The Doubting Believer

A great post from Michael Jensen today about Abraham, Sarah, doubt and faith (I’m presuming it was originally a Moore College chapel sermon):

The Doubting Believer I – Abram & Sarai

An excerpt:

The story of Abram illustrates for us that faith is not heroic. It might seem strange that the New Testament presents doubting Abraham as an exemplar of faith. In Romans 4, his faith is offered as the great outflanking manoeuvre in the historic pattern of God’s justification of his people – he believed, and his faith was credited to him as righteousness. In Hebrews 11, he is listed in the roll call of the faithful forerunners of those who now believe.

But in being an example of faith, Abraham is not a hero of faith. Faith is not some virtue like courage which deserves credit by being righteousness. Biblical faith is a hearing of the word of God as the word of God. Now this word of God is always spoken to us in the midst of a life in which it is contested and disputed, and even flatly denied. It is a word about ninety-year old women having babies, or bedraggled slaves becoming great nations, or about the dead coming back to life. There is always with this word of God that we receive another way of looking at it. As word about the future, as a promise, it never comes to us as a completely fulfilled word. There is always a gap. And so we should not be shocked or dismayed when our questions start to fill that gap: how is God going to bring his word to pass? What is God’s plan in this bleak circumstance? Why are so few people responding to the gospel at the moment? What proof can I have of God’s commitment to his promises? This side of the end of all things, Christian faith will always be attended by these questions.

So why believe? In his shambolic way, against all hope, Abraham believed, though the evidence of his body ‘as good as dead’ contradicted the promise he heard. Why?

Because the character of God has its own inner logic. The word of God rings true to who God is as he reveals himself to us in the history of salvation. It is the evidence of what God actually does that compels us to believe. The truth that we receive when we belief is not deducible in the ordinary sense, or calculable, or even possible as we recognise it. It does not follow natural laws. But it is consistent with the miracle that there is something rather than nothing. Abraham was ‘fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised’.

17th May, 2011 | Category: Faith, Genesis, Hebrews, Justification, Romans |

A prayer request from an Aussie living in the Mother Country

From the Sola Panel

I was listening the other day to a satirical comedy show on British Radio. The presenter was making a point about human relationships. The bulk of his satirical piece consisted of a reading from Genesis 2:18-25, in full, from the King James Version of the Bible (“And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him …”). He read it slowly and theatrically in a fake American accent. During the reading, the audience laughed uproariously. When the reading was finished, the skit was effectively over; the point was made. The show moved on to the next topic.

What grieved me most about this piece wasn’t the presenter’s viewpoint on the particular issue under discussion. Nor was it even the fact that the Bible was being ridiculed. The saddest part of the skit was the fact that the presenter chose an American accent for his reading of the King James Version of the Bible.

It’s not (I hasten to add) that I’ve got a prejudice against American accents; I myself spoke with a broad Californian twang up to age four. But why did this English presenter choose an American accent for his Bible reading? The King James Version of the Bible is, after all, a very English product. It was commissioned by a King of England, created by English scholars, and influenced, in a large part, by the English martyr William Tyndale. It is generally regarded as one of the greatest crowning achievements of English literature. Some even regard it as the greatest literary work of all time. The presenter could have chosen to read it with a voice sounding like a Shakespearian actor, for example—or an upper-class, holier-than-thou bishop. Then, at least, his ridicule of the Bible would have had some connection with its English heritage. Why on earth did he choose to read it with an American accent?

I can only conclude that, in the view of the presenter and his audience (which consists of a substantial cross-section of well-educated Brits), the Bible is no longer something that belongs in Britain at all. This is the assumption behind the satire, and it’s the reason that an American accent for a Bible reading has instant comedic value. The Bible is not just seen as historical, archaic, sentimental or vaguely quaint; for a substantial proportion of British society, the Bible is seen as something over-the-top, crazy and, above all, foreign. The Bible is no longer at home here; it belongs across the Atlantic. This is, of course, a great testimony to the biblical faithfulness of many of our American brothers and sisters. But for British society, it is a great tragedy.

On Thursday, the UK will elect a new parliament, and the results are very hard to predict. Please pray for the election and the resulting government. From all reports, all three major parties are trying to distance themselves from the Bible to one extent or another. There are particular ethical stances that are causing concern to many Christians here. Above all, please pray that the Bible itself—the word of God that brings eternal life, hope and peace through Jesus Christ—is not lost to the hearts and minds of this nation.

