Two thousand years ago, an itinerant preacher named Paul wrote a letter to Christians in a city called Ephesus in which he instructed parents to bring their children up in the PAIDEIA of the Lord.
The people to whom that letter was written were living in a multicultural society with many religious beliefs. The government was pagan and not entirely friendly to the young church. Neighbors were often suspicious of the followers of "the Way" because they didn't seem to fit in with society at large.
This particular letter was written to Gentile believers in Jesus who hadn't grown up with the spiritual foundation of their Jewish counterparts - they were in every sense "first generation" believers. And so Paul wrote with fatherly advice and instructions about their responsibilities as Christian families and parents, using a then-contemporary term loaded with meaning that would have been well-understood by the recipients of his letter.
Our world today is not far removed from that one, and for Christian parents, the question is the same - how are we to bring up our children to know and honor the Lord, especially in a world that pulls them in the opposite direction? The ancient idea of PAIDEIA offers us some guidance. I invite you to explore it with me, and then to see how you can apply it to your home.
The people to whom that letter was written were living in a multicultural society with many religious beliefs. The government was pagan and not entirely friendly to the young church. Neighbors were often suspicious of the followers of "the Way" because they didn't seem to fit in with society at large.
This particular letter was written to Gentile believers in Jesus who hadn't grown up with the spiritual foundation of their Jewish counterparts - they were in every sense "first generation" believers. And so Paul wrote with fatherly advice and instructions about their responsibilities as Christian families and parents, using a then-contemporary term loaded with meaning that would have been well-understood by the recipients of his letter.
Our world today is not far removed from that one, and for Christian parents, the question is the same - how are we to bring up our children to know and honor the Lord, especially in a world that pulls them in the opposite direction? The ancient idea of PAIDEIA offers us some guidance. I invite you to explore it with me, and then to see how you can apply it to your home.