What is a Biblical Worldview?

Suppose that you are going to take a trip to Hawaii. As you are seated on the plane, you introduce yourself to the passenger next to you who looks nervous. He replies, “I'm sorry if I don't seem very friendly. This is my first flight, and I don't like heights. Would you mind if we closed the shade on the window?” You smile and politely pull the shade. While preparing for takeoff, a voice over the intercom announces, “This is your pilot speaking. Can anyone tell me how to get to Hawaii? I can't find the compass on this thing. Since I've never been in a plane before either, I could use some help figuring out what all of these buttons are for.” Upon hearing this announcement, only a lunatic would remain in his seat. It is essential to have an experienced pilot in order to first make it off the ground, and then arrive at your destination. If the person next you had never been in an airplane before, it would have little effect on you. However, it would matter immensely if your captain had never been in a plane. His lack of experience as a pilot would affect his choices, everyone else in the plane, and your destiny. Many people think that their beliefs are irrelevant, but all beliefs have consequences. They affect our choices, they affect those around us, and they affect our destinies. Our beliefs are not just a passenger in the mind; they are the pilot of the entire body. Having the right beliefs is vital because our beliefs will determine the course of our lives.

It Matters

What we believe matters, but how can one know what to believe? There are many different belief systems, but the Bible alone is consistent with itself and reality. Author Susan Schaeffer Macaulay compared the search for truth with finding the right key to a lock. She recounted a time when she had a large ring of keys and needed to find the correct one for the door that stood locked before her. Mrs. Macaulay explained that just as only one key fit the lock, only one belief system fits the facts around us. The Bible gives the philosophy and explanation of life and truth that fits reality. The Bible offers the key to understanding the past, present, and future. It explains creation and its purpose and reveals why pain, disease, and death exist. It accounts for why we have a sense of right and wrong. The Bible also offers a living hope¹ for mankind and provides truth to guide us through life. The Bible contains the only correct belief system.

Worldview

Another word for a belief system is worldview. Francis Schaeffer said, “No man can live without a world view; therefore, there is no man who is not a philosopher.” Everyone has a belief system even if they do not believe in a god. A worldview can be broken down into what one believes about seven basic categories: truth, God, origins, man, purpose, morality, and destiny. Hence, a biblical worldview is viewing all of these areas through the lens of Scripture and letting the Bible govern one's beliefs. In order to understand what a biblical worldview is, we must answer the question, “What does the Bible teach us about each of these topics?”

Truth

Every worldview begins by laying the foundation for truth. By necessity, a Biblical worldview begins with the belief that God is the source of all truth, and that truth is revealed to us through His Word.² God cannot lie, so His Word is true.³ Thus, truth is not relative or subjective to our opinions. God's Word helps us to discern what is true and provides direction much like a compass does. It would be impossible for a pilot to navigate without a compass. Likewise, it is vital that we rely on God's Word in order to discern truth. Understanding where to acquire truth lays the foundation for the entire Biblical worldview.

God

What is a Biblical worldview of God? Having established that Scripture is God's revealed truth, we should investigate what Scripture teaches about God. However, this does not prove to be a simple task. God is eternal,⁴ and it is difficult for finite man to understand and explain a being who is infinite. While it is not possible for man to know God as God knows Himself, God has revealed Himself to us in His Word and we can know Him to the extent that He has revealed Himself in Scripture and through His Son.⁵ Not only can we know about God; we can know God Himself and have a relationship with Him.⁶ What He has revealed to us in His Word is sufficient for life, faith, and practice.

We learn in Scripture that God is independent from everything and does not need anything to sustain Himself.⁷ He is unchangeable and eternal.⁸ He is omnipresent (in all places), yet He cannot be contained by space.⁹ He is immortal,¹⁰ invisible,¹¹ omniscient (all-knowing), and wise.¹² He does not have a body but is spirit.¹³ He is truthful,¹⁴ faithful,¹⁵ good,¹⁶ and holy.¹⁷ He is righteous,¹⁸ jealous,¹⁹ sovereign,²⁰ and orderly.²¹ He has wrath towards sin and demands a payment for it.²² However, He is merciful, patient, and loving too, and He offers salvation to all men.²³ He is omnipotent (all powerful), free to do all His holy will;²⁴ and He is perfect.²⁵ He is blessed,²⁶ beautiful,²⁷ and glorious.²⁸ God is three persons in one: each is fully God, and there is only one God.²⁹ Although man has tried to use language to describe God, there are no words that can fully explain Him; He is indescribable. A Biblical view of God is that we cannot know God fully, but we can know Him personally as much as He has revealed to us in His Word and through His Son.

