Is the Bible Only Concerned About Salvation?

Is the Bible Only Concerned About Salvation? (This information is excerpt from an article which appeared in Biblical Worldview magazine, March 2004.) WORLDVIEW CHRISTIANITY Henry Morris explains in his book The Biblical Basis for Modern Science that the Bible's approach to worldview issues is comprehensive and includes science, technology, the humanities, commerce, law, civil government, and education, in short, every facet of human culture: ... long before [the Great Commission] another great commission [Genesis 1:27] was given to all men, saved or unsaved, merely by virtue of being men created by God in His image.

It also had a worldwide scope, and has never been rescinded.1 Morris says that the command to subdue the earth means "bringing all earth's systems and processes into a state of optimum productivity and utility, offering the greatest glory to God and benefit to mankind."2 The church has a long history of applying all the Bible to all of life. "Throughout American history, the moral principles of Judeo-Christian ethics have been used as one of many effective tools to evaluate and reform a wide variety of social structures, and have continued to be invoked in political debates."3 This perspective was best exemplified in the life and work of the Puritans who applied the Bible in their vocation, marriage, economics, family, education, politics, social ethics, social action, as well as personal piety, devotion, worship, and theological study.

"Puritanism was a movement in which the Bible was central to everything."4 They found these principles in the Bible and applied them to their current and unique circumstances. The history of Western civilization is the history of the development and implementation of the Bible to all of life. From helping the poor, widows, and orphans to the development of science, the abolition of slavery, and the development of art and music, the Christian worldview has been the instrumental document. With changed hearts through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ and the life transforming power of the Holy Spirit in renewing the mind, the world has changed.

What follows are examples of how the Bible speaks to all of life. Many of these Scriptures were originally used in the founding of Western Civilization. The Bible and the Family     Marriage between one man and one woman Genesis 1:27-28 Matthew 19:3-12 1 Corinthians 7:2Parental Authority Ephesians 6:1-4 Inheritance Proverbs 13:22 Discipline Proverbs 13:24 Education Deuteronomy 6:1-9 Proverbs 22:6 Provision 1 Timothy 5:8 Care for the Aged 1 Timothy 5:3-13 Care for Orphans and Widows Deuteronomy 14:29 James 1:27   new window   next window             1Henry M. Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1984), 41. 2Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, 41.

3Susan Pace Hamill, "An Argument for Tax Reform Based on Judeo-Christian Ethics," Alabama Law Review 54:1 (Fall 2002), 3-4. 4Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan/Academie, 1986), 13.