On Training Up A Child
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles Tags: Bulletin Articles on Training Children
In Proverbs 22:6 (ASV), the wise man states, “Train up a child in the way [marginal reading – Heb. “according to his way”] he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
The Hebrews taught that nothing was more important than the rearing of a child in godliness. Discipline was an integral part of that training (cf. Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 19:18; Proverbs 22:15; Proverbs 23:13-14; Proverbs 29:15; Proverbs 29:17). No reward in life was more satisfying than to have a “wise son,” and no sorrow was greater than to have reared a “foolish son” (Proverbs 10:1; cf. Proverbs 15:20).
The Hebrew word “Chanak”, which we translate, “train up” or “initiate,” signifies also “dedicate,” and is often used for the consecrating of anything, such as a house (2 Chronicles 2:4), or person (1 Samuel 1:9-11) to the service of God.
The phrase, “in the way he should go,” is often misapplied. The assumption is that it means “in the way of righteousness and the true religion” — a course which all should follow, but this is not what Solomon means here. This phrase means, “in harmony with his disposition, his natural talents, and his individual character.” Also taught here is the obligation of parents to study the nature and disposition of their children and to train them accordingly.
This is in harmony with Paul’s instructions to the Ephesians and Colossians (Ephesians 6:4; Colossians 3:21). Instead of giving all the emphasis to a rigorous standard to be applied indiscriminately, each child’s temperment is to be closely considered and the teaching is to be done so as to achieve the greatest possible adaptation to the child’s need.
Also, the phrase, “when he is old,” is usually interpreted to mean, when a person is grown or has reached adulthood. However, this passage does not say nor teach this concept. The affirmation of Solomon deals with the fruits of training in old age.
Thus the meaning is, that an individual who has been properly trained in the principles of truth, and has lived in harmony with those principles until he reaches old age, will not readily abandon that which has become second nature to him. Seldom do people, who have followed a course of rectitude and devotion to God, abandon this life-long mode of living in their declining years.
Please note that the Scriptures do not teach the impossibility of apostasy; Were it taught here that a properly taught child cannot fail to be faithful in adulthood, it would be in conflict with many, many passages asserting that anyone can fail of the grace of God and be lost (cf. 1 Chronicles 28:9; Romans 11:22; Gal. 5:4.)
It is ironic that Solomon, the son of the dedicated David, the “friend of God,” forsook the counsel of his father (1 Chronicles 28:9; 2 Chronicles 7:17), and “turned away his heart after other gods” in flagrant, open disobedience to the expressed will of God (1 Kings 11:1-13).
And, it is remarkable that the sacred historian particularly observed that it was “when Solomon was old” that this occurred (1 Kings 11:4). He obviously had not properly received and made application of the instructions his father left him.