Recovering a Biblical Worldview with help from Isaiah

Isaiah: Recovering a Biblical Worldview [1]

The Uniqueness of God: Biblical Theism

Like the Jews of the Persian period, we are placed in a highly syncretistic atmosphere. All religions are seen as equally valid paths to God, no matter the different ethics that underlie them. The only intolerance is expressed toward those who do not agree with this!

There are perhaps two or three ways of looking at reality. Either ultimate reality is an intrinsic part of the universe (naturalism or pantheism), or ultimate reality is separate from and transcendent of it. Only Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all Abrahamic faiths, have a transcendent worldview. All other worldviews point to this world as we know it as ultimate reality.

Implications of naturalistic and pantheistic views:

• There is no ultimate meaning in life or value in humanity.
• There is no purpose or goal for life, other than survival.
• Conflict between “destructive” and “constructive” forces is inevitable and eternal.
• Therefore ethics are necessarily relative. Some may say it is good to maximize comfort, pleasure and security, but it is not clear what basis there is for this statement.
• Self-interest inevitably emerges.
• Acquiring power and using it is key to survival.
• There is spiritual power beyond physical manipulation; we must find “spiritual” ways to tap that power.
• Human behavior is controlled by forces beyond our control. Recording history is a self-serving assertion of power, so history writing as an attempt to understand humanity is pointless.

By the post-exilic period, Israel had settled on spiritual tenants virtually opposite of the above.

• Because we are created in the image of God to steward his creation, we have value.
• We are invited and commanded to share God’s character; this is our ultimate call; therefore progress and regress are both possible.
• God is the Creator and completely good. There is no cosmic conflict permanently inherent in the created order. Evil is the absence/rejection of the good.
• God’s character is the absolute standard against which all behavior and ethics will be measured.
• Surrendering self-interest into God’s care is the most personally beneficial thing one can do.
• Receiving right relationship with God is the most important human goal.
• Spiritual power apart from a submissive, obedience relationship to God is wrong and extremely dangerous.
• Human behavior is substantially free, and must be evaluated by the standard of God’s character. One can record that behavior with sufficient accuracy and integrity for forming historical judgments. Therefore written history can be a way to understand the human condition.

The Hebrews held to these views because a transcendent view of God leads (inevitably) to these ideas. These key concepts need to be recovered in our culture.

Servanthood

If we are a cosmic accident and not created by God, how can people have any lasting significance? Those secure in having been created by God with a definite purpose are secure yet humble personalities. The resultant strong sense of personhood allows one to serve without fearing loss to oneself. A society that lacks this basis for significance sees the rise of a desperate search for self-esteem. These two issues are clearly linked. Isaiah teaches us that the way to significance is through humility and service. We can do this when we trust that God is reliable; He can be trusted. He will demonstrate his goodness and make us the evidence that he alone is God.

The Lord of History

An utterly transcendent God has rarely been considered, because such a God appears to be irrelevant. Both the Greeks (Aristotle) and Confucius posited that universal norms imply this transcendent being. This Aristotle called “the Unmoved Mover” and Confucius called the “Tao” or Way. Why do societies where everyone lies or steals do not long survive? Is it not because there is a single, transcendent originating force behind each culture? The problem, however, is the utter impersonality of this originating force. But the pagan view, too, although putting faces on the forces, ultimately collapses back into impersonal forces beyond us.

The Biblical view of the Hebrews was not a result of extrapolating from forces of the world or a Confucius-like induction. Rather God broke into Israel’s experience, revealing his will and calling for submission and obedience. How can we find God if he is truly transcendent? We cannot, but he can find us! He can translate himself into terms we can understand and yet remain himself. So God chose the language of human interrelationships in history.

He called them into a covenant to worship him alone; from this they grew to understand monotheism. He commanded the forsaking of idols; from this they learned God’s transcendence. He called them to imitate his character; from this they learned absolutes in morals. Their own historical experience became their basis for their knowledge of God.

History implies that real choices are possible and that there is an absolute standard for judging these choices.

Biblical transcendence is the only basis for these choices.

Realized Righteousness

Why has public morality collapsed at the same time the evangelical Christianity has become the dominant religion? Is this accidental? Probably not. Evangelical theology, reacting to various forces, early in the twentieth century began to emphasize “imputed righteousness.” I cannot earn my salvation; even in the process of growth, I stand in right relationship to God. Good news!

The problem comes with the next step that many then take: therefore my actual behavior is of little significance. The irony is that over emphasis on positional righteousness eliminates my significance as a person! This is true both in the negative sense of looser morals; but perhaps more tragically, it is lost in a lack of passion for the good works that come from faith!

Into heavenly bliss – spiritual drugs! No! God saved us so we could actually share his character and image! God’s purpose is to reproduce unselfish love in a whole people!

So how does this work?

• He humbles us by a revelation of the righteousness we ought to have (Isaiah 1-39).
• He offers us freely given forgiveness through a relationship with him (Isaiah 40-55).
• He shows that this grace was offered so we could finally live out true righteousness (Isaiah 56-66). The same grace that restores relationship to God defeats sin in the believer so they can live for God.

I invite all who are thirsty to begin exploring Isaiah together every Wednesday night here at Sojourn at 7 pm. We will worship, study Isaiah and then have a time where each may wait on God. May God bless the thirsty!

[1] John Oswalt, Isaiah (NIVAC), 55-64. These notes are an interaction with his comments