How Important Is Christian Education?

By Bryan Smith 

I recently read an article by a Christian financial advisor on how parents should think about Christian education. His main point was this: If you can’t afford Christian education, you shouldn’t send your child to a Christian school. But there was more to his argument than just that. He also claimed that Christian schools do only two things for young people: (1) they reinforce their parents’ value system, and (2) they provide a healthy environment. If parents can find other, more affordable ways to reinforce their values and provide a good environment, then that’s what they should do. So, according to this financial advisor, Christian education isn’t really necessary.

As I read the article, I shook my head and thought, “This man has a low view of Christian education because he has a low view of the Bible.” That may sound unfair, but think about it. The Bible is what makes education Christian. When someone says that Christian education is unnecessary, he’s saying that the Bible is not central to the formation of young people. In other words, when it comes to raising a child, the Bible is just the icing on the cake.

However, many Christians throughout history would strongly disagree with this thinking. Here’s some advice Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer, gave to Christians in his day: “Above all, the foremost and most general subject of study, both in the higher and the lower schools, should be the Holy Scriptures. . . . But where the Holy Scriptures do not rule, there I advise no one to send his son. Everyone not unceasingly busy with the Word of God must become corrupt. . . .  I greatly fear that the universities are wide gates of hell, if they do not diligently teach the Holy Scriptures and impress them on the youth.”1

Why is Luther’s view so different from the advice cited above? I think it has something to do with Luther’s understanding of the Bible and its role in what education is all about: how a person learns.

How does learning happen?

We may be tempted to think that our minds work like a vacuum cleaner: we pick knowledge up through our five senses and then toss it into our memory. But learning is more complicated than that. Knowledge isn’t picked up. It’s constructed. We observe the world with our five senses, but those observations don’t have meaning—they don’t become knowledge—until they have been interpreted through a process of reasoning. This process relates observations to our beliefs about history, our growing sense of identity, and our deeply held convictions. That is how knowledge gets acquired, and that is how learning happens.

Another way to say it is that knowledge cannot be constructed apart from a foundation. Our knowledge has to rest on a set of assumptions that can give stability and coherence to our observations about the world.

A good example of how this works is recorded in the opening chapters of Genesis. In the center of the Garden of Eden, there was a tree (Gen. 2:16-17). Adam and Eve could observe its size, its bark, its leaves, and its fruit, but they could not construct meaningful knowledge about that tree until they took those observations and placed them on a foundation, on a set of assumptions. God gave them one foundation: (1) the tree is for knowledge, not for eating; (2) God has their best interests at heart; and (3) if they eat the fruit, they will die. The serpent gave them another foundation: (1) the tree is for knowledge and for eating; (2) God is selfish and cruel; and (3) if they eat the fruit, they will become like God. The observations were the same, but the meanings—and the choices that flowed from them—were very different.

What should be our foundation for knowledge?

The Bible teaches that it is the foundation for human knowledge. God has given it to us to provide our knowledge with the stability and coherence it needs. The Bible does not reveal everything we need to know. It doesn’t address the details of sub-atomic physics or rules for baseball, but it is the foundation for all knowledge. Everything we know—everything we claim is true—needs to be built on biblical teaching. That which agrees with Scripture is true. That which can be harmonized with Scripture may be true. That which cannot be harmonized with Scripture cannot be true.

This is what the Bible teaches about itself from beginning to end. In particular, consider what Jesus reveals in His high-priestly prayer for His followers: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17). Notice that Jesus doesn’t call God’s Word true. He makes a bigger claim than that. He calls it truth.

A true statement is one that conforms to the standard of truth that pertains to that statement. The Bible is true, but it’s not true in that way. Because it comes from God, it is the standard by which all statements are to be judged. It’s like a plumb line. A plumb line is a cord with a weight on the end, and it’s used to determine if a structure is straight. A science statement (or a math or history statement) is true in a way that a wall is straight. But a Bible statement is true in a way that a plumb line is straight. It’s true because it is truth. It is the standard by which everything else is judged. So, the Bible isn’t just about values and a healthy environment—it’s about making knowledge possible. It’s the foundation for knowledge.

Could there be another foundation?

But some will ask, “Can’t there be another foundation for knowledge?” Well, if there were, what would it be? Many have claimed that science should be the foundation, but this view has problems.

One problem is that humans are finite. Science is based on observations, but humans are not able to observe everything. In fact, the vast majority of what happens in the universe is beyond human observation. Consequently, there are many things we have to know that science is not able to address. Now, don’t get me wrong. I believe that science is a powerful tool. However, it cannot function as the foundation for all knowledge. It’s too limited.

Another problem is that humans are fallen. Our reasoning is depraved, and our observations are clouded by sin. Jesus’ earthly ministry provides a case in point. The Jewish religious leadership refused to accept His claims. At one point, they charged that Jesus had offered no valid proof. In response, Jesus said, “Because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me” (John 8:45). They didn’t believe Him because He had told them the truth. The problem was not in Jesus’ proof or in the facts. They were flawless, and they supported His claims. The problem was in fallen man’s inability to see the facts for what they were.

If we are going to have knowledge, we must build it on a foundation that is firmer and better than anything we can produce. The Bible teaches that this foundation is found in the words God has spoken to man.

What about Christian education?

If we attempt to build our knowledge on something other than Scripture, we will be like the foolish man who built his house on the sand (cf. Matt. 7:26-27). If we allow our children to accept truth claims—in history, science, math, and literature—because those claims pass the test of secular thinking, then we are leading our children to build their knowledge on something that will fail them and mislead them. This is how schools become “wide gates of hell.”

Our children need an approach to education that will show them how to build all their knowledge on the Word of God. This approach will support Christian values and provide a healthy environment for personal growth. But it will do far more. It will equip them to be sanctified “in the truth” in every part of life.

What we think about Christian education reveals what we think about Scripture. If there is a foundation for knowledge other than Scripture, then Christian education is a luxury. But if Scripture alone is the foundation for knowledge, then Christian education is a necessity. How important is Christian education to you?

Bryan Smith has worked in Christian education for more than thirty years. He has been a classroom teacher as well as a textbook author. Currently, he serves at BJU Press as the Director for Biblical Worldview Shaping. He assists families and schools in preparing the next generation to live in the light of eternity. Bryan holds a Ph.D. in Old Testament Interpretation. He and his wife, Becky, have six children.

ENDNOTES

1. Martin Luther, An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate (1520), translated by C. M. Jacobs (1915), https://projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/nblty-07.html.