Character Sketch – Isaac Newton

One of the heroes of Christian civilization is the famed mathematician Isaac Newton. Born in 1642 near London England he was premature and so small at birth he could have fit into a quart jar. By God’s grace he survived to become one of the greatest scientific minds ever known. His father died before he was born. At age three his mother remarried leaving him behind to be reared by his grandmother. Yet, with this difficult start in life, he still became the best student in school and the unsurpassed scholar in his field.

Whenever we read about the lives of Christian men it is imperative to search for the lessons that may be had from their lives and their decisions. Why did they do what they did? And how did their Christian faith and doctrine drive their actions? What great moral principles did they exemplify and where did they fail? Without questions related to moral principle, eternal verities, and the building of the kingdom being answered, we are absorbing historical information with no apparent purpose. Our studies become the memorization of dates and lists with no particular reason for committing them to memory. Hence, the study of history is transformed from the most interesting study on earth to the most tedious.

Isaac’s grand book The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy sets forth his brilliantly-conceived mathematical formulas to calculate the motions of planets and planetary objects. Prior toNewton the motions of the planets could be observed, but the principles by which they moved were not understood. In fact, over the centuries the seers and astronomers had attributed their movements to capricious whims of the gods, or to an unpredictable decree of creation. Isaac Newton changed all of this. His Biblical theology informed him that the God of creation has an ordered mind, creating and sustaining His creation with His own immutable laws. Hence, it seemed likely that men should be able to discover those God-ordained principles, to the benefit of man. That concept may not seem like much now, but in that age his discoveries were an intellectual earthquake. Centuries of mystery and superstition were compressed aside and the light of truth flooded in. Plus, the mathematical calculations he inspired were proven to be almost infinitely useful in a broad variety of applications. Centuries later we still apply and benefit from his work as we launch our rockets and explore space.

I have found no references to God or His works in the main body of his Principia. Newton did not believe in intermixing the teaching of science with theology. However, at the conclusion of his book he wrote a General Scholium (General Principles of Scholarship), concerning his philosophy of science and theology that reveals his deeply considered convictions about these subjects. He wrote,

No variation in things arises from blind metaphysical necessity, which must be the same always and everywhere. All the diversity of created things, each in its place and time, could only have arisen from the ideas and the will of a necessarily existing being. …to treat of God from phenomena is certainly a part of “natural” philosophy.

 Speaking of God’s dominion over all things he explained,

We know him only by his properties and attributes and by the wisest and best construction of things and their final causes, and we admire him because of his perfections, but we venerate and worship him because of his dominion.

His statement may not be theologically perfect but we easily see Newton’s worshipful attitude toward the God of the Bible.

One of the troubling observations about Newton is that he apparently embraced the Arian doctrines later in life. The Arian doctrines deny the trinity and deny the deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Nicene Council in the fourth century declared these doctrines to be heresy and banned them from the churches (hence the Nicene Creed). We cannot know the full inner workings of any man’s heart, but if it is true that Newton adhered to these doctrines he could not be accurately described as Christian, at least not after that announcement. So, after a career of fabulous discovery and genius this Christian man seems to have denied the faith. This is a sad epitaph.

When we review the lives of the great Christian men we often find noble actions, high motivations, courage, or determination in the face of opposition. We also see failures, back-sliding, greed or other ignoble behaviors that disappoint our sense of right. We are reminded that they, as we, were often beset by temptation and sin. None of them were ideal men. However, what we can do is imitate their better behaviors and reject their sins. We are instructed that it was the principles of Christ and of God’s word and law that were invoked at the high turning points of Christian civilization. The best structures of our society were established on foundations firmly built upon the Stone of Stumbling, predicted by Isaiah and fulfilled in Christ. In the case of Isaac Newton we admire his application of theological principle to the study of the created order, and we are warned by his attraction to heresy. Both are lessons worth remembering.

For Christian Civilization,

Don Schanzenbach 2-25-12