Biblical Principles Relating to Education

The Purpose of Education from a Christian Perspective

Education has a strong spiritual component. It is not all about getting a good job and making safe choices in life. A God-honoring education will motivate the student to worship God with his heart, mind, soul and strength (Mk 12:30). A truly Christian education recognizes that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Pr 9:10).

1. The highest purpose for mankind in general is to “glorify God and enjoy him forever” (Ps 73:24-26; John 17:22-24; Rom 11:36; 1 Cor 10:31). Thus, the highest purpose in education must be to assist individuals in developing the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable them to better glorify and enjoy God.  Christian education is not moralism added to secular knowledge.
2. Christian education is the pursuit of wisdom. Wisdom is the skill to understand knowledge gained from God’s world, and to apply it for God’s glory. When you are wise, you see life from God’s perspective, and turn those perspectives into practical obedience. A life of holiness – the life of a disciple – follows from a heart of wisdom.
3. Christian education aims at nothing less than giving children a thoroughly Christian worldview. A worldview is not one window for your mind to look out from. Your worldview is the lens through which you see everything. Worldview is how you understand the past, the present, and the future. Worldview is your standard of judgement: what is good, true and beautiful. Worldview defines God, others, the world, and yourself. Worldview is your idea of reality, your understanding of what is real. Not satisfied with teaching poetry, literature, geography, biology, history or business economics lightly seasoned with Bible verses, it insists that every domain of knowledge be understood as God sees it, and used as God commands it. This means that Christian education has a uniquely Christian epistemology. That is, Christian education believes a right way of knowing exists, and pursues this.
4. Another primary purpose is to instill within the student the desire to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 19:19). Christian education is not primarily preparation for a career.  Thus, students should be equipped to serve others. Christian education promotes using knowledge to glorify God and to minister to others. Students should learn to obey and serve God more fully so that they may minister to others more effectively. Christian education desires to shape disciples, not merely equip careerists. Nevertheless, Christian education cares that its scholars fulfil their callings. First Corinthians 7:18-23 teaches that every Christian has a calling, or vocation. God appoints these stations in life, and fulfilment comes in pursuing and accomplishing one’s callings. Joy, as Ecclesiastes shows, lies not in sheer financial gain, but in God-ordained work. Eating and drinking, and enjoying the fruit of one’s labour, is not the world’s idea of ‘having a job’ and ‘getting paid’. Christian education hopes to prepare its learners to pursue their callings. In modern life, this means Christian education equips its students to be ready to pursue further training. Christian education does not attempt to provide specialised career training, but it gives a Christian excellent tools to do so. This will mean that Christian education should create careful readers, good writers, skilled researchers, and incisive thinkers. They will understand the technologies and  media around them, but more importantly, they will have a Christian understanding of how those should be used. They will understand the market, the politics, the cultural values of the world into which they will be sent as ambassadors of Christ.

Paul repeatedly warns believers that they are in a battle zone fighting a spiritual war (Eph 6:10-17). Much of this battle is fought on an intellectual level. Believers must cast down everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and to bring every thought into the captivity of Christ (2 Cor 10:4-5). A rigorous education is required for those who desire to “contend for the faith” (Jude 3) against skeptics and critics. God calls upon believers to develop their minds for the purpose of intellectual warfare, and the educational process provides an essential mechanism to assist in this task.

Who is Responsible for Education?

Every individual is ultimately responsible to God for his own continuing education. God expects every believer to actively seek wisdom (Prov 24:1-4). One of the key characteristics that distinguishes a wise person from a fool is his willingness to pursue wisdom and receive instruction (Prov 1:22, 9:7-10, 15:15). God’s most direct instruction to the individual comes explicitly though the Bible. Experience—the “school of hard knocks”—is also a good instructor. God expects us to learn from both.

Parents, and particularly fathers, are responsible for the education of their children. God gives parents the task of teaching their children (Deut 4:9, 6:7-8, 11:19; Prov 22:6). The responsibility of children to obey and honor their parents (Ex 20:12; Eph 6:1-2) implies that the home will be a place of education. The Bible tells parents that they have a moral responsibility before God to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4). As teachers labor to nurture, instruct, and discipline students, their central task is to make disciples of Christ.

Homeschooling is one application of this principle. However, homeschooling requires enough financial resources for one parent (usually the mother) to stay at home and teach. It requires significant investments of time, money as well as being demanding. Its drawbacks include missing some of the organised events that go with schools – extra-murals, and some of the opportunities to learn and apply social skills.

The Bible nowhere requires that the government be in charge of education. However, several individuals in the Bible likely experienced state-sponsored education (e.g., Moses, Isaiah, Daniel and his friends). We cannot claim that it is anti-biblical for the government to administrate the education of its citizens. A well-educated citizenry is certainly in the best interests of the nation, and without state resources, many citizens would not be educated. The Bible nowhere prohibits governmental sponsorship or control of education, unless such control interferes with parental desires or with biblical expectations. Unfortunately, modern state-run education often conflicts with both.

  – David De Bruyn, Professor of Church History, Shepherds’ Seminary Africa