When Abram left Ur of the Chaldees he became the first Hebrew. He responded to God’s call to walk with him and learn to live by faith. The culture and way of thinking which developed from Abra(ha)m’s walk, and those of his descendants, is what today we would call a ‘Hebraic worldview’ or a ‘biblical worldview’.
Thousands of years later, when Plato taught his students in the field called the Academy, he taught a different way of thinking that was part of a way of living independently of God. The Greek way of thinking has magnified itself over the centuries to become the major rival of Hebraic thinking in our day, especially in Western nations. The two worldviews, Hebrew and Greek, are today in outright conflict for the souls of men and for the way our society seeks to live - with or without God.
What is a Worldview?
Human minds naturally form patterns of beliefs, ideas and principles through which we filter everything else. We are under the influence of this ‘worldview’ even if it is based on faulty assumptions.
The Greeks developed many of the patterns of thought that have influenced the education systems of the Western world, becoming an enemy of the life of faith.
While God in ‘Old Testament times’ was focussing his attention entirely on Israel, the rest of the world was largely left to its own devices (though never outside the Lord’s sovereign control). World empires - chiefly Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome - dominated affairs outside of Israel. Greece, in particular, exported its culture very successfully to the rest of its empire, coming to dominate the thought processes of much of mankind at the time. Its influence was carried on into the Roman Empire, so that the Greco-Roman world was dominated by the worldview of ancient Greece.
Today, much of our thought lives are still influenced by this worldview, although most of us do not realise it. The Greek way of thinking about the world is subtler than we might think, especially if we have not recognised its influence on our own lives - how it has shaped the thought patterns of the world in which we have grown up.
The two worldviews, Hebrew and Greek, are today in outright conflict for the souls of men and for the way our society seeks to live - with or without God.
Some Scriptures
Zechariah saw the conflict between worldviews as a spiritual battle:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey…He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and make you like a warrior's sword. (Zechariah 9:9-13)
The contrast between the Hebraic worldview (the life of faith in God) and the Greek worldview (a life based on human achievement) is a battle for the mind, between two different sorts of wisdom, about which James spoke strongly. Wisdom is the goal of education. Education coming from a personal walk with God results in God-given wisdom for all of life. Wisdom coming from philosophies that are based on human reasoning alone are man-centred and limited. James calls such wisdom ‘demonic’:
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such ‘wisdom’ does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:13-18)
The wisdom that comes from God grows out of our relationship with him. It results in a Holy Spirit-led direction to life, uplifting and secure. By contrast, the beguiling counterfeit that comes from human logic alone, typified by Greek philosophy, is independent of God and lifeless.
The contrast between the Hebraic worldview and the Greek worldview is a battle for the mind, between two different sorts of wisdom
The Book of Proverbs has much to say about wisdom, along with understanding and knowledge, all three being spiritually imparted. For example, Proverbs 8:10-17 reads:
Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her. "I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behaviour and perverse speech. Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight, I have power. By me kings reign and rulers issue decrees that are just; by me princes govern, and nobles - all who rule on earth. I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.
Paul illustrates this contrast between worldviews in 1 Corinthians 1:20-25:
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
The Conflict
The wisdom of this world will never reason out the way of salvation brought through the sacrificial death of Jesus the Messiah. That is how important it is to recognise the contrast between the worldviews of the Hebrews and the Greeks. In today’s world the Greco-Roman influence is both strong and growing. It influences our education, our sciences, our politics and even our churches. It is deceiving millions into thinking that man is the measure of all things, that the universe evolved, that laws can be changed to govern the world in ways that are directly opposed to God.
The Hebraic walk of faith is still God’s best and achieved by all whose minds are transformed according to Romans 12:1-2. The conflict between these two worldviews is central to the spiritual battle for the souls of men and women and will increase in intensity as the days go forward to the return of Jesus.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-his good, pleasing and perfect will.
In this series of studies, we will contrast the Hebrew and Greek worldviews and the consequences that follow them. We will consider, especially, how some of the ‘Early Church Fathers’ influenced Christian theology with a Greek philosophical mindset, which has contributed towards Christianity becoming more of a philosophy than a faith. The Hebraic worldview, by contrast, presents a challenge to the Church to return to its original roots in these days of growing deception.
