Can Christians explore the world and learn truth no matter where it comes from? Is it possible to learn from science, philosophy, and even the teachings of other religions?

Central to our work at Ruah Space and as followers of Jesus is the belief that we are not only invited, but are called by God as followers of Jesus, to discover and reclaim truth no matter what it is found.

All Truth Belongs to Us in Christ

This belief is grounded in 1 Corinthians 3:21 where Paul writes, “So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.”

Because there is only one God, one Creator, and one Savior, everything belongs to God. God created the universe and redeemed the universe through Jesus. This means that there is nothing that exists that is good and true that doesn’t honor and glorify God. This is what is sometimes called Creational Monotheism. Unless we are to admit that another god exists and has creative power, there is nothing in the world that is true that doesn’t belong to Christ Jesus and those who are of Christ.

What this means is that we are invited to explore the world, discover truth wherever it is found, and claim it for Christ. This is part of what Paul means when he says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” It isn’t just an invitation but a call to redeem the world and everything in it and place it into obedience to Christ.

How the Bible Itself Claims & Redeems All Truth

We see the writers of the Bible doing this frequently in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Take Acts 17:28 for example. In this passage, Luke is quoting Paul in Athens when he said, “‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’” There are two fascinating things to note here. First, Paul specifically says in the second part of the verse that he is quoting a local poet. He took a phrase from someone they respected, or at least knew about, who wasn’t necessarily a believer, and used what they had said to make a point.

Even more interesting, however, is the first part of the phrase where Paul notes that we live, move, and have our being in God. This line is actually taken from a writer named Epimenides who is believed to have written six or seven hundred years before Paul. The words Paul uses here as applicable to God were actually originally expressed toward the Greek god Zeus! Paul is literally taking the words from another religion, in a context where they were originally applied to another god, and reorients them to speak about the God and Father of Jesus Christ.

This isn’t the only place that Paul does this. He quotes Epimenides again in Titus 1:12 when he says, “One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” He also quotes another poet named Menander in 1 Corinthians 15:33 when he writes, “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Paul had no fear discovering truth in other writers, even other religions, and then revealing how it is actually only true when applied to the one true God and Savior of the world. He takes their incomplete understanding and places it in its proper context; giving glory and honor to God. He isn’t affirming that the other writer or religion is completely true, but simply that they have stumbled upon something that has truth in it and Paul takes it captive to obey Christ.

The same principle is seen in the flood story in the book of Genesis and the story of the woman and the dragon in Revelation 12. The flood story was a story used in many different religions thousands of years ago and is not unique to the Bible. Similarly, Revelation 12 appears to be taking elements of the birth story of Apollo and his fight with Python, and reapplying them to Jesus. The original authors realized there was a reason these stories spoke to people. It’s because they had some truth to them. In both cases, the other religions had misunderstood which God they were actually about. They didn’t have the whole picture.

Discover & Discern

From Genesis to Revelation, and very clearly in Paul, the writers of the Bible show us that we can engage truth no matter where we find it, even if it’s found in another religion or had been applied to another god. We can explore it and claim it because if it’s true, then it belongs to Christ. It belongs to our God. We don’t need to fear learning from people we disagree with:  scientists, philosophers, or even teachers in other religions. We definitely don’t accept everything they are saying. But when they say or do something that is true, we can claim it for Christ.

This must be done with discernment and through the power of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 4:1-3 says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.”

This means that we don’t accept everything at face value or how it is presented to us. We must be deeply rooted in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and clearly hear the voice and guidance of God. We must clearly hear from the Holy Spirit as our guide so we can test things and discover what is true and what is false.

When we discover something that is true, however, we are invited to engage it, claim it, and glorify God with it. In fact, this isn’t just an invitation, but is central to our call as followers of Jesus.

Reconciliation of All Things

God’s concern has always been the reconciliation of all things. John 3:16 tells us that, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” God loved the entire world, not just individuals. Colossians 1:20  tells us that through Christ, the Father was working to “reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” In Revelation 21:5 when heaven and earth meet for good, God declares, “I am making everything new!”

The work of God in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was toward the reconciliation of all things. When we become followers of Jesus, we also take on this ministry of reconciliation. In 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Paul explicitly says, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

Our invitation and call as followers of Jesus is to be ministers of reconciliation. We are called to see truth, goodness, beauty, love, and peace wherever it is found and redeem it for the glory of God. We get to explore the world in its fullness and redeem the goodness that exists, to call it out, and bring everything into obedience to Christ.

Invitation

This means we don’t have anything or anyone to fear. We are free to engage the world, find truth, and enjoy it no matter where we find it. We aren’t just free to do this but are actually commanded to do this. 

So you may hear us from time to time quoting a scientist, or a religious leader you don’t completely agree with, or from a philosophy that is clearly not Christian. That’s ok. We don’t blindly accept everything as true. We do practice discernment in connection with the Body of Christ. We don’t fully agree with everyone. We do fully agree with our Lord and Savior, however, and that means we agree with truth no matter where it is found.

We are called to be ambassadors of reconciliation, discovering truth and goodness wherever it is found and taking it captive to obey Christ.

What a freedom! What an invitation!

May you go out into the world today and discover truth. Find it, enjoy it, and glorify the one God of the universe with it.

Grace and Peace.

*All Bible Passages are from the NIV