Biblical Worldview
First published April 13, 2023
According to 2023 data from George Barna, 4% of Americans have a biblical worldview, 82% have a non-biblical worldview, and 14% align somewhat with biblical worldview, but not enough to be labeled as such. If only 4% of adults in the United States have a biblical worldview, then 96% have a non-biblical, presumably worldly and secular, worldview. Think of 100 adults in your community - your neighbors, your friends, your elected officials, and so on - 4 of them have a biblical worldview, 14 align somewhat with a biblical worldview, and 82 have a non-biblical worldview.
From that same Barna data: “Most Americans (68%) consider themselves to be Christians. Among these self-defined Christians, though, only 6% have a biblical worldview. Less than half of the self-defined Christians can be classified as born-again, defined as believing that they will go to Heaven after they die but only because they have confessed their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Within the born-again population (just 33% of the adult population), a shockingly small proportion (13%) hold a biblical worldview.” Therefore, based on that information, if you attend a church in which the definition of “born-again” is accepted as what makes a person “saved”, think of 100 of your adult church members, and consider the possibility that only 13 of them hold to a biblical worldview.
I am not judging hearts and suggesting that only 13 of those 100 born-again believers are saved, indeed I would say the opposite. I have questions though, one of which is, does having a biblical worldview matter?
The Barna definition of worldview and biblical worldview is this: “A worldview is the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual filter an individual uses to experience, interpret,
and respond to reality. Everyone has a worldview. It is the basis of every decision an individual makes. The biblical worldview (also known as biblical theism) is one among numerous worldviews that exist. In the biblical worldview, people’s ideas about all dimensions of life and eternity are based on biblical principles and commands.” [Emphasis added]
If I have a biblical worldview, I filter every aspect of my life through God’s principles and commands as he has revealed them through Scripture. A biblical worldview ought to be informing my actions, not only as an individual in my home, but as an employee or employer in the marketplace, and as a citizen in my community. As a Christ follower who holds to a biblical worldview, I ask questions about how I ought to live my life; how to be a daughter, son, spouse, parent, or co-worker; how I ought to contribute to society, including my role in politics, most likely as a voter, but possibly as an elected official. I seek answers to these questions in God’s Word, and through prayer to the Father through the Son and by the power of the Holy Spirit. After seeking God’s Word first, I may also seek wise counsel from fellow believers. The answers I discover, and my actions which follow, should set me apart from those who don’t follow Christ; after all, Jesus said, “‘I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.’” (John 17:14)
Jesus gave us the Father’s word, and said that we who follow Jesus are not of the world, therefore, the world hates us. This truth is a challenge for those who follow Christ. Our eternal souls dwell in earthly, temporary, fallible bodies. We love Jesus and long to be united with him in heaven, yet he has placed us here, for such a time as we possess, and given us tasks to complete for his kingdom work. If we are not of the world, but living in it, what should people see when they look at us? According to Romans 12:2, we are not to “be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
The opposite of conformity to the world is to be transformed with renewed minds, to test and discern what is good, acceptable, and perfect, and to discover what God’s will is for us. This is a biblical worldview: we read God’s Word, we grow in our understanding of God’s principles and commands, we act differently than the ways of the world. According to Scripture, we will know if we are not conformed to the world and are living out a biblical worldview, when we experience hate, contempt, and conflict from those who do not follow Christ, even from those in the 87% of born-again believers who do not have a biblical worldview.
God’s most basic principles for behavior and actions are found in the ten commandments which list false worship, idolatry, misusing God’s name, not honoring the Sabbath, dishonoring parents, murder, adultery, stealing, lying/slandering, and coveting as actions and behaviors we are not to engage in. Galatians 5:19-20 says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
No human is perfect, and as followers of Christ we continue to sin even though we do not want to; therefore, our goal is to grow in our faith, become ever more aligned with God’s commands and principles, and act more and more Christ-like, less and less like the world. Dare to develop a biblical worldview and live it out. The world may hate you, but it hated Jesus first. Take confidence and find peace in Jesus’ prayer to his heavenly Father, which he prayed not only for his disciples, but for all who would come to believe in him, you and me, and all believers still walking the earth today:
“‘I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.’” (John 17:15-19)
John 17 English Standard Version
The High Priestly Prayer
17 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.[a] 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them[b] in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself,[c] that they also may be sanctified[d] in truth.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
Romans 12:9-21 English Standard Version
Marks of the True Christian
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,[g] serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.[h] Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it[i] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Galatians 5:16-26 English Standard Version
Keep in Step with the Spirit
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,[d] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do[e] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
1 John 2:15- English Standard Version
Do Not Love the World
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[c]—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
John 15:18-27 English Standard Version
The Hatred of the World
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin,[b] but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.