Train Up a Child in the Way He Should Go
Chapter 2 The Center of Education Revealed in Deuteronomy 6—
The LORD Our God Is One LORD
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.” (Deut. 6:4)
In Chapter One we considered the words, “Hear, O Israel!” But “hearing” is only the starting point of education, not its ultimate goal. God calls Israel to hear in order to bring them into a revelation concerning Himself: “The LORD our God is one LORD.” The one God is to be our one Lord. In the matter of educating children, God does not first tell parents how to educate their children, nor does He first tell people how they ought to live. He first brings them before Himself, establishes the relationship between God and man, and causes them to know: Who is God? Who is Lord? Who should dwell at the center of man’s whole life?
The education revealed in Deuteronomy 6 does not begin with the child, nor does it begin with educational methods. It begins with God Himself. This is the biblical view of education; this is God’s view of education. Before parents ask, “What kind of person will my child become?” they first need to ask, “Who is Lord in my life? Who is Lord in my family? Who is Lord in my child’s life?” This is the most fundamental question of education revealed in Deuteronomy 6. It is the center of all education.
I. The One God—Education Must First Lead a Person to Know Him
“The LORD our God is one LORD” is first of all a revelation concerning God Himself. He is not one among many gods, nor is He merely the first item among many important things in human life. He is the one Lord. There is no other who can stand beside Him, and no person or thing can share His unique place.
Knowledge concerning human life and work is not in itself the center of education. The center of education is God Himself. Paul says in Romans 11:36, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” This verse expresses God’s central place in all things in a very complete way: all things are of Him—He is the source of all things; all things are through Him—He sustains all existence and life; all things are to Him—He is the ultimate purpose and destination of all things. Therefore, truly God-centered education must also view a child’s life from these three aspects: his life is of God, his present living must depend upon God, and the final direction and purpose of his life should be unto God. If our education departs from these three things, then even if it gives our children more knowledge, greater ability, and a better future, in God's point of view, our children remain uneducated, it may still cause him to lose the true center of life.
In Revelation 1:8 the Lord God also says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last. God is not merely one part of our life; He is the beginning and the ending, the source and the goal. We do not first possess a life of our own and then invite God into it to help us. Rather, everything we are comes from Him, exists through Him, and should return to Him. Education, therefore, is not a matter of adding God to our lives; it is to help us see that our whole life already has its source, meaning, and destination in God. Simply put, our life is not a story centered on ourselves that we ask God to help us write. Our life is a participation in the story God has already written. It is not that He participates in our story, but that we participate in His.
Knowledge has its place. Ability has its place. Culture, logic, language, science, work, and the practical skills of life all have their place. But if a person knows many things yet does not know who God is; if he has great ability yet does not know who is Lord; if he can analyze the world yet does not know his own place before God, then his knowledge has still not found its true center. Proverbs says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” (Prov. 1:7) This does not mean that Christians do not need knowledge. It means that all true knowledge must be brought back to its proper center and order.
What is true of knowledge in general is even more true of knowing God Himself. The Lord Jesus says in John 17:3, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” This shows us that the biblical meaning of “knowing God” goes far beyond knowing information about God. A person may be familiar with many biblical facts, know the attributes of God, understand many doctrines, and possess a fairly complete body of Christian knowledge, yet still not truly know God Himself. The center of eternal life is to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Therefore, if education is truly centered on God, it cannot merely add “Bible” to a child’s curriculum, nor can it merely add Christian activities to family life. Truly God-centered education helps the next generation gradually come to know throughout their lives: Who is He? What kind of God is He? What is His will? What are His ways? What authority does He have over my life? What kind of relationship should I have with Him?
Therefore, the most fundamental lesson in education is this: God is God, and I am not God. When I know that God is God, I know that I am not the center of the universe. When I know that He is the Creator, I know that I am a creature. When I know that He is Lord, I know that my life does not exist merely for myself. Therefore, what a child most needs to know from an early age is not merely, “What kind of person will I become?” but, “Who is God? Whose am I?”
II. The First and Second Commandments—The One God Requires a Place That Cannot Be Shared
“The LORD our God is one LORD” is directly related to the first two of the Ten Commandments. The first commandment says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Ex. 20:3) This first settles the question of who is God. We easily understand this commandment to mean, “God should be first,” but it goes deeper than putting God first. If God were merely first, we could still arrange a second, third, and fourth master beneath Him. But God does not say, “You may have many gods as long as you rank Me first.” He says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” God’s place, therefore, is not merely the highest rank. It is a place that cannot be shared. He is not the greatest center among many centers of life. He is the unique center.
