The Greek word paideia (pronounced
“pie-day-ah”) signifies the ancient curriculum in content and character development that Athenian parents sent their sons to school to acquire. Plato quoted Socrates, “If you ask what is the good in general of the paideia, the answer is easy. The paideia makes good men, and good men act nobly.”

Paul of Tarsus, however, knew better. Having been raised in the Jewish religion, Greek paideia and Roman law, the Apostle Paul believed that nobility of character required more than mere education. He thus urged the parents among new Christian believers in Ephesus to “…bring up your children in the paideia of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:2).