What does it really mean to be educated?

From The Chancellor's Desk

What does it really mean to be educated? Is college, in and of itself, really what educates a person? What above all must you know? Scripture鈥檚 answer to this is very clear: 鈥淲ith all your acquiring, acquire understanding鈥 (Proverbs 4:7, LSB).

The pursuit of understanding (that is, wisdom) requires effort. We have to search for it like miners search for precious metals. In fact, Job talks about mining and says that finding wisdom is even harder than finding underground treasures:

He sends his hand forth to the flint;
He overturns the mountains at the base.
He breaks out channels through the rocks,
And his eye sees anything precious.
He dams up the streams from flowing,
And what is hidden he brings out to the light.
鈥淏ut where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
Man does not know its worth,
And it is not found in the land of the living.

Job 28:9-13

Job is saying, 鈥淲e may be able to find silver and gold, but no man knows where to find wisdom.鈥 And yet God in His Word commands us to seek wisdom, and in Proverbs much is said about the benefits of having wisdom. It brings safety to those who have it (Proverbs 1:33). It gives people favor in the sight of God and man (Proverbs 3:4). It brings us exaltation and honor (Proverbs 4:8). In light of all these benefits, Proverbs says that wisdom is more valuable than anything a miner could find in the ground (Proverbs 8:11).

The most important thing you will ever gain is wisdom. But that leads us to ask the question, 鈥淲hat is wisdom?鈥

The word for wisdom in the Greek language is sophia. This word sophia refers to concepts; for a Greek, being wise meant being able to analyze and comprehend ideas. This is often how we think about wisdom today. But the Hebrew word for wisdom, chakam, is quite different; it means 鈥渟killful.鈥 In the Hebrew language, a wise person is someone who has skill in living. When we read about wisdom in Proverbs, this is the sort of wisdom we are meant to picture. Biblical wisdom is designed to give us skill in how we live our lives.

So then, what does it mean to be educated? It means to pursue skillfulness in every area of our lives.

If there is anything that should set apart a Christian college, anything that should set apart those of us who are committed to Jesus Christ, it should be this: that we are not only seeking knowledge of concepts, but we are pursuing skill in all aspects of living. And this skill comes from studying the Word of God and the person of Christ, who is God incarnate and the sum of all wisdom (Colossians 2:3). When we come to Scripture, we learn wisdom.

This is exactly the kind of education we seek to offer at 91探花, something that Dr. Abner Chou unpacks and defends in three articles featured in the pages of the . I hope you鈥檒l be encouraged and challenged to view higher education through the lens of Scripture.

– Dr. John MacArthur

From The President's Desk

We live in a leaderless world. It does not take much to see that people are desperate for someone they can follow. People throw themselves after anyone who has power, popularity, or personality; they will even settle for someone who is just provocative. These influencers may make money, but they lead no one. Society is clueless about leadership. In fact, one recent article stated that higher education has failed to model leadership for its people. We live in a world that is so leaderless it cannot even produce its own leaders.

 

Scripture, though, knows what true leadership is. God’s Word defines it, and as opposed to fame, position, or title, the Bible declares that true leadership is about character. Scripture not only declares this but demonstrates it. From Moses to Joshua, David, Solomon, Elijah, Isaiah, Nehemiah, Peter, and Paul, leaders who led Israel, stood up to tyrants, conquered lands, built cities, stood for righteousness, and established the global church, did so not based on their popularity but because of their unwavering conviction and clarity about the truth. Jesus, the ultimate leader, perfectly exemplifies this. He not only has clarity about the truth, He is the truth, and that is what sets people free and wins in the end. If you want to do more than just get a job done or manage a project, if you are going to set the right direction for industry and rally people to a cause, then you are going to need wisdom and not just intelligence. That is what society needs, and even more, that is what is required for one to fulfill their role in God’s eternal plan.

 

This year the Wall Street Journal rated The Master’s University No. 1 in the entire nation in character formation. Because leadership is tied with character, here’s what that means: Out of any school in the entire country, there is one that trains the truest leaders, and that鈥檚 91探花. And we need these leaders for such a time as this. As society goes from bad to worse, as the pressures against the church multiply, as deception abounds and truth is twisted, as a mantle of leadership from Moses to David to Elijah to Jesus to Paul to Timothy is being passed down, we need men and women to stand in the gap and lead all things to the lordship of Christ, to ensure that the church remains the pillar of truth in the next generation.

 

The Master’s University is here for this. We are for Christ and Scripture.

 

Join us in this effort.

 

Be more than just about you.