Douglas Wilson on Personal Holiness

Regents Academy is affiliated with an umbrella organization called the Association of Classical and Christian Schools. The ACCS publishes a quarterly newsletter called Classis that has lots of informative material in it (I recommend it to you wholeheartedly). The most recent newsletter includes the transcript of a speech delivered by Douglas Wilson at the 2012 annual conference called “Personal Holiness.”

Below is a small excerpt I am happy to share with you, in which Pastor Wilson, speaking to teachers, asks and answers a very relevant question.

What is godly teaching? Godly teaching is loving the subject matter in the presence of students whom you love, which can only be done if you are doing this coram Deo, “in the presence of God.” So, if you are loving God by loving the material in a classroom full of students that you love, that love is contagious. Love bestows loveliness. As you love in this way, the students start to get worked up and excited in the same way because we learn the Bible teaches by imitation. It says in Ephesians 5:1, “Therefore, dearly loved children, be imitators of God.” We learn by imitation. We are called to learn by imitation. The children are supposed to be imitating you. If you are loving God and loving them and loving the material in their presence, that is godly teaching. We don’t want to pick and choose—we will obey this part of the Bible and let this other wing of the church obey that part of the Bible. All of the Bible belongs to all of God’s people. And yes, we fall short. When you say, “I don’t think you ought to pull your kid out of the school to work on character; stay in the school and let’s work on character together, let’s work on the academics together, let’s confess our sins where we fall short, let’s do this together”—that is what we should be striving for.

Please go here to read the whole speech – you’ll be glad you did. It is challenging and edifying.