This document represents a Biblical view of the training and Christian education of children. Since most Christians are unaware of the Biblical instruction on these matters, I have endeavored to lay out the clear direction of Scripture as it relates to the mandate of parents to provide Christian education for their own children in the ways of the LORD.
All of this is predicated on the realization that God has given children to their parents (see Genesis 33:5, 1 Samuel 1:27 and Psalm 127:3), and has charged them with inalienable rights and responsibilities.
What the Bible says about Christian Education:
Exodus 10:2: “That you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and how I performed My signs among them; that you may know that I am the LORD.”
- Instruction of the young is given to parents and grandparents.
Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before Me.”
- Evolution and Humanism are substitutes for the true and living God.
Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and mother.”
- Government schools dishonor parents (and by example teach children to as well) by claiming that the State can nurture children better than the parents.
Exodus 20:15: “You shall not steal.”
- Government schooling forcibly takes money from property owners (who may not even have children) to pay for the education of other people’s children. This is legal plunder (socialism—taking from the “rich” to educate the poor) and it is immoral. Legal plunder is legalized theft and is a violation of the 8th Commandment.
- It is hypocritical that schools expect Johnny not to cheat on a test (taking answers from Billy—i.e. Billy’s intellectual property), but they see nothing wrong with taking money from Billy’s dad (i.e. his physical property), to pay for Johnny’s education.
- Government schools do not operate upon the Biblical ethics that insist that all charity or giving to the poor should be voluntary (See Matthew 6:1-4). “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)
- While taxation is not Biblically immoral, confiscatory taxation for things that are outside of the proper jurisdiction of the civil government (i.e. abortions, education, etc.) is immoral.
Matthew 5:19: “Jesus said, ‘Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.’”
Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 11:19: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
- This describes a 24/7/365 discipleship paradigm, centered on the commandments of God.
Deuteronomy 32:46: “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law.”
- Christian education is modeling first, instructing second. You have to have God’s law written on your own heart. If you don’t own it, you can’t sell it.
Psalm 1:1-2: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.”
- We are blessed if we avoid the unGodly counsel our children will receive in government schools, and the socialization of sinful classmates and the mocking, scoffing attitudes they pick up in school.
- How can a child meditate day and night on God’s law in government school? He can do this when his parents teach him to apply God’s law to every area of life.
- Contrast “Blessings” promised in this passage with the “Cursings” in Deuteronomy 28, and see which one you want to receive.
Psalm 34:11: “Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.”
- How are children supposed to learn the fear of the LORD? Parents teach it to them by instruction and example!
Psalm 78:4: “We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.”
- We should not allow the faithfulness of God in history to be revised, hidden or concealed in their textbooks or by unGodly teachers. Parents must take responsibility for passing on true Christian education and providential history to their own children and grandchildren.
Proverbs 1:8: “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.”
- It is assumed that the father and mother are doing the teaching. No one else is mentioned in Scripture as having that role.
Proverbs 9:10: “Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in understanding.”
- Government schools lack the fear of the LORD, therefore cannot properly transmit wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
Proverbs 13:20: “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”
1 Corinthians 15:33: “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’”
- Children should not be allowed to have foolish companions.
- Proverbs 22:15 tells us that foolishness is “bound” in the heart of a CHILD.
- Ecclesiastes 4:12 indicates that a “cord of three strands is not easily broken.” It is hard to break a bond of foolishness once friendships with fools are made.
Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is grown, he will not depart from it.”
- There is a way a child should go, and parents need to be training the child in THAT direction, not in the direction of the world.
Isaiah 38:19b: “A father tells his sons about Thy faithfulness.”
- This mandate for Christian education is given clearly to fathers, not to another person or institution.
Isaiah 54:13: “And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”
- Our children are to be trained by the Lord, through true Christian education. The result of this teaching is that they will generally embrace God’s peace.
Jeremiah 10:2a: “Thus saith the LORD, ‘Learn not the way of the heathen.’”
- What part of “Learn not the way of the heathen,” do we not understand?
Joel 1:3: “Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.”
- Christian education is best understood as the equipping of each successive generation to train the next. This is a family matter, not a governmental mandate.
Matthew 10:32-33: “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in Heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in Heaven.”
- John 1:3 and Colossians 1:16 declare that Jesus made the world. The government schools adamantly deny this. Therefore they are disowned by Christ.
Matthew 28:18: “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’”
Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23: Jesus said, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”
- Are the government schools for Jesus? Do they recognize His lordship over education and all other areas of life? If not, they are in open rebellion against Him.
Colossians 2:3: Jesus is He “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Proverbs 1:7: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,” but “Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
- Despite the clear teaching of Scripture, government schools teach that Jesus has nothing to do with education and therefore are cultivating fools.