The second commandment then says, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God.” (Ex. 20:4–5) Among the Ten Commandments, the second commandment is unusually rich in its description. It does not merely give a prohibition; it also reveals God Himself and the nature of the relationship between God and man. The first commandment says, “You shall have no other gods.” The second goes one step further: you must not make anything to replace this unique God, nor give to any person or thing the place that belongs to Him alone. The deepest problem with an idol is therefore not merely wood, stone, gold, silver, or a religious image. The real problem with an idol is that something else occupies the place that belongs to God alone.
The deepest statement in the second commandment is, “For I the LORD thy God am a jealous God.” The relationship here moves from “I” to “you.” It first establishes the unique relationship between “I” and “you,” and out of this unique relationship comes jealousy. This “jealousy” cannot be understood in terms of fallen human jealousy. Human jealousy often comes from comparison, selfishness, insecurity, and possessiveness. God’s jealousy, however, comes from His holiness, His love, and the unique relationship between Him and His people. God loves man to such an extent that He will not yield to another the place that rightly belongs to Him alone.
Marriage helps us understand this to some degree, “For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name.” (Isa. 54:5). Husband and wife each hold a unique place in relation to the other. A wife cannot say, “I still love my husband and put him first, but I will also allow another man to share the same marital place with him.” That is not an enrichment of love; it is the destruction of the marriage relationship. The exclusiveness of marriage does not arise from a lack of love. On the contrary, it arises because this love belongs to a unique relationship. In the same way, God’s relationship with His people is unique. He does not say, “As long as you still put Me first, it does not matter if several other objects share your worship with Me.” Rather, He says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Thus, the statement that God is a jealous God reveals how serious and exclusive His love toward man is. He does not merely want a place in man’s religious life; He wants man’s whole life to belong to Him.
This also explains why Deuteronomy 6:4 is immediately followed by verse 5: “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Because He is the one Lord, man cannot love Him with a divided heart. There is a very clear spiritual order here: the one God has His unique place and His unique relationship with man; He allows no person or thing to replace Him; and man’s response to Him must therefore be the love of the whole person.
There is another aspect of the second commandment that is especially important for education. God continues: “Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” (Ex. 20:5–6) This is not a mechanical fatalism, as though children must inevitably be condemned because their parents sinned. Rather, this passage solemnly tells us that a person’s relationship with God has generational consequences. This is one of the main reasons we are giving particular attention to education.
Children will see what their parents truly worship and serve. They will sense what their parents truly fear. They will gradually learn what their parents truly depend on for security. Parents may say with their mouths, “God is one.” But if every important decision is ultimately determined by money, face, grades, future prospects, and human opinion, then the real education the children receive is that these things are our true gods, the objects we should worship and serve. Thus we do not merely pass teachings on to the next generation; we also pass on what we ourselves truly worship and serve. Whomever we worship, we serve. This is an unchanging principle, and it produces generational consequences.
Yet the mercy of God described here far exceeds the judgment that comes because of His jealousy. The contrast between three or four generations and a thousand generations is striking. God does not want parents to live in fear; He gives us a great hope. The most precious inheritance we can leave to the next generation is not property, education, ability, or opportunity, but a family in which God holds the unique place—a family in which God is free to bless unto a thousand generations.
III. The One Lord—The Beloved Son Given by the One God Is Also Unique
In the New Testament, God does not lower this requirement of uniqueness; rather, He reveals His intention more fully in His Son. The Lord says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) Therefore, we cannot separate “the only true God” from “Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” God is one, and the beloved Son whom He has given is also unique in God’s eternal purpose and redemption.
The Lord Jesus Himself says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) He does not say, “I am a way.” He says, “I am the way.” He is not one truth among many options; He is the unique Truth. He does not merely give people principles for a better life; He Himself is Life. More importantly, He plainly says, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” This declaration is particular and exclusive. It is not open to negotiation or compromise. Without the Son of God, we cannot come to the Father; without the Son, we cannot have the Father.“Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” (1Jn2:23)
In Acts, the apostles testify in the Holy Spirit: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
These three passages make Christ’s unique place unmistakably clear: there is only one way to the Father, there is only one name under heaven by which man can be saved, and he that acknowledge the son has the Father also. The one God has not given mankind many parallel ways of salvation. Many people—even many Christians—may think that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is only one road among many. Yet the Lord says that He is the way. Apart from Him there is no way and no other name. God has given us His beloved Son to be our unique way and the one name. Therefore, to truly know that “the LORD our God is one LORD” in the New Testament necessarily means recognizing that Jesus Christ holds a unique place in God’s salvation—a place that cannot be replaced, paralleled, or diluted.
