The Beginnings of Biblical Worldview – Foundations of a Worldview

The Beginnings of Biblical Worldview
Foundations of a Worldview

Deuteronomy 32:45-47

Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel, and he said to them: “Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today, which you shall command your children to be careful to observe—all the words of this law. For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess.”

The Law of God is the cornerstone of Biblical revelation. It sets the tone and direction, introduces the primary players in the narrative of redemption, and provides the major themes for all the rest of Scripture. The teaching of the Law is interpreted, practiced, elaborated, fulfilled, and enlarged by subsequent revelation, but the Law itself is never entirely set aside.

The Law of God thus contains, in a large kernel, all the teaching of Scripture, including everything in the Biblical worldview. A worldview is simply a way of understanding all of life, a mind map, if you will, for discerning the best way to live and prosper in one’s particular place and time.

Worldviews answer questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What kind of world is this? How are we supposed to live? What’s the meaning of it all? And so forth. We don’t just ask these questions once, but over and over, in different situations, with different ends in view, and in order to keep ourselves on track in the world.

Everyone has a worldview—even God. And God began to make known His view of life and how to get the most out of it in the five books of Moses which we call the Law of God. The commandments, precepts, statutes, and rules which take up the bulk of Genesis-Deuteronomy contain God’s worldview as in a nutshell, and the worldview which we may discover there marks out the shape and content of the Biblical worldview as a whole.

Rather than consider the Law of God merely as a body of law, therefore, it is important that we understand it as conveying a worldview. The Law of God is not just statutes and legal codes; it outlines and guides all who submit to it into an understanding of and approach to life which is filled with the blessings of God for every aspect of human life and interest.
In this study we want to consider the worldview of God’s Law—its form and content, and how we may engage that worldview in a way that will allow us to “live long” in our place and time, rejoicing and being at peace in the blessings of God for ourselves and our neighbors. We begin by considering six facets of the particular kind of worldview which we find revealed in the Law of God.

Act: What are some other words besides “worldview” that you might use to help someone begin thinking about his or her own “worldview”? Ask some of you non-Christian friends or co-workers how they think about “worldview.”

Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom of God—another primary theme of Scripture. Order a copy of The Gospel of the Kingdom from our online store, and learn how you can become more effective at proclaiming this wonderful Good News.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).