3 Reasons to Teach Your Kids the Bible
The call to teach our children about God is not a modern idea but a timeless command rooted in Scripture. Psalm 78 sets this pattern for every generation of believers:
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God. (vv. 1–8)
1. It is your God-given, joyful privilege.
God has always called His covenant people to steward the institution of family to advance His purposes on earth. He commissioned Adam to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Through this commission, the world would be filled with those bearing the image of God in their being. He commanded Israel to “teach their children” so that the next generation might know the testimonies of God (Ps. 78:5).
The new covenant community is no different in this regard. We are to “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Saints, you should teach your children about God from the Bible because it is not simply a good idea, but rather your God-given, joyful privilege.
2. God still speaks through His Word.
As you seek to obey God in teaching your children the Bible, you will be teaching them both in your words and in your deeds that you are not the highest authority in your house—God is. We live in a world where authority and goodness are antonyms. That kind of heart posture dangerously affirms mankind in their rejection of God’s authority. However, there can be no life outside the authority of God. Under His loving rule, things flourish. Away from His loving rule, they wither and die.
We teach because the Bible offers hope to our children that they can be delivered from living for themselves and instead live for God.
Raise the loving scepter of God in your home by heralding His Word and calling all to believe in it, starting with yourself. Let them see that the One with all authority made the world and gave it to man. The One with all authority is full of mercy and slow to anger, though He will not always bear with the wicked. Show them that the One with all authority came not to be served but to serve by giving His life for those under His authority. Show them how His bride has been redeemed under His life-giving rule. Show them that in a world that has rejected the authority of God, He still speaks through His Word, and that in your house, His loving rule rules.
3. The Bible is a light.
There is one more reason for us to consider why we should teach our children the Bible. We teach our children the Bible to help them learn why all things exist. Sooner or later, your kids will have to make sense of the world in which they live to find their place in it. When they decide what it is that they believe, there will only be one of two conclusions to which they can come: the biblical conclusion or the wrong conclusion.
A life is a precious thing not only because it is from God but also because it is through and to God. As Paul said: “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). Our children’s lives have a meaning given by God; they do not have to meander through life seeking a self-created meaning. Teaching them the Bible will lay out the structure of reality, allowing them to walk in light of the truth.
Conclusion
The point must be made that teaching your children the Bible does not determine that they will become believers. We teach because the Bible offers hope to our children that they can be delivered from living for themselves and instead live for God. It is to this end that Jesus died on the cross: to redeem us to God. As Paul said:
For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. (Rom. 14:7–9)
