The word “Christian” is no small adjective when describing education. This term sets the focus and serves as an overarching theme under which all other academic disciplines find their position. A Christian education simply means that all topics must be taught from a Christian worldview. This worldview is found in the pages of Scripture. Therefore, a Christian education is a biblical education. Within Christian education, much time is given concerning the integration of the Bible within every academic course, and rightfully so. However, when Christian schools offer a Bible class, the importance of a biblical education tends to be marginalized because Bible classes are rarely academic in nature. Too often Bible class resembles a series of anemic Sunday School lessons that respond to the needs or current topics of interest among the students. Very few Bible programs possess a proactive approach toward providing a biblical foundation for the students resulting in a well-understood and well-articulated theology.
A FOUNDATIONAL UNDERSTANDING
A foundational understanding of the Bible and theology is the necessary ingredient for spiritual transformation in our students. It is insufficient to simply address what our students should do. Biblical instruction must also address how our students should think. Students often do the wrong thing for two reasons: 1. They are depraved. Through the redemption of Jesus Christ we are thankful that this depraved nature is being eradicated through the strengthening of the new man. 2. They have a corrupt view of God. Our students act sinfully and make wrong choices because they do not know enough about their own sinful character as opposed to the righteous character of God. It is insufficient for us to use the Scripture to simply try to change behavior. We must show them the God of Scripture so that we might un-corrupt their view of God. You may say, “This sounds like a ‘heady’ approach to Scripture. I just want my child to love God more. Isn’t that the purpose of Bible class?’” We all want our kids to love God more, but we must also realize that the quality of one’s love is proportionate to one’s knowledge of the object of his love. There is a big difference between my love for a pet dog and my love for my wife. The object of my love makes all the difference. Sadly, we often spend too much time telling our kids to love God more whom they do not know well because the preaching and teaching has focused more on doing than knowing. If we teach our kids to simply do biblical actions and bypass correcting their view of God from Scripture, we are simply teaching morals. If all we are trying to do is teach good morals rather than a right relationship with God, then we might as well allow a Rabbi to teach our Bible class. Right actions are the result of a right relationship with God, and a right relationship with God begins with right thinking about God, and right thinking about God comes from thorough biblical teaching. We must not use Scripture superficially as proof texts of behavior, but rather we must study Scripture rigorously as the basis of building a better relationship with God through Christ.
PROFESSIONAL PERSONNEL
There are three ingredients that are needed for a Bible class to accomplish the high calling of providing a biblical and theological foundation on which our students can build their relationship with God and live a life pleasing to Him. The first ingredient is personnel. Too many Christian schools simply look to see who has a free hour and select their Bible teachers according to availability rather than ability. It is a joy to have the pastoral staff actively involved in the teaching of Bible classes here at Tri-City. Many Christian schools do not enjoy such a benefit. Whenever a Christian school views Bible class as a class that can be taught by “anybody,” the school has just revealed that science, math, and other academic classes are more important.
PURPOSEFUL CURRICULUM
The second ingredient is a purposeful curriculum. Christian schools need to resist the temptation of choosing a series of devotional guides and Christian living books as the backbone of the Bible curriculum. These types of studies are fine for personal use and discipleship, but these studies do not provide the biblical data necessary for a comprehensive Bible program. Two specific courses of study should be included in Bible classes. First, students should survey both the Old and New Testaments. Without an overview of the Bible, students have difficulty understanding its individual sections. Teachers should strive to have their students possess a working knowledge of the chapter content of the Word of God as well. If the Bible is indeed the most important story our children should know, we should desire for them to know it better than any other work of literature. Second, students should learn the biblical doctrines contained in Scripture. In the end, our students should know what the Bible says and what the Bible teaches so that they might avoid being “carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men.”
PROPER TESTING AND MEASUREMENT
The third ingredient is proper testing and measuring. Bible class ought to possess some academic teeth. We should be inspecting regularly, deeply, and rigorously those biblical truths taught. A subject matter as weighty as the Bible requires that we take the necessary steps to ensure that our students study and retain the material. I am not saying that Bible classes should lack devotion; one cannot speak of the Bible properly without words of application. I am saying there is a better place to focus on the devotional side: chapel. Bible class provides a biblical foundation and proper theology. Chapel should build off of this knowledge and burn the devotional aspects of it deep upon the heart of our students. It is right to desire devotion to God as the end result of Bible study, but we must not skip the process of learning biblical data, or one will not know to what or to whom he should be devoted.
In essence, there is perhaps nothing more practical for our students than the “academic” side of learning biblical content and its resulting theology, for these areas of study are the tools of the mind that allow a heart after God to express itself in a biblically appropriate manner.
Dr. Christopher Barney obtained his B.A. in Bible, M.A. in Theology, and Ph.D. in New Testament Interpretation from Bob Jones University where he served on faculty for six years. Dr. Barney now serves as Associate Pastor at Tri-City and Dean of Heart of America Theological Seminary. He specializes in the areas of homiletics, hermeneutics, and New Testament. He and his wife Emily, have two sons, Christopher and Coleman.