Albert M. Wolters' book, Creation Regained: Biblical Basic for a Reformational Worldview, is not a large book--my 1985 edition is only 98 pages--but it contains a wealth of wisdom and insight into the biblical revelation. I recently mentioned some of the things he had to say about the role that worldview plays in our lives, and now want to direct your attention to some of the things he has to say on the relationship of worldview to Scripture. Consider this first:

What, then, is the relationship of worldview to Scripture? The Christian answer to this is clear: our worldview must be shaped and tested by Scripture. It can legitimately guide our lives only if it is Scriptural. This means that in the matter of worldview there is a significant gulf between those who accept this Scripture as God's Word and those who do not. It also means that Christians must constantly check their worldview beliefs against the Scriptures, because failing that there will be a powerful inclination to appropriate many of our beliefs, even basic ones, from a culture that has been secularizing at an accelerating rate for generations (6).

Here Wolters sets up quite clearly the need for letting Scripture be the foundational starting point for shaping and forming our worldview. The need for that worldview to be comprehensive and consistently biblical cannot be understated. But why must Scripture be our ultimate standard? Because, Wolters says, "as Christians we confess that the Scriptures have the authority of God, which is supreme over everything else" (6). Only with this understanding can we begin to live faithfully. We need to be firmly rooted and grounded in this authority because we face an onslaught from every side.

There is considerable pressure on Christians to restrict their recognition of the authority of Scripture to the area of the church, theology, and private morality--an area that has become basically irrelevant to the direction of culture and society as a whole. That pressure, though, is itself the fruit of a secular worldview, and must be resisted by Christians with all the resources at their disposal. The fundamental resources are the Scriptures themselves (6).

That tendency to let Scripture only shape some parts of our lives and thought is a prevalent one. That is why it is so important that we continually immerse ourselves in the Word and have it dwell in our hearts. The sovereignty of God extends as far as creation, and therefore we need to realize that

Scripture speaks centrally to everything in our life and world, including technology and economics and science. The scope of biblical teaching includes such ordinary 'secular' matters as labor, social groups, and education. Unless such matters are approached in terms of a worldview based squarely on such central scriptural categories as creation, sin, and redemption, our assessment of these supposedly nonreligious dimensions of our lives will likely be dominated instead by one of the competing worldviews of the secularized West. Consequently, it is essential to relate the basic concepts of 'biblical theology' to our worldview--or rather to understand these basic concepts as constituting a worldview. In a certain sense the plea being made here for a biblical worldview is simply an appeal to the believer to take the Bible and its teaching seriously for the totality of our civilization right now and not to relegate it to some optional area called 'religion' (7-8).

Wolters' neocalvinist and Kuyperian sympathies can be clearly seen, for his statements here echo the oft-quoted words of the Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper: "In the total expanse of human life there is not a square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare, 'That is mine!'" A biblical worldview means bringing the totality of our lives into conformity with the authoritative revelation of God. Faithfulness in belief, life, and thought must be built on this foundation alone.