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Truth: the seeds that Christian education plants

What is truth? Truth is not merely an abstract, philosophical concept.  Truth is first and foremost a Person.  Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6). That’s not to say that anything not-Christ is untrue.  Rather, it’s to say that a “thing” is true if it conforms to the nature (or will) of the Godhead.  Take for instance the most famous law of logic:

The Law of Non-Contradiction:  a thing cannot be and not be at the same time and in the same relationship.  

Now the ancient Greek philosophers would have said that this is true.  However, they had no ground for its truthfulness.  Many of them said  that logic (the building block of truth) is just “there.”  But settling there destroys the Christian worldview because it assumes that there is something outside of God that He is subject to.  In other words, they would say God cannot be faithful and unfaithful (at the same time and same relationship) because the law of non-contradiction says so.  But the laws of logic cannot be an absolute above God.  This is one of the reasons why a Classical education is not enough.  It must be Christian.  So then where does logic come from?  It is an attribute of God.   “In the beginning was the Word (λόγος logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Christ is the Divine Logos, or we could say  “In the beginning was the Logic.” The reason why God cannot be faithful and unfaithful (at the same time and the same relationship) is because He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).  What does this mean as we approach education?  Simply this, that Christ is the Divine Plumbline that determines if a thing is true or not.  In any field of inquiry, we need but ask: “does this thing conform to the nature or will of God?”  If yes, then it is true. If not, then it is false.  This rule transcends all times, all places, and every culture because Christ is true in all times, all places and every culture (John 14:6). 

Goodness: the fertilizer that nourishes the seeds

A true Christian Classical education is concerned with the formation of the whole person.  It must go beyond merely filling our heads with truth, it must also fill our hearts with goodness.  Jonathan Edwards said, “Goodness is the exercise in communication of happiness.” In other words, goodness is the imparting or dispensing of happiness.  God is said to do “good” because He has satisfied the hearts of men with food and gladness (Acts 14:17).  His goodness is fundamentally a public affair.  “You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” (Psalm 145:16).  When God pours out this happiness indiscriminately–to the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the fields, the righteous and unrighteous alike–it is called common grace.  But here we are referring to the happiness that God communicates to our souls to make us virtuous.  Our hearts are “good” when they imbibe the public spirit of God.  We find these virtues particularly in the fruits of the Spirit “...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, [and] self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).  These fruits were present in Ruth as she vowed to share the same fate as her widowed mother Naomi  (Ruth 1:16-17).  They were present in the Good Samaritan as he showed compassion on the man beaten by robbers (Luke 10:33).  Both Ruth and the Good Samaritan had a public spirit and dispensed God’s happiness to others like candy from their pocket.  How does this work its way out of a Christian Classical education?  Simply this, the education itself works like fertilizer on the heart, enriching the soul with the public spiritedness of God which is goodness. .  Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” 

Beauty: the sun that yields the growth

If truth is the seed, and goodness is fertilizer, then beauty is the sun.  Beauty stirs us to long to be in the presence of God because in all beauty there is a Divine Image. One medieval philosopher said that “...the beautiful is called that which participates in beauty...Indeed, the beauty of a creature is nothing but the likeness of divine beauty participated in things.” In other words, an object is “beautiful” because it whispers of the true beauty of God. Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.”  Why are thunder and lightning beautiful spectacles?  Because they are deep shadows of the majesty of the King of Heaven. Why are blue skies and green fields filled with fragrant flowers lovely?  Because they reflect the beauty of God’s tenderness–His goodness, grace and love.  What about music? Just as math is an expression of God’s logical mind, so music is an expression of God’s beautiful soul.  No doubt this is why C.S. Lewis declared that Narnia came into being by the great lion Aslan singing.  Is it any wonder then God inspired the longest book in Scripture–the Psalms–to be a book for singing?  What about architecture?  Why should we study beauty–so that we design, create,  and build beautiful things?  Because “...they serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Hebrews 8:5)   Around the throne in Heaven is “a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald” and “before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal” (Revelation 4:3, 6). How does this relate to a Christian Classical education?  Beauty captivates our hearts and compels us to pursue Him who is truth and goodness.   Beauty is truth and goodness in aesthetic form. It is the universal language of God