I was directed recently to a letter of Origen sent to a man called Gregory. In this letter, Origen offers a bit of wisdom that is still so relevant today:
“The children of the philosophers speak of geometry and music and grammar and rhetoric and astronomy as being ancillary to philosophy; and in the same way we might speak of philosophy itself as being ancillary to Christianity. It is something of this sort perhaps that is enigmatically indicated in the directions God is represented in the Book of Exodus as giving to the children of Israel. They are directed to beg from their neighbours and from those dwelling in their tents vessels of silver and of gold, and raiment; thus they are to spoil the Egyptians, and to obtain materials for making the things they are told to provide in connection with the worship of God.”
This is such a great thought for Christians today! According to Exodus 12, the Israelites (as God promised they would) receive gold and other precious items from the Egyptians before they leave. Later on in Israel’s life, much of this fine material is used to create objects which the people of Israel will then use to worship God! Origen uses this example to show that this is precisely how the Christian ought to use secular studies.
Unfortunately, at least in my experience, much of the church tends to ignore things outside of the Bible. There seems to be an assumption that anything outside of the Bible is superfluous for the Christian. Church history, philosophy, theology, science – these aren’t topics we discuss much within the church. Few know the relevance of the Council of Nicea, or even the names of people like Origen, not to mention Augustine, Aquinas and others. Despite the fact that nihilism, relativism, and pantheism (just to name a few) have had a large role in the thinking of the people around us, few have heard these terms and even fewer can actually describe what they refer to. And while opinions regarding evolution or the big bang tend to be very strong, accurate knowledge regarding these topics tends to be quite weak. In fact, some apologetic facts that are thrown around may not only be inaccurate, but even proven false! When we do dabble in secular studies, quite frequently it is only to fortify our positions, to prove to ourselves that we were already right. For these and other reasons, many today view Christianity not simply as intellectually neutral, but even anti-intellectual.
For the individual, the motto “the Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it” may work fine, but if we expect to win our culture and honor God on the public stage, we have to be willing to go beyond this kind of thinking. We have to be able to engage in deeper study and think on a deeper level, because the people around us are doing just that. If we cannot even understand what they are talking about, much less engage fruitfully, we are wasting opportunities to teach. The Apostle Paul certainly respected scripture – he wrote a good portion of it! Yet when we find him in Athens in Acts 17, he is engaging in conversations with philosophers of the day, which presented him the opportunity to teach about Jesus. In fact, he begins that very lesson not with scripture, but with philosophy. Yet, if Paul had not studied any of that, if he had been totally ignorant of the philosophies to which these people ascribed, that would have been impossible.
Do these studies replace scripture? Certainly not. But can they help us better understand scripture and the One who inspired it? Absolutely. Like the people of Israel redeemed secular materials and used them to worship the God of all creation, so we can redeem the thinking of the world around us and use it to worship the same God now. That’s not to say there’s no danger in this. Even Origen himself later in this letter warns of such a possibility. Just like the people of Israel created idols with these materials, so we too can end up creating idols with our studies. That can happen. But as the parable of the talents shows us (Matt. 25:14-30) if we bury what has been given to us out of fear, God will not be pleased. So let us not bury our intellect out of fear and a desire for security. Instead, let us pursue how we can redeem the world’s thinking to honor our God. Let us seek to truly love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind.
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