Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur Cincotti. 08/15/2021
Listen to our Bible Study Discussion at: Listen to today’s Bible Study Discussion Podcast
Beauty
Several weeks ago we
talked about how, “abstract thought” is one of the capacities that sets us
apart from the animal creation, and likens us to God.
Today we will look at
another characteristic, sense of beauty.
What is beauty???
Webster: the quality
or aggregate of qualities in a person thing that gives pleasure to the senses
or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit.
Beauty is often listed
as one of the three fundamental concepts of human understanding besides truth and
goodness.
A certain tension exists
between notions of objective beauty and subjective beauty. Hence the phrase,
“beauty is in the eye of the beholder”
Is it?
We could safely assume
that everything in the earthly realm was beautiful before the fall because God
declared it to be good.
Sin introduced ugliness
(a distortion of the image) and a distinction between good and evil, truth and
falsehood, beauty and ugliness.
In the contemporary,
post-modern philosophy of the way things are, subjectivity rules the day. Just
as there is no such thing as absolute truth, likewise, transcendent beauty is a
fallacy. BUT
Is. 61:3, “to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of
ashes”
The Bible
has much to say about beauty.
Ecc. 3:11 says, “He has made everything beautiful
in its time.”
This verse indicates
that 1) there is a creative element to beauty, and 2) that there is a process
involved. In Gen. 1:2, “the earth was without form, and void” implies a certain
lack of beauty. Form, shape, line, relationship, color and tone are all
elements that give definition to visual beauty. Meter, rhyme, pitch, are
elements of audio beauty. Gen. 49:21 says, “Naphtali...uses beautiful
words.”
Interesting: Naphtali
means, “wrestling” and was the 6th son of Jacob. Six is the number of man.
Some things declared
beautiful:
a woman, Gen. 12:11 speaking of Sarai, and many other places.
a certain child, Ex. 2:2 speaking of Moses
fruit of trees, Lev. 23:40
cities, Duet. 6:10
houses, Duet. 8:12
spoils of Babylon, Jos. 7:21
garments; Isa. 52:1
the “inner self, the unfading beauty…” I Pet. 3:4
Interestingly, Eze.
28:11, speaking prophetically of Satan declares, “You were the seal of
perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.”
In contrast:
Speaking of the Lord,
Isaiah writes, “There is no beauty that we should
desire Him. 53:2
Other things the
Scripture declare as beautiful...”feet”
“How beautiful upon the
mountains Are the feet of him who brings good
news, Who proclaims peace...Is. 52:7
Feet are not the most beautiful part of the human anatomy
Certainly the most
compelling object of beauty is, “the beauty of holiness.”
I Ch. 16:29, 2 Ch. 20:21, Ps. 29:2
“ko`-desh”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.