The Case for Christian Education:The command for true Christian culture from Ephesians 6:4

by Professor Christopher Hearn

You say you want a revolution?

As a native Californian I can see why Americans and especially Christians who live in other states would be befuddled as to why any parents like my wife and I would dare raise four children in 'commie-California'.

The secret may be a surprise but because California public schools can be such an abomination parents have developed a robust array of alternatives to raise up a next generation for Christ in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation to shine as bright lights (Philippians 3:10).

Practically speaking I was told by a former employee who worked in the office of the legislature that the residual influence of the hippie movement in California has left a surprisingly low set of regulations to operate a private school. Name? DOB? Address? You're all set. Even in the roughest areas of downtown LA you'll find some impressive private schools.

Most importantly, a faithful local church is the support and pillar of the truth for families to survive and thrive in any nation or culture in any age.

As a father of four I am officially the principal where my wife is the primary teacher of our own little 'organic' school but my friends who operate much larger operations have the same surprise at the low regulations. We love it! Why?If we are not taking money from the government, ­we are not required to reciprocate by obeying the government dogma. Even if the government were to hang cross flags instead of 'pride' flags and dish out millions of dollars for Christian education this would be a dangerous alliance, a ticking time bomb so it is better to God's counsel given to the prophet Samuel to keep your sons and daughters away from the "king" or in this case the government (1 Samuel 8:9).

Additionally, if this right/responsibility is not exercised by brave parents in our bluest and most populous state in the union we might lose the last pillar keeping families and churches thriving with no hope of a future turn around.

The horrors that parents experienced during COVID were not a sudden reality but a sudden realization of the government's power over our children which had accumulated after 100 years of educating our children.

The biblical case for a Christian education:

Some might see the responsibility of Christian parents to educate their children as some sort of unnecessary task only for trad legalists or hippies who must churn their own butter. The reality is we are in a great war being surrounded on every front and the only way to fire back, the only way to charge and achieve victory, the only way to fight beyond survival and to thrive is to take up the full armor of God and obey God's commands by God's power.I am describing the impossible. Genuinely obeying this command is only possible with God as a fruit of regeneration (Titus 3:5) and salvation by grace through faith and the divine design of good works which God has prepared us to walk in (Ephesians 2:8-10) and as soldiers of Christ let us MARCH FORWARD IN THEM!!!!

Here is the one verse we will explore in detail...

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4 NIV

"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4 NASB (ESV Same)

"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4 KJV

Let's explore now the three primary features of this mandate to provide a Christian education for our children.

1)The Culture

2) The Command

3) The Christ

1) The Culture " training and instruction"

From this verse we have borrowed a Greek word ΠΑΙΔΕΙΑ (παιδεία) into the Oxford English dictionary...

paideia | pīˈdāə | noun (in ancient Greece) education or upbringing. • formal the culture of a society.

It may surprise you, but the NIV has the most precise translation of this term among the four translations (not always the case).

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4 NIV.

Here is closer look at the term in the Greek Lexicon BDAG.

παιδεία, ας, ἡ(παιδεύω; ‘cultural nurture’ Aeschyl., Thu.+)

① the act of providing guidance for responsible living, upbringing, training, instruction, in our lit. chiefly as it is attained by discipline, correction[1]

This term is also used in reference to every Christians "training" by God's word (Scripture),

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;" 2 Timothy 3:16.

This verse is the most explicit command for Christians to provide a Christian culture by means of training their children with Scripture. What is also clear is that the primary training source for children must be Scripture which cannot happen properly without active membership in a local church.The OT equivalent of Ephesians 6:4 ironically starts in Deuteronomy 6:4, the famous "Shema"[2] and still applies to Christians. The Jewish context is instructive to Christians.

Even to this day most Jewish households mount a symbolic scroll or שׁ (šīn/'sheen') for the first letter of the Shema שׁמה marked on their door, the command given here by Paul is explicitly for New Testament Christians.