Origin

What is a biblical worldview of the origin of the cosmos? Many theories exist, so we must rely on our “compass” to guide us through the philosophies of this world. The very first sentence in the Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”³⁰ We also read that without Christ nothing was made.³¹ All creation has its' origin in God. It is important, however, to clarify that God did not create sin. God's creation originally existed in a perfect state. All that He made was good, but because man sinned, creation was subjected to futility.³² This is the reason that pain, disease, and destruction are rampant today. The evil in this world is not a result of God's actions. Evil entered the world through man's disobedient choice. Scripture is clear on the origin of the cosmos, and the biblical view is that all creation originated from God and was originally perfect.

Man

What does the Bible teach us about man? We learn four basic things about man from Scripture. First, man was originally created perfect in the image of God. The Bible says, “...all that He had made... was very good,”³³ and, “God created man in His own image.”³⁴ Second, when man sinned, all mankind was doomed to death. In Romans we read, “all have sinned”,³⁵ “the wages of sin is death”,³⁶ and “...by the transgression of the one the many died.”³⁷ Third, man can still be redeemed. Jesus said, “In Him we have redemption through His blood”³⁸ Fourth, even when man is redeemed, he will still struggle with sin until he is made perfect when Christ returns. In First John 1:8 we read, “If we say that we have no sin we are deceiving ourselves....”³⁹ A Biblical perspective of mankind is that he fell from his original perfect state; he is doomed to die; he can be forgiven; and once he is redeemed he will not be made perfect until Christ returns.

Purpose

What is the purpose of creation? This question has been asked for ages because we all want to know why we are here and why everything else exists. Everyone longs to have meaning and purpose. In desperation some have tried to create their own purpose, but a purpose must come from a creator. People can only have purpose if they were created intentionally. Similarly, one can only know his purpose if his Creator reveals it. Once again, our compass is a vital tool for discovering what we were intended to do. Scripture teaches that God made all things for His own glory.⁴⁰ It is true that God does do things for our sake,⁴¹ but the ultimate reason He does anything is for His own sake and His own glory.⁴² If man's purpose is to glorify God, the question we are left with is, “How does one glorify God?” Jesus said that if we love Him we will keep His commands,⁴³ and that the Father is glorified when we bear fruit.⁴⁴ We glorify God when we obey His Word. A Biblical view of creation's purpose is that everything was created for God's glory and that we can glorify Him by submitting our lives to the teachings in His Word and bearing fruit.

Morality

How can one decide what is moral or immoral? This is the question of right and wrong. The Bible teaches that right and wrong do exist. Wrongdoing is synonymously called sin in Scripture. The book of First John tells us that all unrighteousness is sin, and sin is lawlessness. Hence, sin is any transgression of God's Holy Law. While sin is lawlessness, it is not merely lawlessness because according to Romans 5, sin existed before the law was ever given. Sin is anything that is contrary to God's character.

Galatians 3:24 teaches that God's laws were given to reveal our sinful state and point us to the perfect God who is the only One able to save us. The law was not given to be kept, for it had already been broken before it was revealed. Rather, the law was given to show us that we have broken it, that we are not like God, and that we need the power of the Spirit to obey His commands.⁴⁵ The Bible also teaches that we know right from wrong in our consciences.⁴⁶Therefore, we are held responsible for our sins. Since the beginning, man has made excuses for his sin because of his pride, but God will not excuse man's sin unless he is covered by the blood of Jesus. A biblical worldview of morality is that right and wrong are determined by God's Word, and man will be held accountable for his actions because his conscience tells him what is right and wrong.

Destiny

A Christian's view of eternity and destiny varies from all other religions, in that salvation is a gift of God that cannot be merited. In Isaiah 53:5 we read,“He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” Salvation is received through repentance and faith. In Scripture we learn that without repentance we will all perish.⁴⁷ Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches us that we are saved by grace through faith and not our works. Once a person is saved, they pass from death into life, become a new creature, and are sealed with the Spirit. Salvation is initiated and sustained by God's power, and one cannot lose it.⁴⁸ Only those who have trusted Christ will enter heaven. Acts 4:12 teaches that salvation is explicitly found in Christ.

If salvation is a free gift to those who exercise repentance and faith in Christ, what happens to those who do not obey the Gospel? The Bible teaches that God has planned a day in which He will judge the world through His Son whom He appointed.⁴⁹ On this day, He will say to the unbelieving to depart from Him into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.⁵⁰ In Matthew 13 we read that God will throw those who commit lawlessness into the furnace of fire, and in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Both hell and heaven are eternal and once in either place you cannot pass to the other according to Luke 6:26. A Biblical view of destiny is that those who repent and exercise faith in Christ will spend eternity in heaven with Him because of His blood, and those who are unbelieving will perish in their sins and spend eternity in hell.

