This following article is for those who have been convinced of the dorean principle, that biblical instruction should not be sold. If this doesn’t describe you, please go check out our numerous articles that argue for this principle, and I hope we’ll find you back here later!
Additionally, this article is for teachers—whether clergy or lay—who desire in all holiness to navigate ministry in a world full of the commercialization of Christianity. We recognize that not all are called to the same level of abstinence from the corrupt systems that exist. At the same time, Scripture gives some absolutes on the matter in order that we never be guilty of selling his word (2 Cor 2:17).
To this end, I would like to make an application that is not obvious to all and was not always obvious to me: Don’t teach behind a paywall.
Maybe you are the kind of person who would never receive payment in a reciprocal exchange for the message,[1] but out of your zeal for the spread of the gospel, you have joined with others who are guilty on this front. Such activities include:
- authoring a chapter in a book that will be sold,
- publishing an article in a journal that requires a fee to access,
- preaching at a conference that requires ticket purchases from attendees,
- teaching at a seminary that charges tuition, or
- speaking in a video recording of biblical instruction that will be offered at some cost.
In the name of Christ, I implore you to desist. Please hear me out; I’ll begin with a personal story and add several biblical reasons for this injunction.
A Personal Story
Sometime when I was forming my convictions on money and ministry—I believe I was just about to publish The Dorean Principle—I received an invitation to be an adjunct professor at a seminary. I was honored to have the opportunity, but was also concerned because the seminary was transitioning from a tuition-free model to requiring some fee from students. Relative to other seminaries, it was a modest fee. One might even call it “affordable” if they wanted to use the standard marketing vocabulary seminaries employ. Regardless, I did not want to be guilty of charging anyone for my teaching (Matt. 10:8).
Since many of the New Testament passages on this topic concern greed, I reasoned that I could avoid the ethical dilemma by simply waiving the pay that I was offered. I myself would not be treating Spirit-empowered words as saleable (1 Cor 2:12-13; Acts 8:20). I would not be acting under compulsion—being contractually bound by payment to reciprocate with teaching—but willingly (1 Pet 5:2).
However, after I had formally agreed to fill the position and my name and picture were even featured on the website, my conscience kept nagging at me. Even if I had managed to sidestep the direct issues of motive, I would still be teaching behind a paywall. I would still be offering biblical instruction with partiality toward those who were willing to pay.
A week or so later, I sent the president of the seminary my resignation—if that word is even appropriate for such a short spell where I had done no work—asking his forgiveness for my rash agreement.
Impartiality
The people of God are commanded to be impartial in the things of God. While James 2 more directly speaks of gathered worship, it applies to all biblical instruction:
My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you lavish attention on the man in fine clothes and say, “Here is a seat of honor,” but say to the poor man, “You must stand” or “Sit at my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4)
The one who joins others to teach behind a paywall has no way of avoiding this partiality. He offers his teaching to those who are willing to pay and not to those who are not willing to pay. Even if the payment is for some in-person component, he says to the one with money “you sit here” and to the one without “you sit over there,” at your computer, streaming the message online.
Openness
Likewise, we are commanded to openness in our teaching. No doubt, there is a place for private instruction; Jesus often took smaller groups of disciples aside. But none of this was to keep his teaching from others.
“I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus answered. “I always taught in the synagogues and at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. (John 18:20)
For digital mediums that have no upper bound on an audience—online lectures, books, etc.—the point of such a paywall is not to ensure that a few receive especially targeted instruction. Rather, it is to limit the number who would have access at all. It operates in a supply/demand model that intentionally (and artificially) reduces the supply for an economic advantage.
For mediums that have an inherent limit on the audience size—e.g., an in-person conference—this still frequently occurs, albeit to a lesser degree. The ticket price is not merely used as a way of choosing which people will get to attend and maximize the space, but in order to maximize the resulting sale, or at least to hit some minimum (in order to “cover costs,” etc.).
Except in those cases where the privately offered content is identical to that which is publicly available, one who joins with others to teach behind a paywall cannot say with Christ that he has “spoken openly to the world.” He has taught in private to comply with the express intention of limiting access to his teaching.
Purity in Partnership
Moreover, we are commanded to purity in our partnerships. Consider the parallel passages in John’s final two epistles.
If anyone comes to you but does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home or even greet him. Whoever greets such a person shares in his evil deeds. (2 John 10-11)
For they went out on behalf of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers for the truth. (3 John 7-8)
In each of these, being a fellow worker is in view. We should be fellow workers for the truth and never in evil deeds.
For the one who joins with those who sell the word, does he not partner in their wickedness by directly assisting and visibly condoning it? Perhaps you have difficulty in using the word “wicked” to describe the activity of brothers who are simply misguided in their approach; 2 John speaks about false teachers after all. Yet even if no false doctrine is taught, the activity of selling teaching is the mark of a false teacher (2 Cor 11:7,12). Balaam’s prophecies never veered from the truth, and yet his sale of the word is condemned all the same (2 Pet 2:15; Jude 11).
And what is the measure John gives us for partnering with others? They must accept nothing from the Gentiles (3 John 7)—that is, they should not exchange their message for anything with those they have been sent to teach. Those who ask you to join in teaching behind a paywall do not meet this qualification.
To be clear: I recognize that on this side of the Jordan every noble work will have some measure of error and we cannot cut ourselves off from all our brothers. My call is not that you avoid all partnerships with those who make some error in their proclamation of the word, simply that you do not directly participate in their error.
Conclusion
My call here is simple: Don’t teach behind a paywall. If this is something you are engaged in, find a way out. If you have made any such commitments, “give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber; free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler” (Prov 6:4-5).
Refuse to teach with partiality. Refuse to teach secretly. Refuse to partner in the wicked work of selling the word. This is one of the best ways you have of not only loving those who would receive the message of truth, but likewise of loving your brothers who err in their methods of funding ministry. Hold them accountable in love!
This is not to reject honorariums or salaried positions! Remember, colabor is permitted while reciprocity is forbidden. ↩︎