圣经中教养孩童最著名的经节之一可能就是箴言22：6节，它说：
“教养孩童，使他走当行的道，就是到老他也不偏离。”
要发现这节经文的真正意思，重要的是要认识到一个通常的误解。
毫无疑问，几乎每一个牧者都会遇到心碎的家长，他们的孩子任性受伤害。有时，他们可能说：“牧师，请为我的成年孩子祷告。当他们小的时候，我们将他们很有忠实地带到教会。现在他们去上大学，渐渐远离上帝。他们如今过着放荡、无所事事的生活，但我知道，他们有一天将会回转，正如圣经所说的那样。请为他们祷告直到好结果发生。”
一个牧师对这种情形的回答是：“当然我会为他们祷告，我也希望他们进城时看到他们。然而，你们说上帝说他们将远离、然后将回转，你们所说的经文真是这个意思吗？”他们给牧师箴言22：6节作为回答。
善意的家长通常引用箴言22：6节，像许多人一样，他们相信这节经文意思是：如果他们将孩子带到教会，尽管孩子们可能会在一段时间过着罪中的生活，他们最终还是会回头。
然而，这根本不是这段经文所教导的。在希伯来文中，这节经文字面意思是：“……当他正成长时，他将不会偏离。（while he is growing old, he will not depart from it.）”在英语中，那是进行时同等的，而不是将来时态。这个意思不是说孩子们将远离然后在未来某个时刻回转，而是说孩子在持续渐进地成长过程中，他将一直都不会偏离。
神的道是一本应许之书，但也是一本命令之书。很有必要的是，我们理解箴言22：6节这个特定的应许是带有条件的。在上帝恩典临到我们孩子的生命中时，需要特定条件的成就。这个条件就是我们必须“教养孩童，使他走当行的道”（Train up a child in the way he should go）。
Train Up a Child
Perhaps one of the most famous verses in the Bible regarding the raising of children is Proverbs 22:6, which states,
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
In finding the true meaning of this verse, it is important to realize a common misconception about it.
No doubt, nearly every pastor has had parents come to him with hearts broken over their wayward and hurting children. At times, they may say, “Pastor, please pray for my grown children. When they were little, we took them to church faithfully. Now they have gone off to college and have drifted away from the Lord. They’re sowing their wild oats right now, but I know they’re going to come back someday, just like the Bible says they will. Please pray for them until that happens.”
One pastor’s response to such a statement was, “Of course I’ll pray for them, and I also want to see them when they are in town. However, exactly what Scripture are you referring to when you say that God said they would go away and then come back?” He was given Proverbs 22:6 as a response.
Well-meaning parents often quote Proverbs 22:6. Like many people, they may believe this verse means that if they take their children to church, although the children may go into a life of sin for a time, they will eventually come back to the Lord. However, that is not what this passage is teaching at all!
In the Hebrew, this verse literally says,
“. . . while he is growing old, he will not depart from it.”
In English, that is the equivalent of the progressive tense, not the future tense! The concept is not that the child will depart and then come back at some future time. It is rather that he will not depart as he is continuously and progressively growing.
The Word of God is a book of promise, but it is also a book of commandment. It is imperative that we understand that this particular promise in Proverbs 22:6 is conditional. In other words, a certain condition must be met before this blessing will come to pass in the lives of our children. The condition is that we must “train up a child in the way he should go . . . .”
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