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The Necessity of Seminary Education
2008 JONATHAN MOERSCH
I’ve wanted to be a pastor my whole life. Yet the church in which I was raised did not require its ministers to attend seminary; as a matter of fact, they discouraged it. “Cemetery,” as they jokingly referred to it, was a place where one “read too many books and became too smart for the Holy Spirit.” The assumption was that all that learning one gets at seminary would breed too much self-reliance and would hinder one from relying upon the power of the Spirit in interpreting Scripture, thus quenching his work. As I grew in my understanding of Scripture as it is faithfully summarized in the Reformed Confessions, however, I became more and more convinced of the need to attend seminary. Looking back upon my time at Westminster Seminary California, I realize that restricting the role of the Holy Spirit to that of the inward illumination of the Scriptures, severely undervalues his work in the whole church.
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The first place one might see this is in study of the original languages of Hebrew and Greek. Since we believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of Scripture down to the last word, why wouldn’t we want to study those words as they were originally written? While there are many good and faithful English translations that the people of God can confidently read, a minister of the Word should be working in the original languages as they open the Scriptures to the rest of the people. Having done the necessary preparation, a man of God can boldly proclaim the words of the Spirit speaking in the Scripture. Westminster is one of the few seminaries that still requires a high degree of competency in both Greek and Hebrew in order to complete the M.Div. program, and I am thankful for that.
Another place where one can see the work of the Spirit is in the study of Church History. C.S. Lewis warns us against the error of “chronological snobbery”; that is, the idea that our present generation has it all figured out and that those who came before us must of have lived in the dark ages. At his ascension, the risen Christ poured out his gifts upon the whole Church (Eph. 4:10-12), and thus we can be confident that there has been gifted ministers of the Word throughout every age. This is true not THE NECESSITY OF SEMINARY EDUCATION
only in the time of the Apostles and in the Reformation (which we tend to emphasize), but even throughout the Middle Ages. Thus when we read and interpret our Bibles, we do not do so in isolation, but, as it were, “standing on the shoulders of giants” who have gone on before us. This, too, is a work of the Holy Spirit. Not only in my Church History classes at Westminster, but also in the Biblical, Systematic and Practical theology courses we are looking to benefit from those in the past.
Not only can we look to the work of the Spirit in the past, but we can also see his work in the present as he has gifted men who have dedicated their lives to the study and teaching of the Scriptures. Seminary provides an opportunity to “sit at their feet” and learn from them, not only in the classroom setting, but also by how they live their lives. Westminster Seminary California has been particularly blessed with men who are truly pastor-scholars that are able to provide top-notch theological education, but who are also faithful churchmen and exemplary husbands and fathers. The relationships I formed with many of my professors remain to this day as I continue to learn and grow from them.
Far from breeding a cocky self-confidence, seminary is a truly humbling experience in that it shows you how little you really know. Even upon completion of my degree and graduation, I had only scratched the surface. The goal of seminary is not to learn everything there is to know, but to gain a solid footing in understanding the Scriptures and to equip one with tools for learning throughout one’s life in reliance upon the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth (John 16:13).
