"All the ways oj the Lord are loving

and Jaithful Jor those who keep the de-

mands oj his covenant," Psalm 25: 10.
The words of this verse imply educa-
tion, education concerning the "cov-
enant," and covenant "keeping" or con-
tinuity. The promise is that those who
are educated in the covenant and keep
the covenant will enjoy and experi-
ence the blessings of God.
What is the purpose of "educa-
tion"? A dictionary definition of edu-
cation is "the impartation or acquisi-
tion of knowledge, skill, or discipline
of character." However, that does not
adequately define the purpose of edu-
cation. The word "educate" comes
from the latin "educo" which means
"to lead out." Dr. ]. G. Vos wrote,
"Education is intended to lead a per-
son out -to bring out his possibilities
and enable him to become a better
more effective person - more helpful
to society and more satisfying to him-
self. It is meant to help a person fully
realize his potential as a human being.
The educated person has a grasp of
things, a sense of values, an apprecia-
tion of life, an ability to judge and
appraise ideas and things, a compe-
tence to ask relevant questions and to
penetrate popular prejudices and fal-
lacies - in other words, a balanced, all-
around effectiveness as a person -which
the uneducated person simply does
not have .... "
If this is the purpose of education,
and I believe that it is, then nue edu-
cation is education in the truth. And
for a person to be truly educated, he
must receive a Christian education.
The purpose of education is "to school
persons in the ultimate values of a
culture," R.]. Rushdoony, The Philoso-
phy oj C)111stian CU111culum. All educa-
tion is, therefore, "religious"in nature;
it has as its purpose communicating
cultural values to students which are
religiously held. And, we must say,
therefore, that to be truly educated,
one must be educated in the Christian
faith and presuppositions.
One of the fundamental aspects of
education for the real world must be
education concerning the covenant.
The covenant defines the nature of
man's relationship with God. The
Westminster Confession of Faith states,
"The distance between God and the
creature is so great that although rea-
sonable creatures do owe obedience
unto him as their Creator, yet they
could never have any fruition of him as
their blessedness and reward, but by
some voluntary condescension on
God's pan, which he hath been pleased
to express by way 0 fcovenant," (Chap-
ter VII -"Of God's Covenant with
Man.")
God's relationship with men is a
covenantal relationship. I have a rela-
tionship with my wife which is "cov-
enantal," that is, there arecenain prom-
ises and demands. My relationship
with her is not the same as relation-
ships with other women. A covenant
defines certain obligations, responsi-
bilities, and privileges.
God, as our Creator, does not owe
us anything because we obey him. We
ought to and are obligated to obey God
sim pI y because he is our creator. And
he does not have to promise or give us
any reward for our obedience. The
only basis upon which we can hope to
receive some blessing or reward from
God is if He is so pleased to make such
an offer and arrangement. That He has
done in making a covenant with man.
A covenant is a relationship, a bond,
established by God between Himself
and man. It is sovereignly adminis-
tered, and therefore is not the product
of mutual negotiation with man. God
sets the terms, obligations, and prom-
ises. It is also sovereignly established
so that man has no choice as to whether
or not to enter this relationship. Man
can either keep or break the covenant,
but he cannot escape the covenant.
And if those demands are not kept,
there are curses. If the demands are
honored and kept, there are blessings.
The relationship of God with Adam
is a clear example of a covenant. God
told Adam that if he did not eat of a
certain tree he would live. However, if
he ate of the tree, he would die. There
were promises and demands, bless-
ings and curses. That relationship is a
covenant, a promise, a Llcontract," if
you will.
All men and women, boys and girls,
need to be educated in the reality of
November, 1993 , THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon , 21
the covenant, its demands, blessings,
and curses since they are in this rela-
tionsbip with God, and their future ,
happiness, and success depend upon
their keeping covenant with God.
