Is A Christian Education Required?

OBJECTION: It is not necessary to give our children a full Christian education. The command to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord only requires parents and churches to add the "theological" aspect to the education that they receive in public school.

ANSWER: All education is theological. God is the Creator and therefore the Source of all truth and all knowledge. He created math, ordains history, gives literary gifts to men, and all scientific investigation is but the exploration of His world (Prov. 25:2).

This means that, ultimately, every pursuit of knowledge without an acknowledgement of God Himself is vain and useless (Ecclesiastes). The Bible says that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ Jesus. He is the Word, Wisdom, Reason, and yes, Logic of God through Whom and for Whom all things were created. To leave Christ out of any part of our learning is a denial of the most fundamental truth of the universe, that Jesus Christ is the "telos" of all human education.

If we as Christians say that our consciences are bound by the Word of God, then we need to consider the implications of the cumulative revelation of the following passages: Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Ephesians 6:4, Luke 6:40, and Matthew 18:6. When you put all of that together, it becomes very clear what the Lord expects us to do with our covenant children. Remember, education is discipleship, which is why Martin Luther once declared:

"I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures do not reign supreme. Every institution that does not unceasingly pursue the study of God's Word becomes corrupt. Because of this we can see what kind of people they become in the universities and what they are like now. I fear that the schools will prove the very gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth."[1]

______________________________

Notes:

[1] Martin Luther, To the Christian Nobility of the German States (1520)