This command is viewed as the primary mission and purpose of every Jewish household and the Greek word "paideia" was used to describe Greek households centered on Greek philosophy and culture etc.

Paul is instructing Christian parents to make this mission the identity of our households.This is our mission; this is our mandate.The intent of this article is not to burden parents with a legalistic cookie cutter format but to empower parents with the mission of God. The vision of how this will look for each household will have endless variables and adaptations for each family, each child, and each phase of life (Ecclesiastes 3:11).Many parents start attending church out of an instinctive concern for their children which then leads to their own conversion after realizing their own spiritual need for Christ. As church leaders/members we need to be as friendly and helpful as possible for parents who want to bring their children to church to support the escape the corruption of the world (James 1:27).

A quote by the late journalist Andrew Breitbart repeated in politics is that "politics is downstream from culture" but the ancient words of Scripture say that 'culture' is downstream from the home and the home is downstream from Christ.

That is the primary logic of this verse. This sets the primary focus for obeying this command on Christ and His word. The motto of my Alma Mater is, "For Christ and Scripture" but this should not be exclusive to expensive private universities, but it needs to be the banner of every Christian home.

2) The Command "bring them up"

"bring them up" is the same concept as cultivate or culture and this is a command (imperative) to exercise initiative and leadership in terms of culture in the home. In contrast, many have neglected this for the sake of impacting fake "culture" viewing it as being accepted by immoral celebrities or mainstream media whereas "culture" is primarily taught, trained, and transferred within the home whether that home is in the middle of the city or out on the farm or anywhere else.

ἐκτρέφετε (ek-tré-fe-te)

The literal sense of this word is to "feed" or give "food (τροφή, ῆς, ἡ (τρέφω) nourishment, food[3]

Culture is related to the idea of cultivating plants (kindergarten=literally 'children's garden') which is a similar concept to the command (imperative) given here.

But this is used figuratively to raise children which literally involves feeding and the physical growth but also the "food" of God's word (Matthew 4:4, Deuteronomy 8:3).

Physical growth and spiritual maturity were designed to go hand in glove.

This is indeed the hardest part and most important and that is dedicating yourself as parents to providing quality and quantity time with your children to be there to wrestle with their challenges with them and empower them to take up the sword of the Spirit and battle the flesh, the world, and the devil.

As my wife pointed out, choosing curriculums is plenteous and easy today, the hard part is signing yourself up for the school of discipleship and being the most shining example of a follower of Christ for your children.

You must do the hard work of providing for them an example of how to be a sinner saved by God's grace and marching on the narrow path to glory. YOU FOLLOW CHRIST!

Notice how the upbringing of John the Baptist is described, "And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel." Luke 1:80.

Now notice the similar description of Jesus, "And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." Luke 2:52.

Check out this command in Ephesians 6:4 in the Latin translation, "sed educate illos in disciplina et correptione Domini."

Yes, that underlined word is the Latin word for this command "educate" if you pronounced this word like a Roman in Ephesus it would rhyme with "latte" but all accents aside, you get the point: to educate is to cultivate to cultivate is to enculturate.

For better or for worse it is the educational environment (home, school, church etc.) of every child which steers true culture.

Consider this great warning from Martin Luther,

"I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme. Every institution that does not unceasingly pursue the study of God’s word becomes corrupt…. I greatly fear that the universities, unless they teach the Holy Scriptures diligently and impress them on the young students, are wide gates to hell."

“To the Christian Nobility” (Luther’s Works, American Edition (AE), vol. 44, p. 207).

Anybody who has been paying attention to culture in the Western world within the past few decades has at least caught a glimpse of the ghoulish insanity steaming out of the halls of Western universities captured by vicious God-haters who have opened wide the gates of hell while their students have born the fruit of stupidity, pride, insanity, bloodshed, and immorality.

The horror needs to stop, and it will stop with us.