Matthew 18:5-6: “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My Name welcomes Me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
- Studies show that between 65-88% of all churched youth indoctrinated in government schools leave the faith by their freshman year of college.
Matthew 19:14b: “Do not hinder (the children) from coming to Me; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.”
- We must not allow our children to be hindered by any other influences (secular instructors) from coming to Jesus.
Matthew 22:20-21: “And Jesus said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said to Him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Then He said to them, ‘Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.’”
- The Roman coin Jesus used as an illustration bore the image of Caesar, so Jesus said to give it to him. However, Genesis 1:27 tells us that children bear the image of God, therefore we should give them to God, not to Caesar.
Luke 6:39-40: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.”
- A Christian parent must not turn the leading of their child over to someone who is spiritually blind. Education is discipleship. The student is becoming like the teacher. Do you want your child to become like his atheist teacher?
Romans 14:23b: “Everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
- The government schools are not teaching from a position of faith in God.
2 Corinthians 6:13-18: “I am talking now as I would to my own children. Open your hearts to us! Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: ‘I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them,’ says the LORD. ‘Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be My sons and daughters,’ says the LORD Almighty.”
- We are forbidden to partner with unbelievers in the education of our children.
Ephesians 5:11: “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.”
Ephesians 6:4: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the LORD.”
- Is schooling mentioned in the Bible (and does God have an opinion)? Why YES! I’m glad you asked!This is just one of many passages that should solifiy this issue, but in Ephesians 6:4 we are commanded:”Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but instead, train them up in the nurture (literally, “Biblical counseling”), and admonition (the Greek word, “Paideia”) of the Lord.” (KJV)What does Paideia mean? From the Encyclopeida Brittanica:
“Paideia, (Greek: “education,” or “learning”), system of education and training in classical Greek and Hellenistic (Greco-Roman) cultures that included such subjects as gymnastics, grammar, rhetoric, music, mathematics, geography, natural history, and philosophy. In the early Christian era the Greek paideia, called humanitas in Latin, served as a model for Christian institutions of higher learning, such as the Christian school of Alexandria in Egypt, which offered theology as the culminating science of their curricula. The term was combined with enkyklios (“complete system,” or “circle”) to identify a large compendium of general education, hence “encyclopaedia.”
Everything that could be taught in academics was wrapped up in the Greek word, “Paideia.” It was the word the Greeks used for “Schooling.” Paul commanded fathers to train their children up NOT in the Paideia of the world, but instead, in the Paideia of the Lord.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/paideia
Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world.”
- Christian education must be predicated on the foundation of Christ, not on humanistic thought.
1 Thessalonians 2:11: “Just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children.”
- In this passage, in the Greek, EXHORTING means, “inviting” or “calling near,” ENCOURAGING means, “consoling” or “comforting;” IMPLORING means literally, “flogging” or “scourging.”
- It is assumed in Scripture that fathers are taking responsibility for drawing their children to themselves for instruction, comforting and being gentle with them, and for their physical discipline.
- Notice that the verse says, “his OWN children,” not someone else’s. Christian education is intended to be parent-led and parent-directed.
1 Timothy 3:4: “He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. Let deacons be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households.”
- Church leaders must set the example for the rest of the Body of Christ by taking responsibility for managing their own households. If men are not successfully training their own children to follow God, they are not eligible for leadership in ministry.
- The government schools teach false doctrines that are not accordance with the teachings of Jesus. We would never knowingly send our children to a church that teaches false doctrine, so why would we send them to a school that does?
Titus 2:4: “That (the older women) may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children.”
- A young married woman’s primary responsibility is to her own husband and children, not to someone else’s.
Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
- According to Hebrew 11:6, government schools CANNOT please God because they refuse to teach students that He exists and can be known.
Proverbs 16:25: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”
James 4:17: “Therefore to him who knows the right thing to do, and does it not, to him it is sin.
Israel Wayne is an Author and Conference Speaker on the topic of Christian Education and the Director of Family Renewal, LLC. He is also the Site Editor for www.ChristianWorldview.net. Israel is the author of Education: Does God Have an Opinion? A Christian Apologetic for Christian Education & Homeschooling.
WOW! Excellent!!
This is excellent,Israel.I’m going read it to my children and paste it in my journal. Thank you for making the vision plain. “And the LORD answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” Habakkuk 2:2 Been running with it for 25 years and never taken one minute of this God-given freedom for granted!
This is a great article. I appreciate the great contributions of you and your family Israel. Keep up the great work.
Good thoughts! A Christian education (homeschool or private school) certainly is the ideal. Hopefully we will be able to do this with our kids.
