Paul wrote to Timothy (1Timothy 4:13):
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. (NIV & TNIV)
Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. (NASB)
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. (ESV)
Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. (NKJV & KJV)
It is interesting to me first that the word "Scripture" doesn't appear in this text yet several translations put it in assuming that is what Paul means when he tells Timothy to devote himself to reading. Only the KJV and the NKJV leave it out. I don't have any doubt that we should assume in interpreting this text that Paul is telling Timothy to pay attention to reading the Scriptures publicly to the gathered church.
What I would like to know is why in our fellowship (Churches of Christ for those of you who may not know my background) we did not include this as one of the acts of the assembly? It seems pretty obvious to me that reading of Scripture was approved in Scripture and practiced by the early church (and even in the Old Testament). This is why lectionaries developed. I have the church where I serve now (and churches in the past) read my text for preaching just before the sermon. But I have not talked them into reading a text or text's as part of a pattern.
I have several questions for all of you who may come by.
1. Does your congregation have Scripture reading as part of your worship service apart from reading the text for preaching?
2. What pattern do you use for reading Scripture? Do you use a lectionary or some other way of choosing the text or texts to be read?
3. Was this a part of the congregation's worship service before you came? If not was it difficult for you to have them start doing it? How did you convince them they should have reading of Scripture as a regular part of the assembly?
4. How is the reading working out? Have you noticed a difference in the congregation?
5. Are you working on developing this as a part of your assembly?
3 comments:
I was pleased to join a church that already practiced and strongly believed in public reading.
for many years, they read one full chapter from the NT at each assembly.
each year we alternate a different gospel and switch out the corinthian letters, so we don't read the entire NT each year but just by showing up, the members will hear read the NT in less than two years.
brian
Great thoughts! I do liek that picture you used. It looks like it was taken from a great preacher as he sought to open his Bible to glean God's message for today.
We do have a public reading in the church I serve as an elder - Sunday am, pm, & Wed pm. The readings are sequential, usually a paragraph in length & selected by the preacher. This has been the practice here for many years. I have not noticed any noticable difference it has made in the church. Most people seem to take it merely as a matter of course. To me, it appears that one "purpose" in this congregation is to use this for "developing men" as worship leaders, rather than intensely using it to develop the spiritual heart of the church. In other words, it is more of a formality for the church and an opportunity for the various readers than a real teaching tool.
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