Christianity is a revealed religion and the God of the Old and New Testament has revealed Himself to us through Creation and His Word, the Bible.  The Scriptures give us some of God’s foundational statements on exactly what constitutes education.  Proverbs 1:7 states that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,” while Mark 12:30 declares you are to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

In relationship to Christ, the Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 1:16-18 and 2:3 that “all things were created by Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together … in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”  II Cor. 10:5 proclaims that we are to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”  Lastly, according to I Corinthians 10:31, we are to understand that “whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.”

The Scriptures are clear that the very foundation of education is to consist of a loving reverence for God with all of one’s heart and mind.  Christian education is by definition totally Christ-centered.  The student is directed to understand the world through the light of Christ and His Word, in Whom true wisdom and knowledge are found, and for the glory of God alone!  Without this understanding and approach, “Christian education” ceases to be Christian.

Because the Scriptures occupy a central place in the revelation of God to man, they must therefore play a critical role in Christian Education.  The goal of Christian Education is to allow the students to gain a solid knowledge of Scripture and to impart to them the theological tools necessary to cultivate a Biblical worldview.  Only then will they be able to grow and mature into the people that God has called them to be in relation to their family, their church and to the world at large.

Conclusion

As J. Gresham Machen has stated, “A Christian boy or girl can learn mathematics, for example, from a teacher who is not Christian; and truth is truth however learned.  But while truth is truth however learned, the beginning of truth, the meaning of truth, the purpose of truth, even in the sphere of mathematics, seem entirely different to the Christian from that which they seem to the non-Christian; and that is why a truly Christian education is possible only when Christian conviction underlies not a part, but all, of the curriculum of the school.”