Acts also says, “God hath made that same Jesus... both Lord and Christ.” (cf. Acts 2:36) Colossians 1:18 says, “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” This does not mean that Christ should have the first place only in so-called “spiritual matters.” It means that He is to have the first place in all things. The family is under Him, education is under Him, work is under Him, the future is under Him, and man’s gifts, abilities, time, and possessions are all under Him. Everything must recover its proper order in relation to Christ. If a person’s relationship with Christ is not right, his relationship with God will not be right either.
Ephesians 1:10 brings this matter into an even larger view from the standpoint of God’s eternal economy: “For an administration of the fulness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.” (alternative translation) This shows us that the ultimate direction of God’s work is not to let all things develop independently, each with its own center, but to bring everything back under one Head. Sin produces scattering, independence, and self-rule; God’s economy brings all things back into oneness in Christ, with Him as the one Head. Whatever is not under Christ’s headship and authority today will not, in that day, be headed up in Christ.
God’s eternal intention, therefore, is that all things have one Head and one true center. God does not want Christ merely to occupy one place among many things; He wants Christ to have the preeminence in all things. Once this is brought into education, the question becomes intensely practical. The greatest question in education is often not, “What method shall we use to educate our children?” but, “Who is the head?” Are the parents the head? Is the child the head? Is the school the head? Is culture the head? Is success the head? Are the market and career prospects the head? Or is Christ truly the Head?
God has highly exalted Jesus and made Him Lord and Christ. God has also purposed that all things be headed up in Christ so that He may have the preeminence in all things. Since this is God’s view of His Son, it calls for an answer from us: Is the place God has given Christ also the place we actually give Him in our homes and in our education?
This is especially important today. Many tendencies within Christian faith do not openly say, “Jesus is not the Son of God,” nor do they explicitly deny Christ. More often, Christ is marginalized in practical faith. The center of faith gradually becomes “be a good person,” “live a happy life,” or “let God help me when I have trouble,” while Jesus Christ as God’s unique Son, the unique Savior, and the only way to the Father is no longer the center of faith.
This change does not appear outwardly to remove God or His Son. People may still speak about God, talk about Jesus, pray, emphasize morality, and seek blessing. But when “neither is there salvation in any other” is weakened, and when “no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” no longer carries practical meaning, the unique place of Christ has in fact been weakened and even replaced.
Therefore, Christian education cannot merely teach children, “You should be a good person.” Nor can it simply tell them, “God wants you to be happy.” Nor can it present Jesus merely as “someone who can help you when you are in trouble.” What we must pass on to the next generation is this: Jesus Christ is the unique beloved Son sent by God; He is the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Him; there is salvation in no other; and there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Children are important, but children are not Lord. Parents are important, but parents are not Lord. Schools are important, knowledge is important, ability is important, and the future is important, but none of these can take God’s place. God alone is the center, and Christ, whom God has appointed, must have the preeminence in all things.
True education must help children gradually learn from an early age: My life has one Lord. My thoughts have one Lord. My body has one Lord. My gifts and talents have one Lord. My time has one Lord. My future has one Lord—and that Lord is not myself.
One brother who went before us emphasized that since believers “are not their own,” they cannot continue to be their own masters. Our family, possessions, career, time, and whole being are under the Lord’s authority. True consecration is not, “Lord, I give You part of my life,” but, “Lord, I am Yours already.”
This is especially important for parents. We often say, “my child,” and of course there is nothing wrong with that in the family relationship. But in a deeper spiritual sense, we must know that children are not the private property of their parents. We are not the ultimate masters of their lives; we are stewards entrusted by God. Therefore, parents must not impose their own dreams, unfinished ambitions, or definitions of success upon their children, as if the purpose of a child’s existence were to fulfill the blueprint in the parents’ hearts.
Truly God-centered education asks, “Lord, this child is Yours. What is Your intention in creating him? How do You want me to accompany him so that he may find his proper place before You?” One of the deepest transformations in education, therefore, is to move from “I want to shape my child into the person I want him to be” to “I want faithfully to accompany this child so that he may gradually come to know the One who is truly Lord.”
