The Bible is miraculously cohesive, but it is not uniform. Different portions were given for different purposes; distinct authors at distinct moments to distinct audiences.

While many today look to the Bible for comfort or inspiration, an honest look at the Scriptures reveals that not all of it was given for these purposes. If we randomly dip a ladle into the depths of Ezekiel, the brew that emerges is more likely to be sharp than sweet.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Some—perhaps much—of the Bible was given not for our comfort but for ourdiscomfort. The Scriptures are profitable for reproof and correction, after all; they provoke, unsettle, and rebuke us. Far from harsh, this is a sign…

”The word of the Lord came to me:I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.But I protested, “Oh no, Lord God! Look, I don’t know how to speak since I am [only] a youth.”Then the Lord said to me: Do not say: I am [only] a youth, for you will go to everyone I send you to and speak whatever I tell you.Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to deliver you.” Jeremiah 1:4-8

“But I protested…”

These three little words made me pause and think. In this text, God was telling Jeremiah some magnificent and wonderful truths. Jeremiah was chosen to be God’s child before the foundation of the world. And just like Ephesians 2 says, all the works he was called to do were prepared…

Beside the road, the grass was parted into a path created by the feet of those who had walked there before me. I didn’t know the destination, but I had time, so I decided to follow the lead of those feet and find out where they were going.

It was a good decision. The path took me over a rise and around a corner, then sloped down gradually with a panoramic view of the ocean in front of me. On the right, the ground sloped down sharply towards a rocky cove where people were swimming. On the left, there was no ground. Only a sheer cliff, and the waves far below.

What is real? What is right? What is lovely? Human beings ask these kinds of questions because we long for at least three things:truth, goodness, and beauty.

Prominent philosophers through the centuries have called these three cosmic values transcendentals.Atranscendentalrefers to something that exists beyond the time-space-matter world. It is a universal reality that extends beyond our everyday sensoryexperiences and is thus considered nonphysical, immaterial, conceptual, or even spiritual. In philosophy, the transcendental relates to and seeks to describe the nature of reality or being. Therefore, one may think of these values as timeless universals and attributes of being.

In this introductory article I’ll briefly describe how the three transcendentals oftruth, goodness, andbeautywere viewed in the classical world. Then I’ll show how Christian civilization accommodated them as truths of general revelation and grounded them in the nature of the triune God.

Classical Civilization’s View of…