Make him a Christian.
Chrysostom, Ephesians Homily 21, Homily 21 on Ephesians, exposition of 6:4
St. John Chrysostom asks parents to take their children’s Christian formation seriously. In his homily on Ephesians 6, he urges early acquaintance with Scripture and an example given through the parents’ lives. Education for work and ordinary competence should be accompanied by care for the child’s life before God. Chrysostom, Ephesians Homily 21, Homily 21 on Ephesians, exposition of 6:4
He anticipates the objection that scriptural learning is only for monks. His response distinguishes making a child a Christian from requiring the child to become a monk. The instruction concerns lay households too. We should preserve that point rather than presenting monastic life as the required future for every child. Chrysostom, Ephesians Homily 21, Homily 21 on Ephesians, exposition of 6:4
Paul commands fathers not to provoke their children to wrath, and to bring them up in the Lord’s instruction. The manner of formation belongs with its content. Scripture should not become a weapon through which a parent expresses anger while overlooking the apostle’s command about how to treat the child. Ephesians 6:1-4
An ordinary beginning may be reading an appropriate passage together, explaining it accurately and allowing the child to ask questions. The parent’s own conduct should remain open to the same word. These are possible applications of the source’s call for scriptural learning and example, rather than a prescribed curriculum or a promise about future behavior. Chrysostom, Ephesians Homily 21, Homily 21 on Ephesians, exposition of 6:4
The question Chrysostom leaves before a household is what place the word of God actually has in its life. Give it a place that can be sustained, with the patience and care Paul requires. A child can receive both what is read and the example of a parent willing to live under it. That shared responsibility keeps teaching joined to love. Chrysostom, Ephesians Homily 21, Homily 21 on Ephesians, exposition of 6:4
For prayer, use the Lord’s Prayer given by Christ in Matthew 6:9–13.
Sources and edition notes
- Chrysostom, Ephesians Homily 21. Source. Translated by Gross Alexander. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 13. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1889.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/230121.htm.
Scripture references link to these comparison editions: NKJV. Biblical passages are paraphrased. Biblical language within a patristic quotation follows the identified historical English translation.