Conclusion

All areas of life are influenced by our worldview because our beliefs are the pilot of our entire body. Our beliefs about truth, God, origins, man, purpose, morality, and destiny are important. They affect our actions, those around us, and our destinies. The more biblical a Christian's worldview, the more equipped he will be to carry out the Great Commission, understand the world around him, discern the will of God, and ultimately bring glory to Him. God has not left us without a compass to try to figure things out on our own. He has given us His Word to show us the way to salvation and to help us know His will. Having a biblical worldview is to view the world in truth and actuality because the Bible is truth. May we be as the Bereans who tested everything against scripture,⁵¹ and may we accurately handle the Word of Truth.⁵² Soli Deo Gloria.

Supporting Scriptural References

¹1 Pt. 1:3

²Jn. 14:6, Jn. 17:17, Ps. 119:160, 2 Tim. 3:16

³Heb. 6:18, Num. 23:19, Tit. 1:2

⁴Psalm 90:2

⁵Ps. 147:5, Ps. 145:3, Rom. 11:33, Is. 55:9, Col. 1:10, 2 Pet. 3:18, Matt. 11:27, Deut. 29:29

⁶Jn. 17:3, 1 Jn. 5:20, 1 Jn. 2:3, Gal. 4:9, 1 Jn. 2:3, Phil. 3:10, 1 Jn. 4:8, Jer. 9:23-24

⁷Acts 17:24-25, Job 41:11

⁸Ps. 102 :27, Mal. 3:6, Jas. 1:17

⁹Ps. 90:2, Job 26:36, 1 Kgs. 8:27, Isa. 66:1, Acts 7:48

¹⁰1 Tim 1:17

¹¹Jn. 6:46, Jn. 1:18, 1 Jn. 4:12, Ex. 33:21-23

¹²Job 37:16, Rom. 16:27, Job 9:4, 1 Jn. 3:20, Heb. 4:13, Job 28:24, Rom. 11:33

¹³Jn. 4:24

¹⁴Jn. 14:6

¹⁵Deut. 32:4

¹⁶Ps. 34:8, 100:5, 106:1, 107:1

¹⁷Isa. 6:3, Ps. 71:22, Ps. 99:9, Ps. 99:3, Ps. 22:3

¹⁸Deut. 32:4, Ps. 19:8, Rom. 3:25-26

¹⁹2 Cor. 11:2, Ex. 20:5, Ex. 34:14, Isa. 48:11, Deut. 4:24, Deut. 5:9

²⁰Isa. 46:9-10, Ps. 139:15-16, Jer. 1:12, Ps. 127:1, Dan.2:20-21, Rom. 8:28

²¹1 Cor.14:33

²²Deut. 9:7-8, Deut. 29:23, Rom. 1:18, 1 Thess. 1:10, 2 Kgs. 22:13

²³2 Cor. 1:3, Ex. 34:6, 1 Pet. 5:10, Rom. 3:23-24

²⁴Jer.32:17, Gen. 18:14, Jer. 32:27, Lk. 1:37, Matt. 19:26, Matt. 3:9

²⁵Ps. 18:30, Matt. 5:48

²⁶1 Tim. 6:15, 1 Tim. 1:11

²⁷Ps. 27:4

²⁸Ps. 24:10, Lk. 2:9, Rev. 21:23

²⁹ Matt. 3:16-17, 2 Cor. 13:14, Isa. 45:21-22, 1 Tim. 2:5, Rom. 3:30, Jn. 14:26, 1 Jn. 2:1, Jn. 16:7, Lk. 4:14, Acts 10:38, 1 Jn. 1:1-4, Matt. 28:19, Jn. 20:30-31, Jas. 2:19

³⁰ Gen. 1:1, 1 Cor. 8:6, Col. 1:16

³¹Rom. 8:20

³² Jn. 1:3, Heb. 1:2

³³Gen. 1:31

³⁴Gen. 1:27

³⁵Rom. 3:23

³⁶Rom. 6:23

³⁷Rom. 5:15

³⁸Eph. 1:7

³⁹see also Rom. 7:19

⁴⁰Isa. 43:7

⁴¹Ex. 32:11-14, 2 Kgs. 8:19

⁴²Jn. 17:4,5, Eph. 1:11-12

⁴³Jn. 14:15

⁴⁴Jn. 15:8

⁴⁵Gal. 5:16

⁴⁶Rom. 1:19-23

⁴⁷Lk. 13:3

⁴⁸Rom. 8:30, 2 Cor. 5:17, 1 Jn. 3:14, Eph. 1:13-14, Rom. 6:4, Gal. 2:20, Eph. 4:24, Ez. 36:26-27, 1 Pet. 1:5, Lk. 22:31-32, 1 Pet. 5:10, Jn. 6:37-39, Jn. 10:27-30, 1 Cor. 1:8-9, Phil. 1:6, 1 Thess. 5:23-25, 2 Tim. 1:12, 1 Jn. 2:19, Matt. 7:22

⁴⁹Acts17:31

⁵⁰Matt. 25:41

⁵¹Acts 17:11

⁵²2 Tim. 2:15