Growing up, however, my parents were not always able to provide this for us. (It was a money issue, as well as materials available, and the time to do it: also, my very-social younger brother may have struggled in an isolated setting, as the only home-schooler in town) I am not sure that I am all that much worse off for it, especially because they compensated for my secular education with solid home-devotions, mandatory bible-reading, a good church family, youth group, etc. So yes, homeschooling is good, but if you can’t swing it, all that stuff about teaching your kids still applies. Life is about compromise: you do the best you can with what ya got, and God blesses you for that.
I am not sure that I would agree that state-run education is a “sin.” Public education is a major step forwards for our society, and public literacy well worth the tax-payer’s dollars.
Nice site, Israel – God bless you!
“Life is about compromise: you do the best you can with what ya got, and God blesses you for that.”
I would be interested in your biblical foundation for that reply. Israel’s document is all Scripture and you are only giving your experience and opinion….which I also have experience in the public and private school sector that I could share but am more concerned with what God’s Word says than what my human mind can devise and rationalize. I think that the Scripture is quite clear….our public school system is in “sin” as it stands today simply by putting the curriculum to the test of what God says should be taught to our children. We should never think that just because we “made it out” without “too many” scars (and we are lying to ourselves when we really examine it) that our children will do the same. And my very social children are flourishing in a homeschool setting! I have the freedom to socialize them among many age settings through many service opportunities that are for their spiritual growth not only for an entertainment purpose.
I would have to disagree that “public education is a major step forwards for our society, and public literacy well worth the tax-payer’s dollars.” The reason I disagree is that the literacy rate was higher in our country prior to public education. Also, I personally believe public education is one of the main reasons for moral decline in our country. Parents and children should not be separated for such long periods of time each day. How can parents expect their children to learn mostly from them when they spend less time with their parents than with their fellow classmates? The Bible says foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child and my own children already have enough foolishness in themselves without needing encouragement from other children who also are not so wise.
As the previous poster, I don’t know that taxes are considered sin – if so, Jesus paid for the taxes of Himself and Peter, so that particular point in your argument doesn’t stand well. As with the difference between “thou shalt not kill” and “the government beareth not the sword in vain” we see that God gives governments rights to rule that He does not give an individual.
MJL: My thesis is NOT that taxes are considered sin. Here is a more complete treatment on the taxation issue:
http://www.christianworldview.net/2011/robin-hood-the-government-schools-by-israel-wayne/
Israel,
I couldn’t have said it better myself and if you do not mind I will use some of this to persuade other Christians to come out of the darkness of public education. I love how you touched on the jurisdiction issue of civil government and taxes. Civil governments are to protect the innocent and punish evil doers, ours oversteps it’s bounds that is for sure. I only wish this message would sweep over the Institutional Church like a wave, but pastors refuse to take on the sacred cow of government schools. Keep it up Israel! Blessings Brother and Soldier for Christ.
I appreciate the article very much. As a parent, homeschooling for over 28 years our seven children, I have long been aware that the concept that school could or should be a sterile environment is very new in history.
The notion that a people who have been historically and devoutly Christian in their society and devoid of faith and belief in God is a humanist invention.
It is NOT neutral, it’s anti-Christian. Nearly all other forms of worship, religion, paganism, atheism, humanism, practices of those religions etc. are welcome.
However, any hint of Biblical or God-centered thought or practice is abhorred and avoided or purged.
It’s time to get back to the founders views and practices in education and teach from Biblical foundations in all areas.
Our organization offers a classical founders type education online.
FreedomProject.com
Alan Scholl
Exec. Dir.
Josiah & MLJ, the Bible gives clearly defined roles for Family Government, Church Government and Civil Government. Anytime the Civil Government usurps the role of the Church and/or family it is sin. Education from a strictly Biblical standpoint is not the role or function of Civil Government and should be done away with.
Israel, wonderful articles this one and the Robin Hood one. I will post links on my blog site.
We’ve been reading “Biblical Economics in Comics” by Vic Lockman and I found it very interessting to hear about the tax Jesus referred to when saying “render to Caesar…” The coin was the Roman poll or head tax coin with Caesar’s image on it…Historically, “the Jews in Christ’s day were ruled by a Roman occupation force. They had no Roman citizenship rights, no onstitution, and no Alternative, but to submit to despotism or be crushed brutally!”
You have a great post! Thanks for your thoughtful presentation!
I teach math at a public high school. I, along with a few other teachers, get together and pray weekly for our kids, teachers, and administrators, and for the spiritual climate of the school. The school I work at is in a large metro area and has over 2000 students. Many of the staff and administrators are God-fearing men and women who love on the students. I just wanted to make sure to tell that side of the story too!
I think especially of all the marginalized students in my school who are being served by our public education. I, for one, am glad my taxes go toward such a system that uplifts the poor and needy of our society.