IV. The Most Dangerous Idol—Not Removing God, but Adding Another Center Beside Him
When we speak of idols, we easily think of visible pagan images. But for Christian families, the more hidden and more difficult idols to discern are often not an open rejection of God followed by the worship of visible idols. Rather, God is still present, but He is no longer the one center.
Parents usually do not say, “I do not want God.” We are more likely to say, “Of course God is important, but my child’s grades and overall performance are also important.” “Of course God is important, but my child’s future is also important.” “Loving the Lord is good, but getting into a good school cannot be neglected.” “Faith is important, but the child must also be competitive in the future.” These things are not necessarily wrong in themselves. The question is not whether pursuing good grades is bad, whether hard work is bad, or whether attending a good school is bad. The question is: Have these things taken the place that belongs to God alone?
The most dangerous deviation is often not to remove Christ altogether, but to add other things to Christ. At first it is only “adding a little,” but eventually the things added may gradually replace Christ’s place. This principle deserves our serious attention in family education: Christ plus grades. Christ plus an elite school. Christ plus success. Christ plus a respectable career. Christ plus the life parents have imagined for their child.
At first we only “add a little.” But eventually what most stirs our emotions may not be our child’s relationship with the Lord, but his grades. What makes us most anxious may not be whether our child is drifting away from God, but whether he can enter the school we expect. What makes us most proud may not be that Christ has gained ground in him, but that he is outstanding before people. May the Lord have mercy on us. When we keep “adding,” we need to ask very honestly: Why are we adding so many things to Christ? Who, after all, is Lord?
When we add other things to Christ, an unavoidable result often follows: what was added gradually takes over. What began as a “but...” in the name of “balancing priorities” becomes “compatibility” through compromise and mixture. Why does this happen? Because our hearts are drawn away and lose the simplicity and purity that should be toward Christ; we are deceived by the serpent and no longer want the Lord alone (2 Cor. 11:3). Israel’s worship of the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai displays this vividly. In the end, the golden calf entirely replaced God’s place, while the name was still called Jehovah. This is how an idol is produced. Outwardly, everything may still appear to be related to God, yet the object and substance of worship have secretly been exchanged.
The danger of a mixed and altered gospel of Christ is the same. It does not necessarily remove the word “God” from faith. It may still retain prayer, morality, happiness, blessing, and the idea that we need God’s help. But if the Son of God is no longer the unique Savior, if the cross and redemption are no longer central, and if “neither is there salvation in any other” is replaced by “as long as you are a good person, that is enough,” then God may still appear on the surface, but in reality the unique way God has revealed in His Son has been replaced by another kind of faith.
Therefore we must see that weakening the uniqueness of Christ is itself a departure from “the LORD our God is one LORD.” The one God has not given many saviors alongside one another, but His only begotten Son; not many ways to the Father, but Christ Himself as the one way; not many names by which we may be saved, but the one name of Jesus Christ. There can be no compromise concerning the uniqueness of God and His beloved Son. Otherwise, what begins as “parallelism and compatibility” will gradually become “replacement.”
Even “Christian education” itself can become something that replaces Christ. An educational philosophy, a curriculum, a school, a method, or a model of homeschooling may all be useful tools, but tools cannot become the center and must not occupy the Lord’s place. We need to receive this warning because even a work, a teaching, a mission, or a testimony can gradually and unconsciously replace Christ. The true center must always be the Lord Himself.
True ministry does not bring people merely into a system related to God; it brings them into a living relationship with Christ, because Christ Himself is the unique revelation God has given to man and is also the very message that communicates this revelation. Therefore, the center of true Christian education is not a set of teachings and practices about Christ, but Christ Himself. The first and second commandments remain intensely practical today: there shall be no other god besides Him, and nothing may be made to replace Him.
V. God-Centered Education—Knowing Him, Giving Glory to Him, and Depending on Him
For education to be “God-centered” includes at least three very important matters.
First, to know Him—this is eternal life and the true center of all knowledge.
The Lord Jesus says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3) In the Bible, “eternal life” does not first mean an existence that continues forever without end. Eternal life is God’s own life. First John says, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1 John 5:11–12) Eternal life, therefore, is not something God created outside Himself and then gave to us. Rather, God gave us His Son so that in His Son we might receive life and enter into a living relationship with God.
