기독교 교육적인 관점에 근거한 성화(聖化)에 관한 고찰

Abstract

It is not an exaggeration to say that the Christian doctrine of justification by faith, which claims that salvation comes from believing in Christ, constitutes the core of Christian theology in Korea. This had a positive effect on having Christian believers believe in the absolute sovereignty of God so that they can see they are saved by God’s grace, not by their good works. But it served as a stumbling block to Christians’ sanctification in their lives. In particular, modern Korean churches are criticized by many members of the society as Christians’ social responsibility has weakened. It can be said that the criticism has resulted from the reality in which Korean Christians clearly express confidence in their salvation but cannot live sanctified lives. Members of a church is a group of people who confess that Jesus is Lord and follow Jesus. They are called seongdo in Korean, with seong (聖) meaning holy and do (徒) meaning a group of people. So seongdo means a group of holy people. Seongdo at church is necessarily linked to sanctification. The reason is that one of the key goals of seongdo belonging to salvation is to become the holy people of God. Those saved by the sovereign grace of God have the responsibility and obligation to pursue God’s holiness in their lives. The life of Christians pursuing God’s holiness is referred to as sanctification in Christian theology. The human essence of contemporary people is seriously suppressed by the industry and social structure which accelerate depersonalization. This has led to the situation where human life and character are taken lightly and justice which has been pursued by humans is being lost. Therefore, education is required to correct this, restore the original human being, and recover the justice humans originally possessed. Living a sanctified life means living as the holy people of God and being restored to the original image of God. Being able to live a sanctified life is not given to a Christian automatically or instantly, but requires continuous efforts and self-discipline as if a great work is produced in the course of a Christian’s long life. The essence of the practice for that is education, specifically Christian education. The purpose of general education is to nurture a competent person by teaching human knowledge and methods, while that of Christian education, which is spiritual education, is to help Christians become the holy people of God by teaching them to be restored to the image of God and live a sanctified life. Christian education for sanctification is valid and imperative. Sanctification is one of the essential matters of Christianity, and Christian education is a concrete reality which is practiced at churches. The revolutionist viewpoint of faith based on Calvinism centers on the sovereign providence of God. This should not lead to the misunderstanding that no action of a human is allowed and God completely leads everything. Strictly speaking, the sovereign providence of God is realized through communication in all areas, including humans’ living and culture. Consequently, sanctification and Christian education can be considered closely related to each other. This study intends to discuss the matter of sanctification from the perspective of Christian education mentioned above. Hopefully, this study will help all Christians, including pastors, be aware that Christian education is directly related to pastoral work, especially sanctification, thus contributing to the growth of Korean churches in terms of quality as well as quantity.