Authority To Teach
1. What does it really mean to teach?
A. Everything we do, or say, is in some way "teaching" those around us... this is Biblical.
B. We're all witnesses, ambassadors, and stewards... the only question is whether we are good ones or bad ones.
C. Everyone is a teacher, to some degree... though not all have the special office of "teacher" within the church.
2. If all Christians are witnesses and teachers, to some degree, then we ALL have both INHERENT AUTHORITY, and INHERENT OBLIGATION, to speak, and share, whatever God has taught us in life.
A. We all have a duty, and obligation, to share the gospel, and share whatever God has taught us in life.
B. We all have this duty and obligation by sheer virtue of being saved, and being God's children.
3. However, having the authority and obligation to share, and to witness, does not mean we have special authority to represent our church or denomination.
A. We may not all have special authority to represent our church as official teachers.
B. We may not all have special authority to REPRESENT and SPEAK FOR our church, officially.
C. People are ordained to show they are APPROVED, and have SPECIAL AUTHORITY to speak for, and represent, their church and denomination.
D. Others are officially approved by their church as teachers, but are not yet ordained as pastors... so these people have official authority to represent their church, but not as much authority as an ordained pastor.
4. The problem is not whether or not someone "teaches", as we are all supposed to teach others... the problem is whether or not someone CLAIMS to have more authority than he actually has.
A. We are not called to withhold ourselves from teaching and witnessing... we are called to be HONEST.
B. We should only CLAIM to have whatever authority we actually have.
C. If you are NOT ordained and NOT sanctioned as an official teacher by your church... then fine... teach your friends about Jesus, and be HONEST that you are not an officially sanctioned minister.
D. We can all share, and witness, and teach... as long as we are HONEST about the degree of AUTHORITY we have.
Conclusion:
This really isn't about teaching, it's about being HONEST.
Addendum:
There is plenty of very rudimentary scripture to support everything above.
However, this information is so rudimentary that I didn't bother sourcing all the scriptures.
I hope this is just common sense to everyone.
I'm not going to post again, or bother defending anything I've said; everything above is extremely basic, and extremely rudimentary.