Our text says All the ways oj the
Lord are loving and Jaithful Jar those who
keep the demands oJhis covenant, Psalm
25:10. Psalm 25 gives us the ABC's of
education. The Psalm follows the
Hebrew alphabet as its framework,
thus giving us God's "ABC's" for life.
It's concern is for a life of freedom from
fear, a life of truth, prosper-
through faith, by grace, are in the New
Covenant in Christ, have forgiveness,
new life, freedom from guilt, condem-
nation, and the bondage of sin. This
covenant demands faith, repentance,
and obedience. Those are the terms of
the covenant. It promises blessings.
Those who reject the covenant remain
under the curses of the Adamaic cov-
enant.
We want our children to be edu-
cated in the "laws" of science, physics,
chemistry, etc. We want them to learn
terity, in the fact of the covenant, the
demands of the covenant, and our goal
is that the covenant relationship will
be maintained and perpetuated for
generations to corne, thus increasing
enjoying and multiplying the bless-
ings of God. Education is more than
the three "R's" -Reading, 'Riting, and
'Rithmetic. It has a fourth "Rn -Reli-
gion! We must leach that reading,
writing, and arithmetic are to be used
for the glory of God and love for our
neighbor. Therefore, we oughtto read
ity, health, good relation-
ships, integrity - a life free
from trouble. That life is
promised to those whQ keep
covenant with God.
All men were included in
God's covenant with Adam.
That covenant was made with
him and also with all his de-
scendents proceeding from
him by natural birth. That
includes the .whole human
race. Because of his breach
of the covenant, he has
brought sin, guilt, depravity,
bondage, and judgment
"Education is for the purpose of cov-
enant continuity. That is, we must
educate our children, our posterity, in
the fact of the covenant, the de-
mands of the covenant, and our goal
is that the covenant relationship will
be maintained and perpetuated for
generations to come, thus increas-
ing, enjoying and multiplying the bless-
ings of God."
things that are edifying,
write things that are true,
and use math and the other
sciences for the building up
of mankind. Without this
Biblical basis for education
we have and become a soci-
ety ofbrilliant fools, of "high
tech" criminals. "This is
why your State School Stu-
dents are the hoodlums they
are. They are being edu-
cated in terms of a philoso-
phy that is beyond guilt and
justice, beyond right and
wrong and beyond good and
evil: R. ]. Rushdoony.
upon the whole human race. We are
all by nature under the curses of the
covenant made with Adam. Godmade
a covenant with His Son,]esus Christ,
that if He would go and die as the
sinless substitute for sin, bearing God's
wrath and condemnation, He would
give Bim a people, redeem a people
out offalIeI\ humanity to Himself. God
the Father made a new covenant with
man, through Abraham, in which he
promises life, forgiveness, and bless-
ings to those who repent of their sins,
trust Him as Savior, and follow Him in
holiness and obedience. God sent His
Son,]esus Christ, who became a man,
to purchase their redemption as the
second Adam. Therefore, this "New
Covenant" is the way oflife and bless-
ing. All men are condemned under
the covenant with Adam. Those, who
how to operate computers. In science,
they learn that there is a law of gravity
which says that if you jump off a tall
building you will more than likely be
killed. Understanding this principle
is a source of protection and preserva-
tion. These same children and adults
need to be taught that there are spiri-
tuallaws that govern life and reality as
well. This law of the covenant says
that apart from a relationship with
God in Christ through faith, repen-
tance, and obedience, you are guilty,
will suffer feelings of guilt (unless your
conscience is seared), are in bondage
to sin, and will die and be eternally
condemned.
Education is for the purpose of
covenant "continuity." That is, we
must educate our children, our pos-
22 THE COVNSEL of Chalcedon 'F November, 1993
Deuteronomy 6 and Psalm 78 are
two significant and clear passages
which instruct us in the primary re-
sponsibility of parents to educate our
children in the covenant so that they
and future generations may continue
to keep the covenant and enjoy the
blessings of God. However, these are
not the only passages. This pattern is
clearly taught and assumed through-
out the Bible.
