There is a popular phrase in public education today which states, “Math + Science = Success”. Success is the god of our culture that promises wealth, ease, comfort, popularity and the attainment of all that the “American Dream” typifies, so we bow down and worship. And when we practice our worship, because we are pragmatic worshipers, we believe that formulas are necessary to success. Therefore we apply our formulas and then we stand next to one another (people, nations, churches, businesses, families, etc.) and measure our success by what we have gained for ourselves or our organizations. Therefore to train our children in math and science is the wisdom of the age that leads to the benefits the god of success bestows. But Godly people should ask if success is our aim, and is the end of learning math and science success?
The true and living God reveals himself in creation and providence, and man is wise who spends his entire life seeking to know him truly. He also gives us the Scriptures to know him and his salvation truly, but for this moment let’s think about the natural revelation of God in creation and providence. Math and Science are two disciplines within the modern liberal arts that reveal the nature of the living and true God. “Liberal Arts” is a term that describes a study with the purpose of imparting knowledge and increasing intellectual capacities. In the ancient world it was the free man and not the slave who was able to embark upon a study of the liberal arts. It was a discipline of seven studies, three in the Trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and four in the Quadrivium (geometry, arithmetic, astronomy and music). In the modern world the liberal arts include art, literature, philosophy, history, languages, mathematics and science and are available to all. Man is not limited from seeing God’s workmanship in creation and providence if he does not study the liberal arts. But those who will study them will “penetrate with their aid far more deeply into the secrets of the divine wisdom.” (John Calvin, Institutes I.V.2). All men everywhere are able to see the glory of God’s invisible attributes, namely his divine power and divine nature (Rom.1:20) as God thrusts them upon him in what he has made, sustains and governs. And those who will give themselves to learning and increasing intellectual capacities in the liberal arts will have even more thrust upon them for the knowledge and enjoyment of the true and living God.
The aim in the study of the liberal arts, which math and science are a part, is not success but wisdom. John Calvin says in the opening sentence of his “Institutes of the Christian Religion”, “Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and ourselves.”. The study of the Liberal Arts cannot supplant our study of God’s Word. However, the church must recognize that God has given us a general revelation of himself, and through a study of the liberal arts he can impart to us knowledge and increase our intellectual capacities that we might see more truth, goodness and beauty, and in seeing them see him who fills the earth.
The true and living God is infinite and eternal and beyond tracing out. Therefore he offers all who seek the knowledge and wisdom of him an infinite supply of truth, goodness and beauty. All men, but especially the godly, have a wonderful privilege and a tremendous responsibility to see and savor the glory of God in all that he has made and sustains for his glory. Sit down and read a “Great Book”, study history, study the vastness of the heavens, enjoy music and art, learn to do equations, learn a language, or enjoy Pascal as he reasons with the philosophers of his day. The aim is not “success”. It is to know more of him who has made, sustains and governs the heavens and the earth and all that they contain.
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