What Does the Bible Say About Science?

Does the Bible talk about science?

The short answer is: no, at least not directly.

The Bible was written long before modern science existed as a formal discipline, so we shouldn’t expect direct commentary on DNA, gravity, or quantum mechanics. In fact, you won’t find the word “science” in modern English translations of the Bible. It’s in the King James Version twice (Daniel 1:4 and 1 Timothy 6:20), but clearly means “knowledge” in a systematic sense, which is the way the word was used until the 19th century.

Our modern notion of the scientific method, along with its research labs and peer reviewed journals, developed relatively recently. In Bible times, people certainly observed nature and used practical knowledge, but they didn’t conceptualize it as science.

Does this mean the Bible has nothing relevant to say about science?

Not at all. Scripture certainly commends virtues and values that are highly relevant to how science should be leveraged for good in our world today.

Our recent Open Letter to People of Faith about Science highlights how virtues drawn from the parables in Matthew 25 can guide our approach to science: wisdom, stewardship, and mercy. By using and stewarding science wisely to serve others, the scientific enterprise can enhance our efforts to fulfill Jesus’s commandments in today’s world.

The book of Proverbs is also rich with commendations of virtues that are directly applicable to the proper use of science. Scientific discovery rarely comes in flashes of brilliance; it’s the product of careful, methodical attention over time. Proverbs affirms the value of perseverance and diligence: “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty” (Proverbs 21:5).

Likewise, humility is a necessary posture for scientific inquiry. We approach the natural world not as masters with all the answers, but as learners who acknowledge limitations and seek to understand what we do not yet grasp. Proverbs reminds us that “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2).

And science depends on honesty. Research must be transparent, data reported truthfully, and results reproducible. Proverbs underscores this ethical imperative: “Honest scales and balances belong to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:11) — a principle as relevant in the lab as it is in the marketplace.

Scripture also commends values that undergird the very possibility of science. The pursuit of truth is not just a scientific value but a biblical one rooted in obedience to Jesus, who said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

Knowledge and understanding are praised throughout Proverbs, as in this bold encouragement: “Though it cost all you have, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). And from the beginning, the Bible affirms the goodness of creation. The created world was declared by God to be “very good” (Genesis 1:31), a pronouncement that encourages us to explore the world with reverence and joy.

These values — the pursuit of truth, the love of knowledge, and the inherent goodness of creation — form a sturdy foundation for the scientific enterprise. They give Christians good reason not just to accept science, but to engage in it wholeheartedly, as a faithful response to God’s invitation to understand and care for the created world.

How did the Bible help develop modern science?

At a deeper and more fundamental level, the Bible was an important factor in the development of modern science by causing a shift in worldview that promoted empirical investigation of nature.

God was revealed in the Bible as the Great I Am — the ultimate reality who is a personal being who freely creates out of love. In other cultures of the ancient Near East, people saw the created world as full of capricious divine forces — every river, storm, or star was governed by some god or spirit. I’ve written before that if “the workings of nature are dependent on the whims of the gods,” there is no incentive to investigate nature for regularities.

While observable nature in that ancient worldview followed the whims of personal gods, the ultimate reality from which the created order came was impersonal. There was no rational mind or loving person behind the universe, but only impersonal fate or a deterministic and cyclical emanation.

Such views, paradoxically, give either no confidence that we could ever figure out why nature is the way it is (if fate rules), or too much confidence that we could simply deduce the way things must be without actually looking (if observable reality is an emanation from the divine).

The Bible inverted that worldview. It reveals that ultimate reality is personal. There is one sovereign God who is a rational, loving Person (or rather, three Persons in the Christian understanding of the Trinity) and the source of all that exists. God created the world, and far from it being run by capricious deities, it is an orderly, impersonal system following the laws of its Creator’s command. Jeremiah 33:25 refers to God establishing the laws of heaven and earth.

But these laws did not emanate deterministically from God, that is to say, they didn’t have to be the way they are. God freely chose to create, so we can’t deduce what those laws are without actually going into the world and looking to see how God did create — that’s empirical investigation! The theological conviction that the universe is not just chaos, but a creation with dependable patterns, gave early scientists like Kepler the view that they were “thinking God’s thoughts after him.”