The “knowing” spoken of in John 17:3 is not merely having information about God in the mind. In the Bible, “knowing” is like the knowing between husband and wife or between intimate friends: through close fellowship and interaction, one experiences God’s love and presence. A person may know that God is almighty, omniscient, and holy; he may know many doctrines and be familiar with many Bible verses, yet still only “know things about God” outwardly. The knowing spoken of by the Lord is to enter truly, in life and love, into a relationship of fellowship with God—to receive Him, depend on Him, commune with Him, and allow Him to become the reality of one’s life, until one truly knows Him. Eternal life, therefore, is not merely “living forever in the future.” Eternal life is to begin now to know and partake of this living God. It is not a state we attain someday in the future; it is to participate now in the flow and supply of the divine life.
“And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Why can these two kinds of knowing not be separated? Why must knowing the only true God also include knowing Jesus Christ whom He has sent? Because the Father is the source of life, and the Son is the full revelation of the Father to man, the unique way by which man comes to the Father, and the object of faith through whom man receives eternal life. A person cannot bypass the Son of God in order to know God, nor can he bypass the Son in order to receive eternal life. John 1:18 says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” The Lord also says, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” (John 14:9) The apostle John says, “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (1 John 5:11–12) God has not placed His Son beside Himself as another option from which people may choose. Rather, God reveals Himself to man in His Son, and in His Son God also gives life to man.
Therefore, to know the Father we must come through the Son; apart from the Son, man cannot truly know the Father. This is why the Lord continues to say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) The apostles also declare, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
God is the only true God, and the Son whom He sent is also unique in God’s redemption and in bringing man back to Himself. The one God, through His unique beloved Son, gives Himself and His life to man as man comes into fellowship with the Father and His Son in faith and love. Therefore, “knowing the only true God” and “knowing Jesus Christ whom He has sent” are not two unrelated things. The second is the way by which the first becomes man’s practical experience. The Father is the God whom we are to know; the Son reveals the Father to us. The Father is the source of life; life is given to us in the Son. And if we would come to the Father, we can come only through the Son (1 John 1:1–3). This is the knowledge we must spend our whole lives helping our children to establish.
Education today places great emphasis on “knowing.” From childhood, children are taught to know language, mathematics, science, history, technology, economics, and society. As they grow, they learn specialized knowledge and are trained to know how to work, how to compete, and how to solve problems. We even measure a child’s level of education by “how much he knows.” These forms of knowledge all have their proper place, and we are not denying them. The question is this: knowing these things cannot give our children eternal life. We may help our children know so many things, but have we helped them receive eternal life by knowing the God who gives existence to all things? If not, what they know has no center and no foundation. It is like building a house on sand: it will certainly fall, and the higher it is built, the greater the fall.
Paul says, “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (Rom. 11:36) Everything a child studies—the physical world, life, mathematical order, history, language, human beings, society—none of these exists independently of God. All things are of Him—He is the source of all things; all things are through Him—He sustains all things; all things are to Him—He is the ultimate purpose of all things.
Therefore, if education helps a child know “all things” but does not help him know the One from whom all things come; if he studies the creation but does not know the Creator; if he knows how all things operate but does not know upon whom they depend for their existence; if he knows how to use all things but does not know to whom all things must ultimately return, then that knowledge has lost its most fundamental center.
This is one of the deepest crises of modern education: people know more and more things, yet may know less and less about who is the center of everything they know. The more they know, the farther they may move from God.
We know the universe, but not the Lord of the universe. We know the structure of life, but not the source of life. We know human psychology, but not why man was created. We know how to develop human abilities, but not to whom those abilities should ultimately be given. The result is a large amount of scattered knowledge with no center that can bring all that knowledge into its proper order.
The learning of this world has value within the sphere of creation. The question is: if a person gains all this and yet loses the knowledge of God and His Son, what ultimate meaning remains for his life? The Lord Jesus asked, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Matt. 16:26)
If a person knew the whole world but did not know the God who created it; if he mastered many roads but did not know the one road to the Father; if he knew many names under heaven but did not know the one name by which men must be saved; if he possessed an abundance of knowledge but did not have the life of God—where could all that knowledge finally bring him?
Science cannot bring a person to the Father. Philosophy cannot give a person eternal life. History, mathematics, literature, and technology cannot replace Jesus Christ as man’s Savior. They can help us understand the world God created and equip us to live and serve in the created world, but they cannot answer man’s ultimate questions: Where did I come from? For whom do I live? To whom does my life ultimately belong? How can my sins be forgiven? How can I return to the Father? How can I receive eternal life?
