Some Thoughts on Educating Children

I believe that all things were created by and for God (Acts 17:24-27; Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:16), are related to and sustained by him (Colossians 1:17-20; Ephesians 1:9-10; Hebrews 1:3), and display his grace, power, and wisdom (Psalm 19:1; 104; Acts 14:17; Romans 1:19). Moreover, God himself is truth, beauty, goodness, love, and so on (see, e.g., John 14:6; 17:17; 1 John 4:8). Such things find their very definition in God. Without God, there is no such thing as truth or beauty or goodness or love. Putting it more positively, all truth, beauty, goodness, and love are God’s truth, beauty, goodness, and love. The implication of all this is that we cannot properly understand any subject without seeking to understand what God has revealed about himself and the world. Education will be truncated if it does not teach all subjects with God in full view (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; Job 28:28). As Dorothy Sayers once put it, “theology is the mistress-science without which the whole educational structure will necessarily lack its final synthesis. Those who disagree about this will remain content to leave their pupil’s education still full of loose ends” (The Lost Tools of Learning). Thus the best education is Christian education. All other kinds of education will be helpful only to the extent that they borrow capital from biblical truth, but they will not enable students to flourish in God’s world—and who doesn’t live in God’s world? (Colossians 1:16; Acts 17:25-26)—as much as Christian education will when it is understood and executed properly (see Psalm 1).

Education that begins and ends with God must be explicitly Christological. What I mean is that Jesus Christ must provide the content and be the goal of all education. Not only do all the promises of God point to and “find their Yes” in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20; Romans 15:8; cf. Luke 24:24, 44-47; Acts 10:43; John 5:46-47; Romans 1:2-4), but also “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are found in him (Colossians 2:2-3). Additionally, God designed all of history and all the universe to find their fullness in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10; Philippians 2:9-11; Colossians 1:18-20). When we say that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge, we must direct our attention to the revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ (see Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus Christ is the prism through which we must view all forms of education in order to discover all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And if we expect our education to carry out the purpose for which it was designed, we must direct it to Christ.

How should all this work out in practice? By advocating a philosophy of teaching all things in relation to God in Christ, I do not intend a sort of mechanical mode of instruction in which the name Jesus is mentioned at the end of every sentence about Abraham Lincoln (like one may hear in some Islamic institutions, where “Allah be praised” or something similar is spoken almost as a punctuation mark to every thought, or in some American pulpits, where a phrase such as “bless God” is heard whenever the pastor pauses to take a breath). Viewing God rightly is not a mechanical or merely ritualistic exercise; it is a personal and relational and practical way of life (much like the fact that I do not love and honor my wife by mentioning her name at the end of every sentence, but by thinking of her and talking with her often, getting to know her mannerisms and wishes and ways of thinking, cherishing her, and organizing my own life with her in view).

Rather, what I have in mind amounts to at least two things. First, children should be taught a biblical worldview in broad outline. When we teach and flesh out the biblical narrative of Creation, Rebellion, and Redemption, students will be more equipped to place other subjects, such as history, math, science, geography, art, and music—not to mention ethics or virtue or goodness—in proper perspective. They will understand from a biblical view of creation that butterflies have bright colors and bananas have a pleasant taste because God has displayed his gracious provision and powerful wisdom. They will understand that stars and canyons and mountains provide wonder because they reflect God’s majesty. They will understand that we have eyes, eardrums, taste buds, and nerve endings so that we might hear a symphony, see the color of flowers, taste the sweetness of honey, and feel a loving hug because of God’s mercy to give us not only things to enjoy but also the capacity to enjoy them. They will understand that when they take up a paint brush in art class, they are reflecting the creativity of the One who made the landscape that opens up before them. They will understand what the framers of the U. S. Constitution borrowed (perhaps unwittingly) from the biblical picture of creation: that all human beings have equal dignity, since the same God has created all people everywhere in his image (see Genesis 1:27; Acts 17:24-27). They will understand from human rebellion and God’s subsequent judgment why there is war and strife and calamity written all over their history books. They will understand from human rebellion and the need for God’s work of redemption that political legislation and human technology and amassing wealth, all of which can be used greatly for God’s purposes, have not and will not solve human troubles by themselves. The human heart must be transformed by the mercy of God in Christ if true joy and life are to be found and if legislation and technology are going to work properly in God’s world. In these and countless other ways, teaching a broad biblical worldview provides the proper perspective for every part of education.

Second, in addition to a biblical worldview in broad outline, students should regularly be taught the specific words of God as well as the stories of his acts of judgment and salvation. As Moses said to the people of Israel,

these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. . . . When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us [Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 20-25].

The same principle applies equally today. We should teach students God’s acts of judgment and salvation culminating in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and pervade our homes and travels and lying down and rising with his specific words and commands (see John 14:15; 15:10). (A good example of the latter for kids would be something like Ephesians 6:1: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”) When we teach children the broad outline of a biblical worldview and regularly discuss God’s acts and commands, all other subjects (grammar, math, science, geography, history, literature, etc.)—which we should teach with all diligence—will come into their proper orbit.