Comments on the Sola Panel
5th May, 2010 | Category: Church History, Genesis, The Briefing |

The ratification of the covenant in Galatians 3:17

We have seen that the “seed” of Galatians 3:16 is referring to Genesis 17:8. In Galatians 3:16, Paul is explaining to the gentile Galatians that the “seed” of Genesis 17:8 is the “one” nation Israel, not the “multitude” of nations who will also have Abraham as their father (Genesis 17:5).

In Galatians 3:17, Paul goes on to explain that the covenant has already been ratified. When was this covenant to Abraham and his seed “ratified by God” and thus made inviolable (3:17)?

(This post is part of a series)

As we have seen in our survey of the Old Testament, a solemn oath or ceremonial act is needed to make a covenantal relationship of obligation legally binding. The covenant of land in Genesis 15 was ratified by the events recorded in the chapter—the passing of the flaming torch through the pieces, followed by solemn promises. But it is only after the Aqedah (binding) of Isaac that God finally makes a solemn oath that “in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen 22:16–18). Almost paradoxically, the primary act of loyal devotion that made Abraham and his seed a fitting covenant partner with God—a fitting agent for blessing to the whole world—was the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice the seed himself. It is only when the seed is placed on the wood and a sacrifice is made that God ratifies his covenant, emphatically vowing to make Abraham’s seed numerous and victorious (Gen 22:17) and thereby to bless the world through Abraham’s seed (22:18).[1] Hahn presents a strong case that this is the “ratification” Paul has in mind, and that the Aqedah is the type for his exposition of Jesus’ crucifixion and the subsequent blessing to the nations in Galatians 3:13–14.[2] In Genesis, the covenant of international blessing is ratified after Abraham’s supreme act of loyalty in being willing to sacrifice the “seed” of the promise by binding him “upon wood”:

Thus, the sense of [Galatians 3:]13–14 is that the death of Christ ἐπὶ ξύλου allows the blessing of Abraham after the Aqedah (Gen 22:18) to flow to the ἔθνη through Jesus Christ (ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ).[3]

Hence it is “Christ” who is supremely the seed, the one in whom all nations are blessed (Gal 3:16).[4] This accords with the flow of biblical thought. Psalm 72 focusses the international scope of the promise to Abraham and his “seed” directly onto an ideal Davidic ruler (cf. 2 Sam 7). It is this Messiah-king “in whom all the nations will be blessed / bless themselves” (Psa 72:17, cf. Gen 12:3, 22:18).[5] Christ is the seed who fulfils the covenantal oath that God swore to Abraham by his obedience to death on the cross.

The larger import of this for Paul’s argument with his opponents is that the covenantal obligations laid upon Abraham (circumcision) and his national seed (the law) as a prerequisite for international blessing are not laid upon the nations as a prerequisite for their own blessing.[6] Abraham’s seed has fulfilled the covenantal obligations. The multitude of nations, therefore, are not called to enter this covenant, but to find blessing in the “seed”, to be “immersed” into Christ, to be “clothed” with Christ (Gal 3:27). This comes about by the Spirit and by faith in Christ (Gal 3:14). The blessings include justification (Gal 3:24), sonship (Gal 3:27) and unity with God and others in Christ (Gal 3:28). Hence it is faith in Christ, not covenant membership, that makes the Gentiles “seed of Abraham, heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:29). Being the “seed of Abraham” does not mean that the Gentiles are subject to the covenantal obligations, for these obligations have been fulfilled by Christ’s sacrifice. Rather, being the “seed of Abraham” means that the Gentiles are now sons of God in the fullest sense, heirs of the inheritance that has now come in Christ (Gal 4:1–7). Even the Jews who were members of the covenant must also be in the “seed” by faith (Gal 2:16, 3:11). Hence Abraham’s international fatherhood is not by means of common covenantal membership, but by means of a common faith in the God who achieves his astounding promises (Gal 3:7, 9), and a common blessing of righteousness; the characteristics that Abraham had before any of the covenants was made (Gal 3:6, Gen 15:6).

[1] Williamson, Abraham, 246–48.

[2] Hahn, “Covenant, Oath, and the Aqedah”, 90–94.

[3] Hahn, “Covenant, Oath, and the Aqedah”, 93.

[4] Hahn, “Covenant, Oath, and the Aqedah”, 96–97.

[5] Williamson, Abraham, 167–70.

[6] If this were so, then Carol K. Stockhausen, “2 Corinthians 3 and the Principles of Pauline Exegesis”, in Paul and the Scriptures of Israel (ed. Craig A. Evans and James A. Sanders; Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 83; Sheffield: JSOT, 1993), 143–64 (esp. 158–61) would be correct in concluding that Paul saw a real contradiction between the unilateral covenant of Genesis 15 and the bilateral covenant of Genesis 17.

