. Thank You, Lord.

How did I first respond to the truths of Scripture coming alive in my heart?