TL

“Am I correct in thinking you both differ from each other on this point? I am just trying to clarify what each of you is saying. Thanks.”

Yes, I guess so. I’m speaking from my own experience, which I think can be applied for small gatherings for teaching. When I teach in small gatherings there is a different kind of orderliness required than when I teach/preach in larger groups. It is likely that Jesus elicited more the same response no matter where he taught. But in regular teaching meetings for teaching only one wants to encourage lots of questions. Though the student needs still to learn in an attitude of quietness and a yielded heart to learn, questions must be asked. You can see this in some of the gatherings with Jesus where the disciples asked lots of questions, but politely and respectfully.

However, in bigger meetings such questions were discouraged as people were to allow the Holy Spirit to move among them and people needed more often to just listen and contemplate as each person shared what they had and then sat down. That doesn’t mean no questions were ever asked but likely few as that would disturb the anointing of the Holy Spirit flowing from the teachers, prophets, apostles and others. Unfortunately, our meetings are so different than the early church, we have difficulty grasping these differences.