The Supreme Importance of Worldview
Everybody has a worldview. However, most people obtain their worldview by unconsciously absorbing it from the culture rather than consciously adopting it from Scripture. Identifying and mastering the components of the biblical worldview will strengthen the faith of any believer, help us to detect and refute error, and live consistent with the way the world really works. A worldview is “a way of viewing or interpreting all of reality. It is a framework through which one makes sense of the data of life and the world.”1
The Importance of Worldview
Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer accurately described the consequence of failing to see the centrality of one’s worldview to all of life:
[Christians have gradually] become disturbed over permissiveness, pornography, our schools, the breakdown of the family, and finally abortion. But they have not seen this as a totality – each thing being a part, a symptom of a much larger problem. They failed to see that all of this has come about due to a shift in worldview – that is, through a fundamental change in the overall way people think and view the world and life as a whole.2
Belief determines behavior. Examples of the vital role of worldview can be seen in political science. Good policies can only result from a proper view of the world we hope to shape by them:
Ideas have real world consequences … human nature is not infinitely changeable but rather has its own laws. Therefore, there is a right life for man, a life in accord with our nature…It isn’t a given of nature that people retrain their aggression, beget and nurture their offspring in marriage, exercise foresight, calculate rationally, or work to improve their condition. The wonder is not that people don’t do it, but rather that they do … So, … it makes sense to ask … how society fosters people that dependably work and marry and are capable of rational calculation; how culture takes the aggressive, egotistical raw material of human nature each of us is born with and develops in it conscience, reason, and duty. ((Myron Magnet, The Dream and the Nightmare, pp. 5, 28))
Only a clear understanding of human nature, born of one’s worldview, will result in ideas that work in the real world.
The Components of a Biblical Worldview
There are two ways to adopt a worldview: 1) Compare and contrast all rivals and decide which is best or, 2) Submit to the world of the Creator and interpret life through His God-given lens. The former is impossible apart from complete knowledge of all possible worldviews. The latter, however, is possible for all who have had their eyes opened to God’s world as described in His Word.
A Christian with a sanctified intellect can see life for what it is. However, an unregenerate mind continues to suppress the truth that it knows as seen in Romans 1:18-21 (see last week’s blog here). The Apostle Paul assumed this truth in his encounter with pagan philosophers in Athens, pointing out their culpable rejection of truth by quoting two of their own:
[Paul quoted to them],“In him we live, and move, and have our being”. As certain also of your own poets have said, “For we are also his offspring.” (Acts 17:28)
There are two quotations here: (1) “In him we live and move and have our being,” from the Cretan poet Epimenides (c. 600 B.C.) and (2) “We are his offspring,” from the Cilician poet Aratus (c. 315-240). Paul’s point in Acts 17 is that although they inherently know these things because they are creatures made by their Creator, they fail to think and therefore live in light of them.
Because all people know the components of the biblical worldview, Augustine said, “I believe in order to understand” rather than “I understand in order to believe.” That is, we only understand our world when we first submit our minds to the God Who created it. Similarly, Blaise Pascal said, “The heart has reasons of which reason knows nothing.” Or, in the words of Psalm 36:9, “In thy light, shall we see light.” When we place ourselves in proper relation to God, we begin to see and think and act as intended by Him.
The components of the biblical worldview are, thankfully, few in number. Following are the categories through which all of life can be seen:
- The Creator/Creature Distinction. This would include God’s authority and the necessity of revelation from Him.
- The Fall. The entrance of sin into the human race and its continuing effects explains our struggles, and the morning headlines.
- Redemption. The antidote to the Fall. Coupled with the first two, this requires the grace of God because a) as Creator God is the Standard of righteousness and b) we cannot meet the Standard due to the Fall.
- Purpose. Because God made the world, the purpose of life is God-centered. We were created to know the Creator, and carry out the purpose He has revealed in His Word.
While the components of the biblical worldview are few, the implications of each are myriad, and affect ALL of life. The Christian who has a good grasp on these is fully competent to answer any objection, face any difficulty, and accomplish any God-given task. Therefore, we should devote ourselves to filtering everything through this grid. When we do, we will be able to “Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Ken Brown is the pastor of Community Bible Church in Trenton, MI. We republish his article by permission.
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