***** The importance of the teacher's physical qualifications can hardly be overestimated; for the more perfect his health, the more perfect will be his labor. The mind cannot be clear to think and strong to act when the physical powers are suffering the results of feebleness or disease. The heart is impressed through the mind; but if, because of physical inability, the mind loses its vigor, the channel to the higher feelings and motives is to that extent obstructed, and the teacher is less able to discriminate between right and wrong. When suffering the results of ill health, it is not an easy matter to be patient and cheerful, or to act with integrity and justice. CT 177.2 Christ as the Example and Teacher of Youth The example of Jesus is a light to the young, as well as to those of more mature years, for His was a representative childhood and youth. From His earliest years His example was perfect. As a little child He was obedient to His parents and to the laws of nature, “and the g…
"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him."
Ellen White directly references Luke 2:40 in this passage.
"In His teaching, Christ drew His illustrations from the great treasury of household ties and affections, and from nature. The unknown was illustrated by the known; sacred and divine truths, by natural, earthly things, with which the people were most familiar. These were the things that would speak to their hearts, and make the deepest impression on their minds. CT 178.3"
"All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:"
Both passages discuss Jesus' teaching methods, specifically his use of parables and illustrations from everyday life to explain spiritual truths. EGW elaborates on the principle found in Matthew.
"The words of Christ placed the teachings of nature in a new aspect and made them a new revelation. He could speak of the things which His own hands had made, for they had qualities and properties that were peculiarly His own. In nature, as in the sacred pages of the Old Testament Scriptures, divine, momentous truths are revealed; and in His teaching, Jesus laid these open before the people, bound up with the beauty of natural things.... CT 178.4"
"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"
Both passages emphasize that God's attributes and truths can be understood through the natural world. Romans 1:20 states that God's invisible qualities are clearly seen through creation, and EGW highlights how Christ used nature to reveal divine truths.