To say that public education is *forcing* us to give our money to the poor is unfair. So often we as Christians want to legislate morality in other areas–abortion and marriage being the hot-button issues. And I agree we ought to be concerned with legislating morality. Why is it, then, such a jump to see public education as a moral good that ought to be legislated?
I agree that there are certain aspects of public education that aren’t ideal. A parent needs to be hands-on, constantly involved in their child’s education, no matter how they are educated (public/private/home). But I’m a much better math teacher than you are as a parent because I’ve been trained to be good at it. As a parent, you need to be involved: meet your teachers, find out what your students are learning at school, and supplement from home. A parent, as the article says, is still the one responsible for ‘nurturing’ the child. But it’s a false syllogism to conclude that *all* education must happen by the parent. Really? Will I, as a Christian parent, educate my children in every area? And to what level and extent? Will I teach them college-level material too? Even if I send my children to a Christian college, I am still yielding my ‘control’ over their education.
I am in no way opposed to homeschool or private school (I was homeschooled for a year, my brother for 3 years). I think they are wonderful. But to paint the issue the way this article does is unfair. Give voice, at least in part, to the other side of the issue. Thanks for listening.
John,
I understand that there are many sincere Christians who work in the government school system. I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, I am thankful that there are people who care about children and are willing to work in the midst of a really bad situation to try to make a difference. The problem I have is that not every institution should be reformed. Some should simply be abolished.
Please consider this article:
http://www.christianworldview.net/2011/robin-hood-the-government-schools-by-israel-wayne/
It is in entirely fair to say they we are FORCED to pay for government education. Do we have a choice? Can we opt out? If not, that is force and coercion.
As a teacher, I would expect you to have a superior view of your skills in Mathematics, however, homeschoolers have for years scored nearly 30% highe4r than governmentally scored students on composite achievement tests. This is even when the parent only has a high school diploma (or less). Homeschoolers are doing this at a fraction of the cost of the government schools (less than $600 per year per student, as opposed to $10,000 per year per student in many government schools).
http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000010/200410250.asp
http://www.hslda.org/docs/study/ray2009/default.asp
I would encourage you to consider the writings of John Taylor Gatto (former New York State and NYC “Teacher of the Year” who has determined that government schools are doing a grave injustice to children:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ogCc8ObiwQ
You are right that other people besides the parent may help assist in teaching a child in some supplementary way. However, government education is not proper delegation of parental responsibility, it is inexcusable abdication.
The problem with government schooling ultimately has nothing to do with what they teach, the problem is that they exist. We had nearly 6,000 years of human history before the 19th century where compulsory attnedence and confiscatory taxation in Europe and America introduced this new experiment of government education. It has been a disastrous failure, primarily because it is not God’s pattern or plan. Socialism is morally wrong and well-meaning people who want to created a better version of Socialism will still fail even if they succeed.
Israel
For you to think that you are a better teacher is quite arrogant! First of all, since you are in a public school you could be fired for bringing God into the federally funded school (from my understanding). And since you can not give glory to God for the mathematics you are teaching, you are not teaching the full counsel of God which we are commanded to teach our children. Kevin Swanson has wonderful lectures on this point. And you must fully admit that teachers are not teaching the child….teachers are merely facilitating a curriculum. The curriculum is what is shaping their minds. Can you tell me that your federally funded curriculum is giving glory to God? If so, just wait, they will come and force you to comply with their God-hating curriculum soon enough (evolution, same sex marriage, sex education, etc.).
There are many videos out there by God-fearing people, including mathematicians, that homeschoolers can avail themselves of if they do not want to teach a certain subject. But the child is still within the sphere of the parents who can constantly guide the child within the series of videos and instruct heart issues that may come up along the way.
You do not like the way the article was “painted”? Really? It was practically all Scripture!
College level is also doable from the oversight of parents by online classes for most undergraduate degrees….until the parents decides that their child is mature enough/solid enough for further exposure to indoctrination that may occur in other fields depending on the college chosen. Ken Ham has a great book out on colleges and the stance they take on Genesis.
I would caution you to not call “evil” (public school education as it stands today), “good”. Scripture is clear that the curriculum used and mandated is not God-fearing.
God’s Word is so refreshing and clear. Like a 2-edged sword dividing between the bones & marrow, the soul & the Spirit.
Thanks Israel!
Israel is a king and priest and prophet in this rotting world, declaring the truth and taking the precious from the vile in these end times. No matter how many ‘God bless'(es) you get from ‘Christian SOCIALISTS’, do not accept them, for they are designed to weaken you and your solid, truthful position and articles.
I am so thankful for this article. I reference it and share it often. Thank you, Israel, for your encouragement to parents.