Biblical Worldview: Vision – Foundations of a Worldview

Biblical Worldview: Vision
Foundations of a Worldview

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God….

A worldview can be understood by looking at three aspects or components: vision, disciplines, and outcomes.

We have used the secular and materialist worldview in order to understand how these components function together in a person’s life. The Christian does not hold to a secular and materialist worldview. The Christian’s worldview is Biblical. That is, it starts with the Bible, not with the spirit of the times, and develops its vision, disciplines, and outcomes “under the heavens,” as Solomon would say, rather than “under the sun.”

As we shall see, the Biblical worldview holds out a vision of unseen things as that which is ultimate and most desirable for human beings. This is just another way of saying that the Biblical worldview offers a spiritual vision as the defining motif and principle of the good life.

The worldview that has its footings in the Law of God unfolds within a vision of spiritual realities and truths. These must be understood and received by faith. The vision of unseen things that begins to unfold in God’s Law includes God Himself; the promises of His Word and covenant; a spiritual understanding of human life, as made in the image of God; the reality of other spiritual powers; and the course of future history and the world to come, and so forth.

Of course, we cannot see these spiritual realities with physical eyes. They are unseen things. But just because they are unseen does not mean they aren’t real. In fact, the spiritual realities of the world are, if anything, more real than those we can see, feel, hear, taste, or smell. The unseen things of the world actually define the meaning and purpose of everything else, so if we want to have a clear and correct understanding of the world in which we live, we have to work hard at nurturing a vision of the unseen things that overarch, pervade, and support everything else.

And the place to begin nurturing that vision is the Law of God, the five books of Moses.

Act: How would you describe your vision of “unseen things” at this time? Talk with a Christian friend about this question.

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).