Aside from a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ himself, developing a biblical worldview is
perhaps the most important part of the Christian life. It is crucial to
understanding everything in life, from your personal faith to the public
square, from your family and education to your work or business, from the
church house to the White House. So, what is a biblical worldview, and
is your worldview truly biblical?
Christians use the phrase
“biblical worldview” quite often these days, and we have a general
understanding of what it means. Do we truly know what we’re saying when we use
that term? What is a “worldview”? Is our worldview “biblical”? What parts of
our lives does it affect? Have we applied it as consistently as we should?
A worldview is the particular
point of view through which we understand everything. It includes the sum total
of our experiences, beliefs, values, feelings, presuppositions, and much more,
all of which affects how we view life, interpret it, and make decisions. In
short, it includes everything about us, and it affects everything about us.
Everyone has a worldview.
Everyone has a set of values and assumptions by which they interpret all of life.
They may not even know it, but they do have one.
Christians, however, are
instructed and expected to understand everything by the truth taught in God’s
Word. They are taught not to float through life and allow the circumstances,
the world around them, other people, or even “the winds of doctrine” to
determine their worldview for them. We must seek to develop our view and values
based upon the Bible.
A biblical worldview,
then, is a point of view of all of life rooted and nourished by Scripture.
So, if we are asking about God,
we want to know what Scripture teaches about him. For example, that He is a
Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We also will know that the Son, Jesus
Christ, is himself God, not just a good man. Yet he is also fully man. We will
eventually develop all of our answers and understandings about God, Jesus,
salvation, justification, and more based squarely upon the Bible.
Likewise, we will seek to develop
our understanding about all of creation, humanity, the church, spirituality and
discipleship, prophecy, worship, the fruit and gifts of the Spirit, heaven and
hell, and all the traditional aspects of the Christian life directly from the
Bible, and no other source.
All of this is necessary for
developing a biblical worldview. But the next question is where many Christians
find themselves a bit challenged. What parts of our lives does a biblical
worldview affect?
While we just made a fairly
impressive list that seems to include everything your average Christian would
think of as part of the Christian life, there is so much more we have yet to
address. One obvious area would be abortion. Another would be marriage. Both
are major issues in our pulpits and homes today, but are also major political
issues. Are these part of a biblical worldview?
In a way, this is a trick
question. Of course, they are! Like we said at the beginning, the Christian
should bring everything under his or her biblical worldview. There
should be no question about whether or not any given area of life is part of a
biblical worldview, because everything should be made a part of it.
A biblical worldview is
comprehensive. The Bible does not only address your personal spiritual life and
church worship. It addresses all of human life: education, business,
governments, law, justice, family, finance, money, banking, economics, markets,
courts, militias, history, and more!
In each of these areas, the Bible
not only addresses some direct specifics, but also a general framework of
values about God, mankind, authority, commandments, sanctions, and time. A
biblical worldview differs strongly in all these aspects than a naturalistic,
secularistic, atheistic, Muslim, or any other worldview. For example, in a
biblical worldview, there exist moral absolutes. Morality is objective. Darwinism,
however, can only produce moral relatives. When consistent, under Darwinistic
humanism, everyman does “that which is right in his own eyes.” So, it truly
does matter whether we are bringing every thought captive to Christ in everything
that we do, specifically and in the big picture.
So, the final question is not
really about what parts of life a biblical worldview will address, but whether
or not we are actually diligent in learning and applying a biblical worldview
consistently to every area of our lives. If we are honest, this is where we
have not only not been as thorough as we should be, but where doing so can
quickly make us uncomfortable.
Considering what the Bible says
in so many areas of life not only means we will need to spend a good deal of time
studying Scripture and its applications, but also probably feeling the
conviction of the Holy Spirit in many areas. We will realize that perhaps we
need to change our patterns of behavior in a number of areas, some of which may
be considerable and even costly. It is here that we truly feel the cost of
discipleship in concrete ways. It is here that we are confronted with the
seriousness of taking up our crosses and following Christ—in every area of
life.
At American Vision, one of our
mottos is, “Culture through the lens of Scripture.” By culture we mean all of
life—everything. All must be viewed through what the Bible teaches and
commands about it, what the Bible’s values and priorities may be, and how God
speaking in Scripture moves us to various types and degrees of service for him.
The theologian Henry Van Til once
said that culture “is the service of God in our lives,” which means, he said,
“religion externalized.” If the faith you profess is biblical, then that needs
to be externalized in all areas of life.
It is the same with our worldview
as it is with our personal lives: there exists on the one hand what it actually
is right now, and there is on the other hand what it ought to be
according to God’s Word. The kingdom of God is spiritual, but it is not
merely personal. It is a whole order of things ruled by the Spirit.
Have you begun to bring every
area of your life—thought, word, and deed—captive to the obedience of Christ?
Do your home, marriage, parenting, finances, education, business, government,
and everything else exhibit the service of God according to his word?
