📖 Biblical Definition
"Nurture and admonition" is the KJV pairing in Ephesians 6:4: "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Nurture (Greek paideia) is the broad child-training and formation, including discipline, instruction, correction, and example — the whole shaping work of raising a child. Admonition (Greek nouthesia) is the verbal placing-in-mind — the spoken instruction, the warning, the rehearsed lesson. Together they cover the formative task: discipline shaped by speech, speech reinforced by discipline. The two should not separate. A father who admonishes without nurturing produces resentment; one who nurtures without admonishing produces softness. Both belong to Christian fatherhood.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
(Eph 6:4.) The biblical pair covering the formative task: paideia (formation) and nouthesia (verbal instruction).
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Greek paideia covers the wide formative work: training, discipline, education, formation. Behind English pediatric, encyclopedia.
Greek nouthesia — literally placing-in-mind; verbal warning, instruction, admonition. Behind the modern term nouthetic counseling.
📖 Key Scripture
Ephesians 6:4 — "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."
Hebrews 12:11 — "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
Proverbs 3:11 — "My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction."
1 Thessalonians 5:14 — "Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern parenting often emphasizes one half: nurture without admonition (everything is okay) or admonition without nurture (constant correction). Scripture commands both.
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Nurture without admonition raises children who feel loved but unformed. Admonition without nurture raises children who feel corrected but unloved. Paul's pair holds them together.
And both are of the Lord: shaped by His character, modeled on His way with His own children, anchored in Scripture. The household's formation is theological before it is psychological.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek paideia and nouthesia.
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Greek paideia — child-training, formation, discipline.
Greek nouthesia — placing-in-mind, verbal admonition.
Usage
"Nurture without admonition: loved but unformed."
"Admonition without nurture: corrected but unloved."
"Of the Lord: shaped by His character, modeled on His way."