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Chapter 18: Biblical Integration into Christian Education

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…

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.

The Lesson ...

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. lxviii

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

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