It seems apparent that since the
commandment concerrling the eating
of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil was given to Adam before the
creation of Eve, that Adam communi-
cated the terms of the covenant to Eve.
and had they continued in the garden,
they would have communicated the
commandment to their cbildren, Cain
and Abel. God had spoken, but God's
word of command was something that
was to be communicated by His crea-
tures from one generation to the next.
Genesis 18:19 records God's word
concemingAbraham, that He had cho-
sen him "so that he will direct his
children and his household after him
to keep the way of the Lord by doing
what is right and just, so that the Lord
will bring about for Abraham what he
has promised him." In II Tim. 3 and
Titus 1 we read concerning Timothy
and his training and instruction since
the time he was a child. Clearly, not
only do the Scriptures teach that par-
ents are responsible for the instruction
of their children, but that they are
responsible to teach them covenant
living.
Deuteronomy6and Psalm 78indi-
cate that education has as its goal the
communication of God's covenant and
that blessings are directly related to
living in faith and obedience to God's
word. The goal of education is the
creation of a godly mind in our chil-
dren. The goal is education in the
truth, in reality - that the invisible
God, who was incamate in the second
person of the T1inity,]esus Christ, has
established a covenant with man, and
that life, happiness, success, and a
future, depend upon living in telms of
a light relationship with God. The goal
of education is the transmission of a
Christian culture and civiiization to
our children and through them to fu-
ture generations.
We must educate our children in
telms of God's role for and the author-
ity of the family. God gives parents
control of children, Gen. 18:19, edu-
cation, Dt. 6:1., propeny, Ex. 20:15,
inheritance, Provo 13:22; and welfare,
I Tim. 5:8. We must also educate our
children conceming the proper and
limited functions of God's other insti-
tutions, the church and the state.
Dr. Greg Bahnsen told the follow-
ing illustration that reveals where we
are today as a nation. He said to
picture three ponraits side by side on
a wall, a grandfather, his son, and his
grandson. The grandfather represents
the earlier generation that had a Chris-
tian morality and a Christian faith.
However, the grandfather did not pass
on his godly faith to his son. His son
only received a Christian morality,
without a Biblical basis. He was told
that we do this and do not do that.
Thus the next generation, his son, had
a Christian morality without a Chris-
tian foundation in faith and under-
standing. When the third generation
grandson came along, and asked "Why
must we do this or that, and why can't
we do the other," that is, what is the
basis for these ethics, the son had no
answer to give. Thus, the third genera-
tion cast off, not only Biblical faith, but
Biblical ethics. The result was the "free
love" and drug culture of the 60's and
70's and the continued seculalization
of culture into the 90's. This repre-
sents the failure of covenant continu-
ity through education.
Education is the process by which
the ultimate values of a culture are
communicated and continued in the
generation to come. All education is,
therefore, religious. There is no such
thing as "neutral" education. Thus,
education, if it is to be true, must be
Chlistian education. Christians in
general and parents in particular must
realize that the continuity of culture
and blessings depends upon educat-
ing our children in their covenant re-
lationship and responsibility to the
living and true God.Q
Give some wise counsel to a friend or loved one by sending them a gift sul:>-
scription to The Counsel of Chalcedon. In retum we wili also send you or the
new sul:>scril:>er Gary Crampton's I:>ook, What Calvin Says or Ken Gentry's
I:>ook, The Greatness of the Great Commission. Check which I:>ookyou would
like and whether to send it to you or the new sul:>scrll:>er,
o Enclosed is $25 for the gift sul:>scription.
o What Calvin Says
o The Greatness of the Great Commission
Send the Book 0 to me 0 to the new sul:>scril:>Br
Name
____________________ Address ________________________ __
City ______ _
5tate ___ _
Zip ________ _
Return to: fheCounsel of Chalceolon Box 888022, GA 30356-0022
November, 1993 l' THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon 23