DM 620474

You can think it through a little bit. Jason read Proverbs 22, which has a historic verse in it that a lot of people have clung to. And he read it in the ESV, I believe, which is fine. But the LSB actually got this one right, which makes sense, because there were some people there that recently were reviewing Bible translations in Hebrew. so in Proverbs 20 and the reason I bring this up is I think the mistranslation of Proverbs 22 6 has been one of the more damaging things to a lot of people in their Christian life if you look at Proverbs 22 6 look at the ESV it says train up a child in the way he should go and it says even when he is old he will not depart from it And that's the ESV.

And that's pretty much the KJV and the NKJV and all the ones until the LSBs come along. And in the LSB, so this might shock you, so this is something if you've never heard it before, you'll be like, whoa. In the LSB, I think they get it right, it says, train up a child according to his way, even when he is old he will not depart from it. Now the words aren't really very different in these two readings I just read.

But what I want you to understand is that the classic, I'll call it, or traditional translation of this verse train up a child in the way he should go when he's old he will not depart from it has been, I think, wrongly claimed by parents as a promise that if I train my child correctly he will not depart from it I heard this used by people to explain away their clearly apostate children that one day they'll come back because I trained them right when they were little. I've seen people mourn greatly their own failure as a parent who diligently taught their children well because this verse told them that if they trained their child correctly, their kid wouldn't depart. Now their kid has departed.

And so basic logic says if you deny the consequent, you now deny the premise, they must not have trained their child correctly. And so you have generations of mothers, you have generations of maybe fathers as well who have tried to train their children correctly the child being non-elect or elect at a later point in his life for God's justification has lived a life that showed that they did not believe what their parents taught them and then you have this parent who now blames themselves now every parent in the room hopefully can honestly say yeah you've made some mistakes so this isn't about you're a perfect parent no matter what either but the translation that teaches that if you just you know take them to church every sunday give them some catechism questions homeschool them give them bible lessons every day that they will not depart from what you've taught them. That just doesn't exist.

That's not a promise of God. Now, those are good things to do and that is the means God will use to save his elect and to hopefully transform some children in this room from little kids to missionaries pastors pastors wives churchmen church ladies But what the Bible really teaches in Proverbs 22 is that if you set a child on his own way if you leave a child effectively to his own device, if you train a child according to his way letting him do what his heart leads him to do the promise is he won't depart from that when he's older that the foolishness bound up in the heart of a child as we read a little later needs to be disciplined out of that child and so nobody trends towards holiness nobody trends towards righteousness even Christians don't, you understand that right? We all need discipline of sorts.

And so I say that not to destroy. If you have that verse hanging over your kid's nursery or something, I'm not going to come in and take it down for you. I hope you would if it's a mistranslation of the Bible, frankly. But I say that because I want encouraged Christians in my midst. I don't want people discouraged because they are believing something that they think is a promise from God that isn't really a promise from God.

Because if you do that, the only result is going to be that you will eventually be disappointed in God because it will appear to you as if God has not kept a promise. It is important that you believe the promises that God has really given. And I have no problem with you believing and claiming every single one of the ones He's really given because you can bank on those. this is one of the reasons why I will vocally and verbally oppose charismatic teaching every chance I get most charismatic teaching seems innocuous for a minute like oh God told me to turn left and you know whatever I say some weird things But when they start saying God promised this God promised that they have now set everyone who believes them up for failure Because God will not lie.

So if somebody tells you God promised something he didn't promise, when it doesn't come to pass, now you will lose your trust in what God has promised. Truly. So, Proverbs 22.6, a better rendition. train up a child according to his way, even when he was old, he will not depart from it. People will trend towards their unholiness rather than their holiness.

So let that be your encouragement today, though, that you mothers and you fathers who are laboring to teach your kids the gospel, you're laboring that your kids might know the triune God, you're laboring so that they will learn history, science, math, grammar maybe another language already music different sports and physical activities you're laboring to get your kids this well-rounded education that's centered on the fear of the Lord I want you to be encouraged that God will use that for His good pleasure and you don't have to be discouraged if your kid doesn't seem to be responding to it maybe as quickly as you'd hope. And it doesn't mean that God has let you down, but what it also doesn't mean is that somehow you failed. When your kid grows up and goes his own way, that's his choice.

And I trust that you're all praying for God to intervene in your kids' lives and doing all you can to teach them what, in some of your cases, you didn't know when you were their age and you're so glad to be able to give them what no one gave you. Right? So amen to that. I will come down now for communion.