The teaching method of Jesus (part 2)

In John 4:1-43 we have Jesus giving an example of personal teaching. For our purposes the text will function as a object lesson in personal teaching. We will take a section of jesus teaching and glean some principles and methods of teaching he utilized. It will gives us a birds-eye view of the subject.

John 4:1-43 - The woman at the well and Jesus, nine observations.

1. Jesus used an occasion before him. You did not let the teachable moment slip by even though he was tired from his journey and he was in the hot noon day sun. It did not dissuade him that she was a Samaritan, a single woman, and on top of that single woman you wouldn't bring home to mama.

2. Jesus establishes a point of contact. He had her attention and interest from the start. He accomplished this by being outlandishly unconventional and by the use of a creative and concrete metaphor.

3. His method was conversational. He did not bust out a pulpit and rattle off three point and a poem or have a organ playing in the background. He taught her in a way that was suitable to the context and approachable.

4. He was here dealing with an individual. While the concept is not touched on in the text. It is true to say that teaching can happen in a crowd but learning is always individual endeavor.

5. He used her natural curiosity as a way for her to be guided towards truth. He asked her no questions other than the icebreaker, "Can I have some water." Yet he answered three of her explicit questions as well as the deepest longing of His nature. Building on her answer he directed her towards a more accurate understanding.

6. Jesus discerned the woman's personal problems. Problems she was not aware. Jesus seemed to be more aware of her problems. His object was to awaken her, first to her sin, then to God's worship and finally to his nature. She begins a religious debate seemingly to distract from our personal issues. Jesus uses His answer to reopen her personal problems, "in spirit and in truth," is a theological answer that touches to the depths of the heart.

7. We can see the use of apperception when Jesus uses physical water to talk about spiritual living water. Apperception is a mental process where a person make sense of an idea by assimilating it into a body of ideas that they already possess. It is not just a cool analogy but something that makes sense with in the context of the Samaritan woman's life.

8. Jesus use of motivation appears in a four-step process of the Samaritan woman's awakening. The four step process went from interest and then conscience and towards worship and finally of service. Jesus spoke of water and awaking her interest. He spoke of husbands and awaken her conscience. He spoke up God's heart and awoken the impulse to worship. Finally he revealed his nature and awoken a desire for service.

9. In the story the characteristics of Jesus as a good teacher are evident. For example, he appears in this incident to disregard the current conventional issues. For the sake of teaching the women Jesus was willing to go against racial prejudice of his day and talk with the Samaritan woman. He taught with the absence of false modesty. He had an intimate knowledge of his pupil and a proficiency in the subject he was teaching.

The teaching method of Jesus

As Christians we know we are to be like Jesus. It is no different when it
comes to the teaching office in the church, we should teach like Jesus. Many look at what Jesus taught but few have looked at how Jesus taught. His techniques, methods and understanding of the education process is evident throughout the gospels. While ultimately all learning is the work of God's Spirit it does not negate diligently learning how to be a more effective teacher. My hope in these blogs is that our saviors teaching method helps someone be a better teacher.


Lets us begin by looking at the subject of education from a wide view lens. The context in which all educational endeavors take place is called the teaching situation. The teaching situation involves six essential elements.

1. a teacher
2. a pupil or pupils
3. An environment: examples include a classroom, laboratory, library, apparatus, even a person's social context.
4. Curriculum: the things taught
5. The aim of the teacher: that which the teacher would accomplish by means of instruction in the life of the pupil.
6. Method, or the Way of the process.

Example from Jesus's ministry to see if we can find the teaching situations in the story.

A.) The story of Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3.

1. teacher: Jesus
2. pupil: Nicodemus
3. Environment: night scene
4. Curriculum: the subject of the instruction is "the birth from above."
5. Aim: jesus aimed to affect change in the life of the pupil. (Did jesus accomplish his aim? see John 7:50, 19:39)
6. The method: conversation - dialogue including question and answer, concrete illustration of the work of the Spirit, and explanation.

In many other areas Jesus understand the teaching situation and uses it with great skill to accomplish his aim in teaching. The teaching situations helps us see all the aspects that are involved in learning. Assessing the teaching situation with accuracy is important in using the right method for the situation and the good of the pupil.