II Kings 22:8-13; II Timothy 3:10-17
THe education we give our children must never forget nor pervert the Word of God. That’s what the Bible means when it says in Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
This instruction applies also to our teaching of young people in school and colleges. A noted university professor once had this to say: “A knowledge of the Bible without a college course is more valuable than a college course without the Bible.”
But that’s not what our young people are getting. Instead of teaching them the Word of God, we keep them in ignorance. We have been hearing variations of the theme that counsels us to let our youngsters be free to choose their own values, their own lifestyle, and their own religious preference. Their mind, according to the theory, should not be so prejudiced that when they come of age, they won’t be able to choose what’s right and wrong.
What this kind of non-directive method of education does is to keep our young people ignorant through their formative years. As a result, they readily surrender to the evils and wickedness of their own peers. God has made it clear that the hearts of man are evil right from birth. Therefore, if a child is not trained in the Word, what wins out is the imagination of the evil heart.
An Old Testament example
Before the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, the children of ancient Israel had been given education that both forgot and perverted the law of God. We read about that in the chapters before II Kings 22. Even though they maintained the ritual of temple sacrifices and kept the other ceremonial requirements, the way they lived altogether made void the teaching of God.
That is what we see in today’s Christianity. People go to church and go through the motion of praising and worshipping Jesus, but they learn little about the teachings of God. Not surprisingly, the lifestyle of these churchgoers is hardly different from that of other people. Without the Word of God as their divine standard of value, they feel perfectly at home mingling with their non-Christian friends, and loving the things and pleasures of the world.
Discovery of the Law. In Josiah’s day, it was into such a vacuum of Biblical education that God, in His providence, had the high priest Hilkiah discover in the dust of the temple the law of God. Inherent in that discovery was the reading and the hearing of what was written therein. And when the king of Judah heard it, he responded by renting his clothes—an outward symbol of what was happening in his heart. His conscience was convicted that he had been living wrong.
But he went beyond that. He asked the high priest and others there to inquire of the Lord what he should do. Accepting his humbled heart and granting him forgiveness, God answered in verses 19,20:
Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place.
The evidence. From that divine reassurance, we can see how Biblical education had its effect in the heart and soul of Josiah. The king, in turn, went up into the house of the Lord, taking all the people with him, and read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant. With his changed life, Josiah demonstrated vividly what can happen in a family, a community, and a nation when Biblical education takes place as decreed by our Creator.
Psalm 119 is a chapter that particularly stresses the importance of having the Word of God guide our everyday life. We read in verse 11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee”; in verse 105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path”; and in verse 130, “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”
New Testament teaching
In II Timothy 3:10-17, God shows how Paul and young Timothy experienced Biblical education in their lives. In verses 10 and 11, the Apostle was moved to write:
Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.”
From the accounts recorded in the Book of Acts and elsewhere, we know that Paul was not exaggerating when he talked about the hardship he had to suffer. But it was no doubt his doctrine— that is, his understanding of the Word—that helped him endure the persecution and rely on the Lord to see him through.
After reminding Timothy and every other believer to be continually on his guard lest he’d be deceived by evil men and seducers, he begins in verse 14 to show us how we can keep ourselves from being so deceived.
Four principles. The first principle is found in verse 14: “Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.” The things we learn from the Bible are to be kept and followed always.
Second, Biblical education begins at childhood. “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (v. 15). There needs to be a conscious recognition that we should begin to teach our children the Gospel when they are still young.
Third, we need to be totally convinced that the Bible is the Textbook of all textbooks, because it is from God. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…” (v. 16a). Yes, there were many human writers involved, but they all did their writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, “…and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (vv. 16b, 17).
Most of us have heard messages on the four areas for which the inspired Bible is profitable—doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. But have we made the transition from reading to applying what we have learned in these areas so that they become a part of our everyday life?
Conclusion
There can be no true education that is not Biblical education. The Christian reformers understood this well back in the 16th Century and they got the Bible into the hands of the people.
Do you know that Biblical education was behind the founding of the Ivy League colleges on the East Coast? Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth were all established primarily to train ministers of the gospel and to evangelize the Eastern Seaboard. They defined education in terms of the Bible.
Cornell University is the only ivy-league college whose origin had no particular connection with Christianity. Why? It was established in 1865, well after education had been redefined in terms of secularism. You see, by 1865 learning and the universities had been separated from the Bible. The seminary pulled away from the university.
It’s sad that our education is no longer Biblical. We say we believe in the Bible, but we don’t know the scriptures and thus cannot apply them to every phase of our life. Most professing Christians nowadays readily accept secular definitions of education.
Luther’s warning. Martin Luther, the one who started the Protestant Reformation, anticipated this. He warned: “I’m afraid that the universities will prove to be the great gates of hell. Unless they diligently labor to explain the Holy Scriptures and to engrave them upon the hearts of the youth, I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution where men are not unceasingly occupied with the word of God must become corrupt.”
Back to the Bible. God used Biblical education to change King Josiah. He heard and obeyed the law of God. God also used Biblical education to mold young Timothy. Because from a child he had known the Holy Scriptures, as a young man he became thoroughly equipped unto good works.
Biblical education is the teaching of the Scriptures for every phase of our life. Whether we are a bricklayer or a medical doctor, a housewife or a real-estate broker, a mechanic or an engineer, whatever our vocation, Biblical education requires a thorough knowledge of the Bible, or else even our so-called advance education will only end in misery and heartache.
Judgment day ahead. Notice how God concludes the Book of Ecclesiastes. He says in verses 12-14 of Chapter 12:
And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
The Bible is our final authority in all matters. Unless we have experienced Biblical education in our life and unless we have been transformed by the Word of God, we will find ourselves standing before the Judgment Throne of Christ when He returns.