Biblical Worldview Essay
Tonya Bryant BIBL104 Liberty University

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Student Bible, New International Version ® Copyright © 1986, 1992 by The Zondervan Corporation

Introduction
Worldview is how we see the world. It’s subjective because each person is different and has different ways of viewing things. Generations can view the world differently. Small things can change over time. For example, my daughter was reading her school supply list the other day. As she read aloud I heard “loose leaf notebook paper, notebooks, calculator, pens, hash tag 2 pencil… mom, what is a hash tag 2 pencil?” Of course I giggled out loud because this was an obvious generational thing. In my day we didn’t have social media like Twitter and Instagram. But, she has been predisposition to read a number sign as a hash tag. I explained it, but that is one example of how one generation’s view of one thing can change dramatically. Biblical worldview is how we see the world as Christians and how we relate everything back to our faith. Romans 1-8 is Paul’s letter to the church in Rome. Paul wanted to visit but was not able to so he wrote a letter. He needed to address the church because he was getting reports of its growth and it was his job to guide them in the way that they should grow. The topics Paul addressed were: the natural world, human identity, human relationships, and culture. Paul’s letter was to give them instruction on how to deal with specific situations (Hindson & Towns, 2013, p. 415)

The Natural World In Romans chapter one, Paul reminded the Romans that God created the world. In the beginning God’s eternal power and divine nature were revealed to man (Romans 1:20). God never hid his identity or his sovereignty from man. However, man was prone to wickedness and instead of serving God and giving him glory he took God for granted. Man made God feel unappreciated, boring, and plain. What man didn’t realize is that God made what they knew about him plain so that they could understand him. It was the natural world and man didn’t appreciate it. Man had no excuse for not serving and thanking God. Paul wanted the Romans to know that God’s wrath was directed towards man for his wickedness. Man was suppressing the truth of God and the reason he created them. God wanted man to glorify him and thank him, but they went about things their own way.

Human Identity
Romans chapter one eludes to human identity. When man is separated from God, man is evil. Man does not have it in him to do right on his own. Man is arrogant and thinks he is wiser than God. Although God was known to man, in the beginning, he did not give God credit for anything. Romans 1:21 “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” God was heartbroken, but because man ignored God, he allowed man to keep sinning. He let man be as vile as he could become. Man’s human identity is to sin, apart from God. Man is human, not godly. Some of the ways man was sinning in Romans chapter one include murder, deceit, malice, gossiping, senselessness, ruthlessness, faithlessness, heartlessness, greed, and unnatural sexual relations. Man was removed from God and cannot do good on his own. I believe that God allowed man to do this so that man would know beyond a shadow of a doubt when he became saved. He would recognize the inner struggle that become apparent when faced with sin.
Human Relationships

In Romans, Paul’s letter addressed human relationships concerning unnatural sexual relationships, the relationships between the Jews and the Gentiles and the human relationship between Adam and mankind. Paul first discusses how man became idolaters instead of giving God glory. This hurt God and he no longer protected them from their sinful desires. “Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men…” (Romans 1:26-27). God is calling these relationships unnatural and Paul wanted the Roman church to know it was unnatural and to not approve of it or those who participated. Paul also addressed the Jew and Gentile relationships because in that time it was against Jewish law for Jews to associate with Gentiles (Acts 10:28). This posed a problem for a church who welcomed both. Paul’s message is clear that God does not show favoritism between Jews and Gentiles (Romans 2:11). Both would be accepted into God’s Kingdom. Last, our ancestor Adam was the one man who brought sin into the world. Sin brought death. However, Jesus died for us to bring life through him and to reconcile us back to God. God loved us enough to save us. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)”.

Culture
Roman and Jewish cultures were very different in Paul’s time. Jews believed in circumcision while Gentiles did not. Circumcision represented the covenant between Abraham and God. Abrahams’s entire lineage was to be circumcised (Genesis 17:10-12). Some Jews were grumbling that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised. Paul addressed this by stating that the Jews were under the law but the Gentiles were not. God was not just the God of the Jews he is also the God of the Gentiles (Romans 3:29). The Gentiles were saved through faith. “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abrahams’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham”(Romans 4:16). Paul’s point was that it isn’t our culture or traditions that save us. It isn’t the works that we perform. It is our faith and belief in Jesus Christ, and our relationship with him that brings eternal life.

Conclusion In conclusion, Paul addressed four topics to the Romans. In the natural world that God created he was transparent to man. God wanted man to serve him and give him the glory, but man turned from him. Man brought wrath on himself through sin. In regards to human identity, without God, man becomes slaves to sin. Man need’s God to overcome sin. In human relationships, there are unnatural relationships regarding sexual immorality. Paul addressed this with the church. Man also has selfish views in relationships by not recognizing that God came to save the world, not just a select few. Man finds it hard to love others who are different but God does not show favoritism. Lastly, Paul addresses culture and how it can deter and blind us from the truth of the gospel which is that God came to save the world from sin. “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life” (Romans 5:10)!

Bibliography
Hindson, E., & Towns, E. (2013). Illistrated Bible Study: An Introduction. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group.