These questions find their true answer only when a person knows the only true God, the One “of whom, and through whom, and to whom, are all things,” and also knows Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
Therefore, Christian education is by no means against knowledge, nor does it ask children to learn less. On the contrary, it brings all knowledge back to its true center and foundation. We want our children to study science, but to know in science that created things do not exist of themselves. We want them to study history, but to know that history is not without a Sovereign or without direction. We want them to study language and literature, but to know that man is not the creator of his own meaning. We want them to learn work and practical skills, but to know that gifts, abilities, and opportunities are not for self. We want them to know the world, but in all their knowing to be brought back to the One of whom it is written: “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things.”
Therefore, the highest knowledge in education is not to know the most things, but to know the God who gives meaning to all knowledge. And to know this one true God cannot be separated from knowing Jesus Christ whom He has sent. For God is the only true God; Christ is His unique revelation; Christ is the unique way to the Father; the name of Christ is the unique name by which man is saved; and eternal life is in His Son.
Thus the Lord says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” This is why, even if education gives a child all the knowledge in the world, if it does not bring him into the knowledge of God and Christ, it has still failed to touch man’s deepest, highest, and eternal need.
The question of truly God-centered education is not merely, “How much does my child know?” but, “In all that he knows, has he come to know the God from whom all things come, through whom all things are sustained, and to whom all things return? Has he come to know Jesus Christ whom God has sent—the unique way, the unique Savior, the Lord who alone gives life?” This is the “knowing” that Christian education must never lose.
Second, all honor and glory belong to Him—education is ultimately a matter of worship.
Paul says, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Tim. 1:17)
Because He is the one God, He alone is worthy of unique honor and glory. No created being can share or usurp God’s uniqueness; likewise, the glory that belongs to God cannot be given to the creature. He is the Creator, and all things are created. He is the eternal King, and all things are under His authority. Created beings may receive honor from God and may manifest the glory God gives, but they can never replace God as the source and center of glory.
One of the deepest characteristics of sin is that the creature leaves its created place and seeks to seize the place that belongs to God alone. This is what Satan’s rebellion represents: instead of remaining willingly in the place of a creature, he exalted himself. By contrast, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, though being in the form of God, “thought it not robbery to be equal with God,” but empty Himself, took upon Him the form of a servant, humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; therefore God also highly exalted Him. (cf. Phil. 2:6–9) In Christ we see the opposite principle: not grasping for glory, but in obedience letting glory return to God.
All human honor, achievement, and glory in the created world are limited, temporary, visible, and corruptible. Human beauty fades, ability diminishes, wealth passes away, fame is forgotten, and position changes. The one exalted today may be remembered by no one tomorrow. Therefore, only the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the one God, is eternally worthy of honor and glory. Ecclesiastes says, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” If a person makes these visible, temporary, and endlessly comparable things the ultimate source of glory and uses them to increase his own sense of worth, in the end it is like chasing the wind and grasping at a shadow—nothing remains.
Thus “the center of education” becomes, at a deeper level, a matter of worship—that is, a matter of who receives the glory. When we educate our children, are we seeking our own glory through them, or are we hoping that God will receive glory through their lives? When our children receive good grades, do we thank God for the grace He has given, or do we use our children to prove that we are successful parents? When our children are gifted, perform well, or achieve something, do we receive these as gifts entrusted by God, or do we turn our children into works through which we boast before others?
Psalm 19 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” The function of created things is not to attract people so that glory stops with them, but to point people to the Creator and cause glory to return to God. Yet under Satan’s deception, man often takes God-given gifts, ability, wisdom, beauty, success, and achievement as his own. Instead of glorifying God through them, he uses them to compete with God for glory.
Therefore, truly God-centered education does not cultivate a child into “someone the parents can boast about.” Rather, it helps the child know from an early age: my life, gifts, intelligence, ability, opportunities, and achievements are not for the display of myself; they are for the glory of God.
At the end of the Bible we see a picture of complete restoration: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.” Then every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and in the sea gives blessing, honor, glory, and power to Him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb. (cf. Rev. 5:12–13) This is the ultimate goal of God’s work: all created things cease to seek glory for themselves and together give glory to God and to the Lamb.
But this does not mean that God intends to press His children down until they have no value. On the contrary, when man stops grasping for God’s glory and returns to the place appointed by God, God brings man into His own glory. Paul says, “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” (Rom. 5:2) He also says that if we suffer with Christ, we shall also be “glorified together,” and those whom God justified, “them he also glorified.” (cf. Rom. 8:17, 30)
Christians, therefore, do not pursue human glory, but neither are they destined to have no glory. What we reject is glory that comes from ourselves, is stored up for ourselves, and places ourselves at the center. God’s true intention is to bring His children into His own glory.