Full bibliography

26th March, 2010 | Tags: | Category: Atonement, Covenant, Galatians, Genesis, Justification, Paul, Spirit | 2 comments - be the next! - ()

What is the significance of circumcision in Genesis?

Why did God give circumcision to Abraham (Gen 17:9–14)? What is it for? It’s not very useful as a “boundary marker” or “badge of membership”, because under most circumstances people can’t tell whether you’ve been circumcised! Furthermore, lots of other ancient peoples practiced circumcision. Can we discern why circumcision is commanded in the story of Abraham?

(This post is part of a series. See here for an introduction to the series.)

We’ve seen the way that Genesis 12-22 describes two distinct but related covenants. God gives Abraham a two-fold set of promises involving, firstly, nationhood (land and seed, inheritance and heir, Gen 12:1–2c) and, secondly, international blessing (Gen 12:2d–3). Abraham’s faith in the promise of seed (Gen 15:6) is the basis for a covenantal commitment by God to give the land to Abraham (Gen 15:7–21). Abraham’s loyalty (Gen 17:1), displayed in his willingness to trust God even to the point of sacrificing the seed of the promise, is the basis for a covenantal commitment by God to bless all nations through Abraham and his great, numerous seed (Gen 17, Gen 22:15–18). Abraham’s children after him must also follow in the footsteps of Abraham’s faith and loyalty in order for international blessing to be accomplished (Gen 18:18–19).[1] The constantly recurring question in the whole of Genesis-Kings is the question of the identity of the “seed” who will mediate international blessing, especially in the light of the recurring failure of the majority of Abraham’s physical descendants (e.g. 2 Kgs 17:20, “And Yahweh rejected the whole seed of Israel”).[2] The focus narrows down onto a “royal” seed, one from the line of David, for whom God will establish an “everlasting kingdom” (2 Sam 7).

God’s command for Abraham and his descendants to be circumcised occurs in the description of the second of these covenants (Genesis 17).

Circumcision itself is not a major feature in the Old Testament; it is assumed as an obligation for Abraham’s descendants and those in their household (Gen 21:1–4; 34:13–30; Exod 12:48; Lev 12:3; Josh 5:1–9, cf. Judg 14:3, 15:18; 1 Sam 14:6, 17:26, 17:36, 31:4; 2 Sam 1:20; 1 Chr 10:4; Isa 52:1; Ezek 28:10, 31:18, 32:19–32, 44:7–9), required to avoid curse and death (Exod 4:22–26), often internalized (Exod 6:12; Lev 26:40–43; Deut 10:16; Deut 30:5–6; Jer 4:4, 6:10, 9:25–26; Hab 2:16), but seldom explained. Yet Paul deals with circumcision with some frequency and at some length (Rom 2:25–29, 3:1, 3:30, 4:9–12, 15:8; 1 Cor 7:18–19; Gal 2, 5, 6; Eph 2:11; Phil 3:3–5; Col 2:11–13, 3:11, 4:11; Tit 1:10). How is the “covenant” of circumcision in Genesis 17 related to the covenant of international blessing described in the rest of the chapter? Some would see them as two entirely separate covenants.[3] However, it seems best to assume with Hugenberger that בְּרִית in Gen 17:9, 13 is shorthand for a specific obligation (Gen 17:10) or sign (Gen 17:11) within the covenant of Genesis 17.[4]

But is circumcision simply an ethnic “boundary marker” or “badge”,[5] or does it actually signify something? It is not, in fact, particularly useful as a “boundary marker”, for many of Israel’s ANE neighbours also practiced circumcision.[6] Moreover, circumcision is invisible under normal circumstances. But neither does circumcision seem to be a proof or symbol of God’s activity, or a sign to remind God of his obligations (cf. Gen 9:16–17). It seems to be a sign for the sake of the one circumcised.[7] Williamson suggests that circumcision reminds the Israelites to “walk before God and be blameless (תָּמִים, whole)”.[8] Yet it is difficult to see how cutting off a part of one’s body would remind one to “be whole”. Goldingay sees the significance of circumcision in “disciplining of (especially male) procreation” (an interpretation also found in Paul’s contemporary Philo).[9]

