Page 139 - Ecclesiology Textbook Masters

Study Section 18: Biblical Integration into Christian Education

18.1 Connect.

Remember when Pilot asked Jesus, what is truth? We know that Jesus Christ is the way, and
the truth, and life (John 14). In John 1:1 Jesus is called the Word. The Greek word is logos
which means “the expression of God.” Jesus Christ is the exact model of God to us. He left
us with the Holy Spirit and He also left us with His expression of truth, the Bible. Jesus Christ
and His Word is the expression of God. It is our measuring stick to know what is true and
what is false. It is the foundation for all our beliefs. So if we are to teach our children
TRUTH, it must be based upon the Scriptures. Today we will look into the idea of Biblical Integration,
which simply means to make the Bible the central grid upon which all knowledge is tested. Let’s see if
we can better understand this concept in this lesson…..

18.2 Objectives:

1. The student should be able describe the various levels in which an educator can integrate
God’s Word into what is being taught.

2. The student should be able demonstrate that the higher levels of integration will produce in
the minds of our children a higher degree of discernment of real truth.

3. The student should be able discuss some important materials which can assist us in teaching others.

18.3 Biblical Integration into Education

The Bible must play a central role in teaching students to become more like Christ. It must be
woven throughout the entire curriculum so that the learner can see the world and all events
from God’s perspective. Without Biblical integration, the education is simply secular and empty
and will result in seeing the world from man’s perspective. So how does an educator (parent or
teacher) integrate the Bible in what is being taught on a daily basis?

Bryan Smith in his article, Biblical Integration: Pitfalls and Promise, suggests there are four levels of
Biblical integration that most Christian educations implement in their lesson preparation.
51

Level 0 – Relegating the Bible (and applying basically NO integration). The parent or teacher in this level
relegates the Bible to devotionals, prayer requests, and out-of-lesson counsel. There is no clear
connection between what is taught in the Bible and what is taught in the lesson. If the Bible is
separated from the lesson, then the student learns that the Bible may be pertinent to his personal life
and struggles, but it really has nothing to do with the lesson at hand. If the creation story is just that, a
Bible story, and in science class the student is taught that the earth is millions of years old and that man
existed as cave dwellers hundreds of thousands of years ago, then the student will not make any

51 https://www.bjupress.com/images/pdfs/bible-integration.pdf

138