And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

—Romans 12:2

LESSON 2 — ASSIGNMENTS

Readings

Lesson 2
Read Hebrews 4:12. What are our defensive and offensive weapons in the Spirit?
Read Psalm 119, “the little Psalter within the Psalter.” Identify and record the promises given for meditating on the Word of God

Reflections

Study and reflect upon the vocabulary of education found in the Glossary.
Study the chart on p. 21 and the Word Study Format on p. 23.
Becoming familiar with the steps toward Biblical reasoning Where is the battleground for believers?

Writing

Complete a Word Study for the word renew. Reason and relate Biblical principles in light of your study on education.
Apply definitions and principles gleaned from this lesson your “Educational Philosophy Chart”; found on pages 103-104.

Gaining the Mind of Christ in Education

Teaching and learning are natural functions based upon the individual value and worth of both the teacher and the student. Modern education has complicated the beauty of simplicity by mechanizing teaching and learning to the mass production of something that can only work when it is individual. A class cannot be educated. A subject cannot be taught. Teachers teach children, one by one, using the skills of inspiring, cultivating, consecrating, and instructing them in the basic skills of learning for a lifetime enjoyment and pursuit of knowledge!

What is Christian Scholarship?

Ideas form the basis of our worldview, the filter through which we channel experiences and ideas, rule or judge their efficacy, formulate thoughts, make decisions, and clothe them with words for communicating with others. Ideas begin in the mind, the seat of liberty or bondage, the battleground for our future welfare! The Apostle Paul, Biblical scholar of the New Testament, clearly understood the spiritual and procreative power of words, thoughts, and ideas and wrote the following to the church at Corinth:

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ!

—I Corinthians 2:12-16

When working with young, pliant minds, it is essential for the educator to establish the habit of beginning the search for principles, answers, and solutions, in the Word of God, the Logos! It is the Divine Word that consecrates, and inspires the mind and builds intellectual virtue and care should always be taken to glorify God—the source of all wisdom and knowledge! This is why Noah Webster, father of American education and scholarship, wrote the first American English dictionary and established a system of rules to govern spelling, grammar, and reading. This master linguist understood the need for precise word usage in verbal and written communication in order for our young nation to maintain her independence. Eager for Americans to be free from the bondage of Old World ideas, which were disseminated through our young nation’s educational system, Dr. Webster carefully laid the foundation for a uniquely American education and the American usage of English words in his dictionary. He researched the root meanings of each word and defined each word in light of its meanings and usage in the Bible and in the new Christian constitutional republic.

Education is useless without the Bible.

—Noah Webster

Father of American Christian Education and Scholarship

Principle Approach® education has developed a valuable tool for inculcating the habits that lead to Christian scholarship in the Word Study. Each student develops the habit of research by beginning with God’s Word through Word Study, in which words are defined in light of how they are used in Scripture.

Word Study Format

The Word Study is more than going to a dictionary and defining a word. It is the tool of Biblical scholarship that places the student on the pathway of reflective thinking and deductive reasoning derived from the revelation of Scripture. The Word Study places the Truths of God’s Word at the center of learning, which illuminate the understanding and consecrate the mind.

The Word Study is a tool for guiding the learner on a pathway of Biblical reasoning. In the Word Study, words are defined in light of how they are used in Scripture by using Webster’s 1828 Dictionary and a Bible concordance. (Please see the model Word Study which follows on page 23 for details). This process gives pre-eminence to the Word of God in deducing the Biblical principles of the subject and clothes and student’s ideas with truth. This is the foundation upon which the pathway of logical thinking and just reasoning are established. It produces the acquired habit of Biblical scholarship and enables the student to reason from cause to effect, from choices to consequences—leading to a Biblical world and life view.

RESEARCH:	REASON:
Searching the vocabulary of the subject being studied for its source and purpose. *verb:* To search or examine with continued care; to seek diligently for the truth. *noun:* Diligent inquiry or examination in seeking facts or principles; continued search after truth. Biblical Index: John 5:39; Acts 17:11; 24:25; 1 Peter 1:10 Method: A definition of the assigned word is written by the student in his own words. Biblical principles are then deduced and recorded from the study.	Reasoning from Biblical truths and identifying them in the form of principles to the subject being studied. *verb:* To deduce inferences justly from premises. *noun:* A faculty of the mind by which it distinguishes truth from falsehood, and good from evil, and which enables the possessor to deduce inferences from facts or from propositions Biblical Index: Isaiah 1:18; Acts 17:2; 24:25; 1 Peter 3:15. Method: A definition of the assigned word is written by the student in his own words. Biblical principles are then deduced and recorded from the study.
RELATE:	RECORD:
Applying Biblical truth individually. *verb:* 1) To tell; to recite. 2) To restore. 3) To ally by connection. Biblical Index: Acts 18:26; Luke 4:27, 32; Acts 19:1-4 Method: A definition of the assigned word is written by the student in his own words. Biblical principles are then deduced and recorded from the study.	The learner’s written record of the study and application of Biblical truth. *verb:* 1) To write or enter in a book or on parchment, for the purpose of preserving authentic or correct evidence of a thing. 2) To imprint deeply on the mind or memory. 3) To cause to be remembered. Biblical Index: Luke 1:14; I John 5:10; III John 12; Revelation 1:1-3. Method: The individual’s written work, filed appropriately in his notebook, becomes a permanent record of learning and is available for future reference.

When practiced over a period of years, the student develops a Biblical writing style, references Biblical examples, and applies Biblical principles to problem solving. He is able to communicate his ideas in a logical manner and to persuasively express his ideas in a precise and ennobled vocabulary. And best of all, he has established the lifelong discipline of Christian scholarship based on a love of God’s Word.