3) The Christ "of the Lord"

Good works are the result (fruit) of God's grace (root) in us and as we are planted by streams of water we will yield fruit in season and out of season when being 'trad' is 'rad' and when it is not (Psalm 1, 2 Timothy 4:2).

To obey this command in Christ without the Lord's help himself which leaves all parents in the same place which is needing to rely upon God to do the impossible.

As stated before, the only way to do this is to this according to the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand." John 10:27–28.

The dreaded zoom classes and meetings of 2020 helped many parents realize that the education they their kids were getting was indeed a big government scam and since then many videos and real life interactions of school board meetings, forced injections, and purple-haired perverts created "house on fire" affect for many parents to quickly rush out of "Egypt", so just in case you find yourself in the wilderness I want to encourage you as a fellow parent in the Lord who seeks to obey this command with four beautiful children.

This command is not some side project, but it is the primary objective of every parent on mission to follow Christ.

We are commanded to give our children a Christian education which will equip this upcoming generation (Alpha and so forth) to step into roles of leadership of our world and they can only do this if their parents cultivate a culture of Christian education executed by speaking the truth in love and being rooted in Christ to achieve true maturity.

Today's students are tomorrow's doctors, lawyers, teachers, politicians, policemen, pastors, parents etc. It happens so fast so we can't pretend like our little ones will be little forever. We need to prepare them for adulthood but more importantly eternity in God’s kingdom.

Bring them up in the culture and instruction of Christ. This can include external fun, fine art, and architecture, but it is primarily about the inner values of obedience to Christ which are the fruit of genuine faith in Him. Christ is Lord over all things and the resurrection and ascension were His crowning moments and His second coming will be the final victory–so then discover this truth and embrace Christ as Lord in every area of life (Colossians 1:13–29)

4) Closing thoughts on application

Even though it is true that this command would include mothers, the cultural context of the Pauline epistles was written to house churches (Colossians 4:15) and these homes operated under a roman legal structure called "pater familias" and "pater potestias" which were often brutal and oppressive to women and children.

Paul's commands were a redemptive approach of leveraging the tyrannical powers of the father in the home and redeeming them to bring Christ to every nation which was the true power for even such things as freeing slaves.

Philemon is an example. In order to free Onesimus, the appeal was not made to Caesar but to the father of the household. If every father freed their slaves and treated them as brothers, then Caesar's authority would be meaningless…he can't put them all in prison.

Even Caesar's own personal house operated under these rules and Paul was able to make great sacrifices to testify the gospel to Caesar's household (Philippians 4:22).

In contrast, any slave rebellion in Rome was met with violent retaliation by the government. This redemptive model (in contrast to a rebellious one) would create a more lasting impact than a dangerous slave rebellion or radical isolationism (monkery) but instead these Christians were commanded to operate within the rules of Roman society in ultimate allegiance to Christ instead of Caesar. More important than changing the form of government was changing the hearts and the home of Christians.

You say you want a revival?

You might be or want to become a Christian parent who obeys this command. You might realize there is only one way out of this mess and that is Jesus. Yet at the same time any mortal will almost immediately feel the weight and grandeur of such a responsibility like Moses crying out to God for relief from the invading Egyptian army but God told Moses to stretch out his staff so the power of God might be on full display (Exodus 14:13–17).[4]

Yes, we need to cry out to God, but we need to take action to do the impossible by God's grace.

Raising children to be educated as Christians can be daunting for those desiring to do so or a big wake up call for those who don't know it is their duty before God.

Is it difficult?

No! IT IS IMPOSSIBLE! It is impossible with man but with God, all things are possible!!!

Be liberated! Be encouraged! Pray! Onward!

"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4

[1] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 748.

[2] “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons 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 up." New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Dt 6:4–7.

[3] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 1017.

[4] But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.

“The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.

“As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.

“As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. (Ex 14:13–17).