Adapting Eternal Truths in a Changing World
Adapting Eternal Truths in a Changing World
The concept of eternal truths is rooted in the biblical understanding that certain principles and realities remain unchanged despite the flux of the world. According to Augustine, eternal truths are grounded in the unchangeable nature of God, who is the source of all truth [3]. In this view, eternal truths are not subject to the vicissitudes of time and space, but rather remain constant and immutable.
One of the key eternal truths is the concept of the resurrection of the dead. Tertullian argues that this doctrine is clearly attested in Scripture and is not subject to metaphorical interpretation [7]. The importance of eternal truths is underscored by the clarity with which they are enunciated in Scripture. In the context of a changing world, eternal truths provide a foundation for understanding and navigating the complexities of human existence.
The relationship between eternal truths and the changing world is also reflected in the doctrine of the renewal of the world. According to Aquinas, the world will be renewed after the judgment, and this renewal is connected to the glorification of humanity [5]. Charles Hodge similarly notes that the material universe, including the earth, will be changed at the last day, although the extent of this change is a matter of interpretation [1, 2].
Augustine's discussion of truth highlights its immutability, particularly in relation to God's nature. one tradition argues that truth resides in the intellect and is immutable in the divine intellect [6]. This understanding of truth as eternal and unchanging provides a framework for understanding the relationship between eternal truths and the changing world.
The adaptation of eternal truths in a changing world requires a nuanced understanding of the interplay between the timeless and the temporal. As Augustine notes, the human mind knows and loves itself, but this knowledge is not unchangeable; however, the abstract definition of the human mind remains constant [4]. This distinction between the particular and the universal, the temporal and the eternal, is crucial for understanding how eternal truths can be applied in a changing world.
The eternal truths, grounded in the unchanging nature of God, provide a foundation for understanding the world and humanity's place within it. As the world changes, these truths remain constant, offering a framework for navigating the complexities of human existence. The renewal of the world and the glorification of humanity are connected to these eternal truths, underscoring their significance in the Christian understanding of reality [5]. The patristic and scholastic traditions emphasize the importance of eternal truths in shaping Christian thought and practice.
Sources
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 93: the bondage of corruption. The change to be effected is in the dwelling-place of man. ( d .) According to the Apostle Peter, it is the world which once was destroyed by water, that is to be consumed by fire. But although the predictions of Scripture concern only our earth, it does not follow that the material universe is to last forever. As it is not from eternity, it probably will not last forever. It may be only one of the grand exhibitions of the wonderful working of God in the field of infinite space, and in the course of unending age”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 93: whole material universe, but our earth and what pertains to it. ( a .) It is true the Bible says: “Heaven and earth are to pass away,” and by heaven and earth the Scriptures often mean the universe; and it would therefore be consistent with the language of Scripture to hold that the whole universe is to be changed at the last day. It was natural that this interpretation should be put upon the language of the Bible so long as our earth was regarded as the central body of the universe and sun, moon, and stars as subordinate luminaries, inte”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — CHAP. 18.--THE SON OF GOD BECAME INCARNATE IN ORDER THAT WE BEING CLEANSED (part 2): which is always, because in it is eternity,--the Truth then) has said, "And this is life eternal, that 82 they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent:"(1) when our faith by seeing shall come to be truth, then eternity shall possess our now changed mortality. And until this shall take place, and in order that it may take place,--because we adapt the faith of belief to things which have a beginning, as in things eternal we hope for ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — CHAP. 6.--THERE IS ONE KNOWLEDGE OF THE THING IN THE THING ITSELF, AND ANOTHER IN ETERNAL TRUTH ITSELF. THAT CORPOREAL THINGS, TOO, ARE TO BE JUDGED THE RULES OF ETERNAL TRUTH. (part 1): 9. But when the human mind knows itself and loves itself, it does not know and love anything unchangeable: and each individual man declares his own particular mind by one manner of speech, when he considers what takes place in himself; but defines the human mind abstractly by special or general knowledge. And so, when he speaks to me of his own individual mind, as”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, Supplement (Supplementum), Of the Quality of the World after the Judgment, Art. 1: Article: Whether the world will be renewed? I answer that, We believe all corporeal things to have been made for man's sake, wherefore all things are stated to be subject to him [*Ps. 8:5, seqq.]. Now they serve man in two ways, first, as sustenance to his bodily life, secondly, as helping him to know God, inasmuch as man sees the invisible things of God by the things that are made (Rm. 1:20). Accordingly glorified man will nowise need creatures to render him the first of these service”
- theology (Catholic (Scholastic)) “Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part (Prima Pars), Of Truth, Art. 8: Article: Whether truth is immutable? I answer that, Truth, properly speaking, resides only in the intellect, as said before (Article [1]); but things are called true in virtue of the truth residing in an intellect. Hence the mutability of truth must be regarded from the point of view of the intellect, the truth of which consists in its conformity to the thing understood. Now this conformity may vary in two ways, even as any other likeness, through change in one of the two extremes. Hence in one way truth varies on the part o”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 3: Tertullian — CHAP. XXI.--NO MERE METAPHOR IN THE PHRASE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. IN pROPORTION TO THE IMPORTANCE OF ETERNAL TRUTHS, IS THE CLEARNESS OF THEIR SCRIPTURAL ENUNCIATION.: Well, if it occurs occasionally in certain portions of it, you will say, then why not in that phrase,(1) where the resurrection might be spiritually understood? There are several reasons why not. First, what must be the meaning of so many important passages of Holy Scripture, which so obviously attest the resurrection of the body, as to admit not even the appearance of a figurative signification? And, ”