These are the skills and habits that his generation of Christian youth must surely possess in order to overcome the failures of American education, the lure of their pop culture, and the deception of the New Age movement. Like Daniel and his three companions, our youth must be prepare to lead their generation as statesmen among the heathen and as prophets of the Most High God among believers.

Benefits derived from the Word Study

Consecrates the mind;
Builds vocabulary (particularly one of liberty and Biblical government);
Increases reading comprehension and verbal scores;
Establishes precise word usage in written and oral communication (see Perspicuity, page 27);
Cultivates the habit of critical thinking;
Produces deductive reasoning skills (cause to effect—choices to consequences!);
Sharpens discernment of truth from error;
Inculcates a lifetime habit of scholarship;
Aids in establishing a Biblical word and life view.

Basic Tools

A high quality three-ring binder
A good study Bible
Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828
Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible (for adults)

Word Study Format

The Word Study reveals the Biblical meanings of words and unearths God’s principles of knowledge and wisdom for application in every subject and sphere of life through the fours steps of learning. These steps are not ordered, but are used simultaneously to effect both Christian scholarship and liberty, as God’s Truths become the internal property of the individual. Definitions are from Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.

Sample Word Study

Please study the following sample. This is the manner in which you will want to complete your research and studies, in order to receive Godly revelation and leading ideas for application in your teaching and learning.

The word is defined from Webster’s 1828 Dictionary and key words in the definition are underlined: heritage, noun [Fr. from the root of heir.]

Inheritance; an estate that passes from an ancestor to an heir by descent or course of law; that which is inherited.
In Scripture, the saints or people of God are called His heritage, as being claimed by Him, and the objects of His special care. (I Peter 5)

Key words within the definition are defined: heir, noun [L. haeres]

The man who succeeds, or is to succeed another in the possession of lands, by descent.
One who inherits or takes from an ancestor
One who succeeds to the estate of a former possessor. (Jeremiah 49; Micah I)
One who is entitled to possess. In Scripture, saints are called heirs of the promise, heirs of righteousness, heirs of salvation, etc., by virtue of the death of Christ and of God’s gracious promises.

Relevant Scriptures are recorded:

The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; Thou dost support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. (Psalm 16:5-6)
Lo, Children are an heritage of the Lord. (Psalm 127:3)
And He gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to Israel His peoples. (Psalm 135:12)
Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart. (Psalm 119:111)
The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:16-17)
That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 5:7)

Personal definitions written by the student require that the student “relate” the word to his life:”A heritage is property that passes from an ancestor to an heir. God called Israel His inheritance or heritage. In the New Testament, God’s people are His heritage. Therefore, I am called His child, His heir, and am a joint-heir with Christ.”

Biblical principles deduced from the study enable the student to “take possession” of the word:
Eternal life through grace is my heritage as a Christian.
God’s Word, the Bible, is also my heritage.
As a Christian, I am God’s heir and a joint-heir with Christ and, therefore, should govern myself accordingly. As an American Christian, I enjoy the heritage of Christian traditions and a system of law based upon the Bible. This is an inheritance from my earthly Christian ancestors that provides freedom for me to live as a child of God and to exercise my God-given rights in my daily life.
I should guard and nurture my Christian heritage above all other possessions.
I have a responsibility to share the Gospel, leading others to their eternal inheritance as a child of God.

The written record of the study is filed in the student’s notebook for future reference and use.

Perspicuity

Reading maketh a full man; speaking a ready man; and writing an exact man!

—Sir Francis Bacon, English Essayist

Perspicuity is that quality of writing or language which readily presents precise ideas to the mind of another. Noah Webster, the “man who defined America,” acknowledged it as “the first excellence of writing or speaking”:

perspicuity, n. [L per and speculum, a glass.] Clearness to mental vision; easiness to be understood; freedom from obscurity or ambiguity; that quality of writing or language which readily presents to the mind of another the precise ideas of the author.

Preciseness of language is essential in good communication and certainly one of the basic tools needed in the “art and mystery” of teaching! Mastering the vocabulary of a subject lays the foundation for understanding the subject being studied. It aids in guiding the pathway of thinking and reasoning because words inspire ideas.

Ambiguous and imprecise word usage is one of the enemy’s most effective tools for conveying confusion and misunderstanding in thinking, reasoning, and communication. Contemporary dictionaries in common usage in American educational institutions have obscured or removed Biblical word meanings. Its fruit is evident in the high rate of illiteracy and fallacious reasoning in our society. The value of using Noah Webster’s original dictionary is that he researched the etymology of words based upon their usage in Scripture—the eternal Light, the source of illumination for the mind.

This method of study builds Biblical scholarship and provides the pathway for understanding and correct reasoning! In order to think precisely about “thinking and reasoning,” it is essential to use the critical vocabulary of the subject.

It is also essential to use an accurate translation of the Bible. In building perspicuity, it is worth noting that many translations are on the market that have been “dumbed-down” and use ambiguous language, which in many cases have obscured original meanings of words. For example, the popular New International Version (NIV) is written at a fifth grade reading level The 1611 Authorized King James Version, with its lyric beauty and scholastic integrity, represents the flowering period of our English language and is written at a twelfth grade reading level.

Mastering the vocabulary of a subject is the first step in taking possession of it and becoming a master of the subject. Word meanings inspire ideas, as well as convey a philosophy of government.

Perspicuity is the key to artful communication. In order to fulfill the great commission, we must be able to articulate ideas and teach others. Reading with comprehension, speaking with readiness, and writing with precision and persuasion are all marks of the Christian scholar.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.

—Matthew 28:19-20