This is a crucial distinction: glory seized by man is vanity; glory given by God is eternal. Human glory turns man toward himself; God’s glory turns man toward Christ. Human glory causes people to compete and compare with one another; God’s glory causes them to bow together in worship.
Therefore, the final question of education is not merely, “Will my child achieve something?” but, “Can God gain glory from my child’s life?” The true joy of parents should not be, “My child makes me look good,” but that one day they can see: this child came from God, lives by God, is used for God, and finally returns to God; and God has gained in this child’s life the glory that rightfully belongs to Him.
Thus the one God is not only the center of education; He is also the final destination of its glory: “Now unto... the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Third, to depend on Him—allowing Him to keep us until we stand before His glory.
At the end of Jude we read: “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy... to the only wise God our Saviour...” (cf. Jude 24–25)
The ultimate purpose of education is that God may gain glory in the child. But from the beginning of a child’s life until the day he stands before God’s glory, there is a long journey. A beginning full of promise and an end full of hope are not enough. If throughout the process there is no preserving power of God and no God as our Savior, then all of this can easily become nothing more than beautiful ideals and empty talk.
Therefore, truly God-centered education is not merely to tell children what kind of people they should become or to give them a beautiful goal. It is for parents to accompany their children in learning together, day by day, to depend on the God who is able to keep us and to take Him as our Savior.
Proverbs says, “For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.” (Prov. 3:26) There are many snares along a child’s path of growth. There are the temptations of the world, the deception of Satan, and the self-deception within us. The most dangerous condition is not merely to be deceived by others, but to deceive ourselves—to think that we stand firm, that we see clearly, that we will not fall. Therefore, education cannot merely give children more knowledge with which to judge right and wrong; it must also lead them to learn something deeper: “Lord, I need Your salvation. I need You to keep my feet.”
The preserving work of God in Jude 24 may be viewed in three aspects. Yet from every aspect it shows that in the matter of preserving us, He is unique.
First, He is able to keep us from stumbling. To “stumble” or “trip” means that as a person walks, his foot strikes an obstacle and he loses his stability. This is not necessarily the same as completely falling, but it may be the beginning of a fall. A person first loses stability in his steps, and if there is no support, he may fall further. Therefore, God is concerned not only with whether a person eventually falls completely, but also with whether our daily steps remain steady and whether we are walking on the right path.
This is an important reminder for education. We often become anxious only after a child “has gotten into serious trouble,” but God’s keeping often operates before the child falls, preserving his feet from first stumbling. That stumbling may come from a wrong idea, an unhealthy relationship, an unchecked desire, hidden pride, or a gradually forming value system. These may seem small at first, yet they can become snares before his feet.
So we should not ask only, “Has my child committed some serious wrong?” We should also ask, “What road are his feet walking on now?” “Toward what goal and direction is his heart moving?” Parents are the same. We are not standing in a safe place, possessing the ability to keep our children from stumbling; we do not have that power. We ourselves need the Lord’s keeping every day. Parents and children are all travelers on the road, and all must learn, “The LORD shall be my confidence; He shall keep my foot.” In the matter of keeping us from stumbling, He is our one God. He alone is our Savior. He has the power to keep, yet He keeps those who depend on Him.
Second, He will make us faultless. This is not a requirement God suddenly introduced later; it is His purpose for us in Christ from before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4 says, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him.” God’s keeping, therefore, is not merely to keep us from “getting into trouble,” nor is it merely a negative prevention of failure. His keeping has a positive purpose: He intends to make us into people who correspond to His will.
This is also Christ’s work toward the church. Ephesians 5 says that He sanctifies and cleanses the church “with the washing of water by the word,” so that in the end the church may be “without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing,” but “holy and without blemish.” (cf. Eph. 5:26–27) God’s keeping, therefore, is not merely outward protection; it also includes inward washing and transformation.
Children need to be washed by God’s word, and parents also need to be washed by God’s word. Children’s thoughts need to be renewed, and our thoughts need to be renewed. Children have stains left by the world that need to be removed, and within us there are also accumulated concepts, ambitions, pride, and natural hopes from many years that need to be cleansed by the Lord.
Therefore, true education is not parents standing in an “already completed” position, working on the child until he becomes faultless. Rather, it is parents and children together being washed in God’s word, together being changed by His life, and together entering into God’s purpose established before the foundation of the world—to be holy and without blemish.
