Train up a Child (Part 1)

Proverbs 22:6

There has always been a lot of confusion regarding this verse. Many will say that it does not work because they raised their child in Church but he left and never returned to Church. In this study we are going to look at what the verse actually says and see how we can apply it to raising children in today’s world.

What the verse does not say:

The verse does not say that you can make your child spiritual, always return to the church, or force them to be saved, that is something that people read into the verse. It does say if you train them up in the way that they should go when they are old they will not depart from it.

Anyone who has raised children know that they have a free will and that they will either chose God and his way or reject God’s way. Note that when Solomon wrote this verse there was not even a gospel to preach because Jesus had not even come and been crucified or risen again.

In all the people I have heard preach or teach against the verse they never seem to mention that if the verse does not seem to work it was probably the training not the verse. But we will deal with that later. In this lesson we are going to look at how Solomon used the phrase “in the way” in the book of Proverbs to see if we can learn something in regard to training children in the way.

“In the way” through Proverbs:

1)  Proverbs 1:15 (The path of the wicked)

• Children must be trained not to walk in this path.

2)  Proverbs 2:20 (Path good men)

• Children must be trained to walk in this path.

3)  Proverbs 4:11,14 (Way of wisdom)

• Note that two things are said in verse 11. They must be taught and led. Here we see real training.

4)  Proverbs 8:20 (Way of righteousness)

• Wisdom is speaking in this passage and note once again we see leading. We must all ask ourselves are we truly equipped to lead in the way of wisdom and if we cannot then we should be beginning to see that the problem is not with the verse.

5)  Proverbs 9:6 (way of understanding)

• Understanding is defined as knowledge of the Holy and departing from evil (Job 28:28 ; Proverbs 9:10)
• Have you really ever considered the amount of training it would take to be proficient in these walking in the way of understanding?

6)  Proverbs 10:17 (way of life)

• Here we see a person that keeps instruction. Parents must ask themselves how well do they keep instruction because in training actions speak louder than words.

7)  Proverbs 22:5 (way of the froward)

• Below we will give the definition. How can we train for this way to be avoided if we do not even know what the word means?
• Forward – Perverse, that is, turning from, with aversion or reluctance; not willing to yield or comply with what is required; unyielding; ungovernable; refractory; disobedient; peevish; as a froward [American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster, 1828]

8)  Proverbs 23:19 (heart guided in the way)

• Once again we see that training is more than teaching or showing.

9)  Proverbs 29:27 (being in the right way is not favorable)

• This is probably one of the most difficult of the ways in which to train a child. No one wants to be an oddball or left out. But if we live for God according to the verse we see that we will be an abomination to the wicked.
• This is a difficult thing for adults just image when teenagers face this.

From this list I think we can began to see what a challenge Proverbs 22:6 really is to follow. In the next part of this lesson we will look specifically at the word train and see if we can get some help in training up a child “in the way that he should go”.