What’s Your Metaphysics, Brother? Why What You Believe About Reality Shapes Everything

What’s Your Metaphysics, Brother? Why What You Believe About Reality Shapes Everything

J. Neil Daniels 

When a fellow Christian recently asked me, “What’s your metaphysics, brother?” he wasn’t asking an abstract philosophical question. He was asking what I believe about the nature of reality—about God, creation, being, and existence itself. The answer to that question matters more than most realize. It shapes our understanding of God, salvation, worship, ethics, and even daily decision-making. Whether consciously or not, every Christian operates with a metaphysical framework. The question is whether it is biblical and coherent.

Surveying the Options

1. Classical Theism (Thomistic/Patristic Tradition)

Rooted in Scripture and refined through early Christian reflection (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas), classical theism affirms that God is pure act, immutable, impassible, eternal, and simple. He is not merely a being among beings but Being Itself—the self-existent Creator upon whom all else depends (Exod 3:14; Acts 17:25; Rom 11:36).

Strengths: Deeply rooted in both Scripture and church history; offers a robust account of divine transcendence and providence.

Weaknesses: Critics sometimes allege an overreliance on Greek categories or philosophical abstraction.

2. Reformed (Covenantal) Metaphysics

Influenced by Calvin, Kuyper, Van Til, and Dooyeweerd, this tradition emphasizes the Creator-creature distinction and the necessity of divine revelation. Reality is understood covenantally and theologically, not autonomously.

Strengths: Prioritizes Scripture and God’s lordship over all of life.

Weaknesses: Occasionally eschews classical categories like essence and act/potency, leading to ambiguity in ontological discussions.

3. Platonic Metaphysics

Heavily influential in the early church, Platonism emphasizes immaterial forms or ideals as ultimate reality. While helpful in emphasizing the eternal and spiritual, it risks diminishing the goodness of creation.

Strengths: Offers a transcendent ontology that affirms eternal truth.

Weaknesses: Can veer into dualism or devalue the physical.

4. Process Metaphysics

Process theology posits that all reality, including God, is in flux. God grows, learns, and suffers with the world.

Strengths: Attempts to address the problem of evil and divine empathy.

Weaknesses: Undermines biblical doctrines of God’s immutability (Mal 3:6), aseity (John 5:26), and sovereignty (Isa 46:10).

5. Nominalism

Argues that only particulars exist; universals are mere names. This view influenced late medieval theology and some modern ethical theories.

Strengths: Promotes divine voluntarism.

Weaknesses: Can undercut moral realism and objective knowledge of God’s nature.

Why This Matters

Metaphysics is not esoteric speculation. It’s the lens through which we see the world. A faulty metaphysic distorts theology: a mutable god cannot be trusted; a god in process cannot fulfill promises; a metaphysic with no grounding in transcendence collapses into secularism or mysticism. Right metaphysics safeguards right worship (John 4:24), undergirds moral order (Rom 1:20), and fuels Christian hope (Heb 6:17–18).

A Case for Classical Theism

Scripture reveals a God who is unchanging (Mal 3:6), all-sufficient (Acts 17:25), eternal (Ps 90:2), omnipotent (Gen 1:1; Isa 40:28), and utterly distinct from creation (Isa 55:8–9). These are not arbitrary attributes—they are metaphysical claims. Classical theism is not a capitulation to Greek philosophy, but a biblically guided metaphysical grammar developed to articulate what Scripture testifies about God’s nature. The categories of act and potency, essence and existence, simplicity and aseity, help us confess what Scripture reveals: God is not like us. He is holy.

Moreover, classical theism preserves the Creator-creature distinction and the utter dependence of all things upon God. It avoids both the collapsing of God into the world (as in panentheism) and the practical atheism of nominalist or voluntarist systems.

Faith and Practice

If God is the immutable, sovereign Lord of all, then prayer is not wishful thinking but communion with the one who orders all things. If God is simple and eternal, then His promises are unchanging, and our assurance in Christ is firm. Metaphysics impacts how we suffer, how we worship, how we think about justice, and how we endure trials. Our metaphysic either anchors us in the God who is, or leaves us tossed by the waves of modern chaos.

So—what’s your metaphysics, brother?

For Further Study 

I. Classical Theism and Metaphysics

Norman L. Geisler, Christian Apologetics (Baker, 2002)

– Especially chapters on the nature of God and classical metaphysics.

James E. Dolezal, All That Is in God: Evangelical Theology and the Challenge of Classical Christian Theism (Reformation Heritage Books, 2017)

– A strong evangelical recovery of divine simplicity, immutability, and aseity.

Edward Feser, Five Proofs of the Existence of God (Ignatius Press, 2017)

– Engages Aristotelian-Thomistic metaphysics in accessible language. Though Roman Catholic, his metaphysical arguments are widely respected.

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, esp. Prima Pars, Q.3–13

– Foundational material on divine attributes; best read alongside a guide (e.g., Feser or Davies).

Brian Davies, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (Oxford University Press, 2004)

– Balanced and clear, with strong coverage of classical theistic metaphysics.

II. Reformed and Covenantal Approaches

Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith, 3rd ed. (P&R Publishing, 2015)

– Foundational for a revelational, presuppositional metaphysic grounded in the Creator-creature distinction.

Scott Oliphint, God with Us: Divine Condescension and the Attributes of God (Crossway, 2012)

– A Reformed engagement with classical theism, attempting to bridge theological and philosophical concerns.

Herman Dooyeweerd, In the Twilight of Western Thought (Paideia Press, 2012)

– Advanced but influential in Reformed philosophy; critiques non-biblical starting points in Western metaphysics.

III. Biblical and Theological Foundations

John Frame, The Doctrine of God (P&R Publishing, 2002)

– A comprehensive and readable treatment of divine attributes from a biblical and covenantal perspective.

Stephen J. Wellum, God the Son Incarnate: The Doctrine of Christ (Crossway, 2016)

– While Christological, this work offers deep metaphysical reflection on the nature of divine and human natures.

Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Zondervan, 2011)

– Offers reflection on metaphysical themes in theology proper, creation, and providence.

IV. Historical Sources and Background

Etienne Gilson, The Christian Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas (Ignatius Press, 2002)

– A classic exposition of Thomistic metaphysics in the Christian tradition.

Richard A. Muller, Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 3: The Divine Essence and Attributes (Baker, 2003)

– A scholarly historical treatment of how Reformed orthodoxy engaged classical theism.

Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, Vol. 1 (P&R Publishing, 1992)

– A magisterial 17th-century Reformed scholastic work treating God’s nature with precision and clarity.