Third, He will cause us to stand before His glory with exceeding joy. This is very precious. God does not reluctantly drag a group of weary, fearful, trembling people to the finish line. He intends to make us stand before His glory with exceeding joy. This “exceeding joy” does not mean that the road of life contains no tribulation. Paul says, “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed.” (cf. Rom. 5:3–5)
Christian joy does not come because everything goes smoothly all the way. It comes because even in tribulation we still “know” what God is doing. Tribulation does not prove that God has left us. At times, tribulation is part of His process of preserving, cleansing, and perfecting us. Because we know that God still reigns and that through circumstances He is producing patience, experience, and hope, we can rejoice even when the road is difficult.
This is especially important for education. We must not give children the false impression that “God keeps me” means “God will not let difficulties happen.” True keeping does not necessarily mean removing us from every hardship. Often it means that God keeps us from losing Him in hardship, keeps our faith in trials, washes us in disappointment, and leads us deeper through tribulation.
Thus “exceeding joy” is not naive optimism. It is hope that comes from knowing God. We know where we came from, we know what God is doing, and we know where He is bringing us.
Finally, this also redefines the place of parents in education. We are not our children’s saviors. We do not have the power to guarantee that our children will never stumble. We cannot use educational techniques to make them faultless. Nor can we arrange for them a road entirely free of tribulation. The One who can truly do these things is the one God “who is able to keep you.”
But this does not make parents passive. On the contrary, we accompany our children in passing through, learning, growing, and partaking together. It is not, “I will take you there,” but, “We will depend on the Lord and go forward together.” I need to be kept, and so do you. I may stumble, and so may you. I need the washing of God’s word, and so do you. I am learning hope in tribulation, and so are you. The deepest authority of parents is not to stand above their children as though they were already complete, but to have walked a little farther ahead while still depending together with them on the one God.
And the road finally leads to this: “faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.” On that day, we will not stand before God’s glory feeling utterly incompatible with Him. Rather, God will have completed in Christ the work He purposed to accomplish in us. The Bible says that we will be “glorified together” with Him (Rom. 8:17), and, “When he shall appear, we shall be like him.” (1 John 3:2) Peter also says that we are made “partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Pet. 1:4)
This does not mean that created human beings become God Himself or obtain the Godhead. Rather, through God’s long work of keeping, washing, transforming, and perfecting, His children are brought into correspondence with Him in life and nature, conformed to the image of His Son, so that when they stand before His glory they are no longer a people wholly incompatible with His life and nature. This is the truly glorious end of education.
The end is not that the child has become more successful than others, nor that the parents have proved how skillful they were in education, nor that we have completed an ideal life plan. Rather, parents and children, after a lifetime of being kept by God’s grace, are finally able to stand together before His glory and testify: we did not stumble because He kept us; we are faultless because along the way He washed, sanctified, and perfected us; we rejoice because in tribulation we learned trust, patience, and hope; and at last we stand before His glory, sharing in the glory He intends to give His children.
Therefore, if education is truly God-centered, it cannot have only a beautiful beginning and a glorious goal while relying on ourselves to complete the whole journey in between. From beginning to end, we need this one God as our dependence. He is the God who is able to keep us, and He alone can keep us in this way; therefore He is our one God. Parents must learn to depend on Him, and they must accompany their children in learning to depend on Him, until one day, by His grace, both we and our children may stand faultless before His glory with exceeding joy.
“The LORD our God is one LORD” is not merely a theological declaration about God. It is the unchanging center of our whole life, family, and education. He is Alpha and Omega; all things are of Him, through Him, and to Him; He will head up all things in Christ under one Head, and He wills that His Son have the preeminence in all things.
Therefore, truly God-centered education is not merely to “give God a place” in life, but to bring the whole of life back into God’s original order, taking Him as the One and the only One. “The LORD our God is one LORD” does not merely mean that there is only one God. It means that there is only one source of our life, only one center, only one Lord, only one on whom we depend, and only one to whom glory belongs.
Yet when a person truly sees that He is the one Lord, the next question naturally arises: Since He is the one Lord, how should I respond to Him? Deuteronomy 6 does not leave us to search for the answer ourselves. Verse 4 says, “The LORD our God is one LORD.” Verse 5 immediately follows: “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
These are not two unrelated commandments. Precisely because He is the one Lord, what He asks for is not merely one part of our life. Precisely because He holds the unique place, man cannot respond to Him with a divided heart. The one God requires the love of the whole person. The one Lord requires our “all.” This brings us into the next chapter: “Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”—the Purpose of Education.