Parenting to the Glory of God #3
2 Timothy 3:16-17
While 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is not about parenting specifically, we can learn a lot from what God has given us in scripture. God's word has four elements that guide us to know Him and how to live a life that honors and glorifies Him. It is wise to learn from God’s wisdom and imitate the elements of wise teaching. God is, after all, speaking to His children in the Bible. This is a helpful verse to give parents who are struggling with parenting. As you minister this verse to them as God uses it to teach His children, ask your counselee what elements may be missing from their parenting. Help them understand how each piece of useful for raising children.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
These verses are about the sufficiency and authority of God’s word. We learn from these verses God’s way of teaching us. These components can be helpful in thinking through parenting situations.
Teaching - Teaching is simply giving instruction. Teaching is the first step in parenting to help our children understand God, themselves, and the world. Teaching is giving knowledge and application. It is explaining life to people who do not have prior experience or understanding.
Teaching may be about scripture, but it may also be how to clean your room or put dishes away. Teaching is giving information in a clear, understandable way. A parent should not assume children know how to handle new situations or that they will instinctively know how to do things the way the parent wants them done.
2. Rebuking - To rebuke someone is to tell them they are wrong. This means teaching comes first! When children have sinned or done something incorrectly, they need to be told they sinned or messed up. They need to understand clearly what they did and why it is wrong.
Rebuking is coming to a child with truthful words that are spoken out of love. A parent should rebuke children because the parent desires the child to repent of sin, turn to God, and be restored to God and others. Rebuke is not to be done in selfish anger, but as an instrument of God’s grace.
If a child sins, a rebuke is necessary. To ignore sinful behavior does not honor God. God disciplines His children and God uses His word to bring rebuke to His children. A rebuke should be specific and cite scripture.
For example, a rebuke might sound like “Those were sinful words that you spoke. You were unkind and rude to me. It is not honoring to God or to your brother to speak that way. God’s word says to let no unwholesome word come from your mouth and to use words to encourage others.”
3. Correcting - Correction means “to make straight”. Correction happens after a rebuke. Something has been done sinfully or wrong, so the correct way of doing it must be explained and demonstrated. Correction is telling and showing what the right way to do something is. This might be speaking the correct view of God. It may be speaking the correct way to respond to an angry person. It may be demonstrating how to clean a room properly.
This is a step parents often leave out. Just being told “you sinned” or “don’t do that again” is not enough. Kids of all ages need to be shown the godly way to do something.
4. Training in Righteousness - training means to teach or instruct for every area of life. So training in righteousness is showing and telling our kids how to live a life that honors God. Parents need to consistently read from scripture and explain how a follower of Christ lives. Training in righteousness involves understanding the gospel and for believers to understand how to demonstrate that God has redeemed you and given you a new heart to follow him.
Before our children are believers, we want to train them what righteousness is. But they are not indwelt with the Holy Spirit until they repent of their sin and are justified by God through faith. Prior to salvation there should be a consistent training in every person’s need for a Savior, God’s holiness, our failure to meet God’s holiness apart from Christ, and also what living as a God-honoring person looks like.
Living a Godly Life is the best parenting possible! All parents will sin, so all parents should be repenting and asking God and others for forgiveness. God calls parents to be faithful knowing that we will not be perfect here on earth.