Romans: A Vast Insight Into A Biblical Worldview

Without knowing it, every person develops a worldview or a particular lens through which they view the world and all that encompasses. Everyday there is the opportunity to interact with people in various settings and often there is a chance to meet someone new. How each situation and circumstance is approached by an individual will be based on experience, education, culture and values or morals that have been instilled. The book of Romans offers a vast insight into a biblical worldview. In the first 8 chapters of the longest of his epistles, Paul addresses four key elements that people incorporate into their worldview, whether consciously or unconsciously. Paul addresses the ideas of the natural world, human identity, human relationships and
The opening statement of the book from which Christians formulate their worldview says it all “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). Paul reiterates this perspective numerous times in the first half of Romans. God shows Himself through His creation, as eloquently stated in Romans 1:20, “giving men no excuse” to deny His hand in everything. Romans 4:17 revisits the divine creation of the natural world “round[ing] out our understanding of the biblical view on creation’ (Akin 2014, 213) when Paul speaks of a God “calls things that are not as though they were” (Rom 4:17b
If we are to interact with and connect with peoples from differing cultures we must educate ourselves and respect other cultures. This respect of other cultures does not include conforming to the laws and traditions of that culture. Romans 3:28 says, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” God is a God of Jews and all the nations of the world. Individual belief and faith in God is the route to redemption, not ethnicity or nationality. In the Roman times, the Pharisees and Sadducees had become so legalistic that those not adhering to “their” laws were automatically wrong. Romans 3:30 and Romans 4 speak specifically to the law of circumcision. Romans 4 describes the origin of circumcision with Abraham and Paul explains that faith came before circumcision. Circumcision became he outward, physical sign of faith in God’s promise. Paul uses the refresher of Abraham to remind his readers that grace is the tool God saves by, not though adherence to the cultural rules. He also reminds his readers that being an Israelite is meaningless if there is no faith in God. “The Jews could not be justified by the Law of Moses, any more than the Gentiles by the Law of Nature” (Henry 2011). When interacting in today’s culture, we must be careful not to force perceived laws on