The narrative context of Genesis 17 may shed light on this question. Given chapter 16 and 17:17–18, circumcision may be a symbolic means to perpetually restrain Abraham’s desire to achieve God’s purposes through his own effort (i.e. his “flesh”). God commands Abraham and his seed to “cut” the very instrument that Abraham had used to try to fulfil the Genesis 15 promise of seed by begetting Ishmael through Hagar (Chapter 16). Abraham had thought that Ishmael (the result of his own effort) was to be the seed (17:17–18). But God, while promising international blessing through Abraham’s blameless walk (17:1) simultaneously restrains Abraham’s natural inclination to achieve God’s purposes by himself. Thus the purpose of the covenant of circumcision is to remind Abraham that God will make a name for him (Gen 12:2; 17:5); he is not to make a name for himself (cf. Gen 11:4). It also reminds Abraham’s seed of the danger of being “cut off” (כרת) if they should break this covenant (Gen 17:14). Hence circumcision is both a sign and warning of fleshly weakness and a stimulus to faith in the God who can achieve his purposes despite the odds (cf. Rom 4:11–12, 17–19).

[1] Williamson, Abraham, 182.

[2] Williamson, Abraham, 253–58.

[3] E.g. Thomas E. McComiskey, The Covenants of Promise: A Theology of the Old Testament Covenants (Nottingham: IVP, 1985), 146–50; see also Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis Chapters 15–20 (ed. Jaroslav Pelikan; trans. George V. Schick; LW 3; Saint Louis: Concordia, 1961), 162–63.

[4] Hugenberger, Marriage, 174; see Williamson, Abraham, 149.

[5] So N. T. Wright, The Climax of the Covenant (London: T & T Clark, 1991), 3.

[6] Williamson, Abraham, 176–81.

[7] Williamson, Abraham, 176–81.

[8] Williamson, Abraham, 180–81.

[9] John Goldingay, “The Significance of Circumcision”, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 88 (2000): 3–18.

Full bibliography

2nd February, 2010 | Tags: | Category: Covenant, Genesis |

Is God Green #1: God, the World and Us

A shorter version of this article will soon be posted on webSalt, a publication of the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students.

Is God Green? Part 1

The View from Above

More than 40 years ago, the Apollo space missions to the moon sent pictures of the earth back home. For the first time ever, humanity saw its planet from afar. The clouds, the land, the oceans, sitting there: whirling, powerful, innocent, vulnerable. And that image caused a revolution in the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Suddenly, the world was no longer an endless vista of untapped resources and infinite possibilities. Instead, we began to realize how small, how fragile, how very delicate our home really is. No longer were environmental issues confined to a few lonely voices. We began, en masse, to get very anxious about what we were doing to this lonely globe. 40 years later, in the news, almost every day there’s something about our environment.

There’s

  • Global warming
  • Endangered species and extinction
  • Air pollution
  • Soil contamination
  • Water pollution
  • Light pollution
  • Noise pollution
  • Deforestation
  • Overgrazing
  • Irrigation
  • Landfill
  • Radioactive waste
  • Uranium mining
  • Recycling
  • Genetic modification

The list goes on and on

How do you feel about these issues? Are you worried, distracted, anxious, complacent, apathetic, confident, skeptical?

How should Christians approach these issues?

I’ve actually preached on this topic 4 times over the last 7 years. Before I did my ministry training I was a solar energy engineer. And over the last 7 years the general consensus on environmental issues has changed. The first time I preached in 2003, people who cared about the environment were seen as a bit weird and alternative, “tree-huggers”. The second time in 2006, environmental issues were trendy. Now, environmental issues seem to be part of the air we breathe. Everyone cares about the environment now; it’s not trendy any more, it’s just a given.

And Christians are getting on the bandwagon too!

Take, for example, The Green Bible

The blurb from the website says:

The Green Bible will equip and encourage people to see God’s vision for creation and help them engage in the work of healing and sustaining it. With over 1,000 references to the earth in the Bible, compared to 490 references to heaven and 530 references to love, the Bible carries a powerful message for the earth.

Verses in the Bible about the earth are highlighted in green. Is that the way that Christians are to approach this topic? To me, The Green Bibleseems to be a kind of Christian way of playing catch-up to the world. The world around us cares about global warming. So we publish a Bible on recycled paper that highlights the green verses, just to prove how with-it we really are!

But I want to suggest that actually there’s a far better approach. That actually everything in the Bible is relevant to issues of the environment, not just 1,000 green verses. But to really come to grips with these issues, we need to get a firmer grasp on the Bible’s whole message—from beginning to end. We need to understand God and his purposes for our world first. And that’s what this 3-part series is all about. We’ll be looking at God’s plan for us, for the world, for his son Jesus, and particularly, how those plans relate to us in the world.

First, let’s look at a few alternative visions of the world; three very popular non-Christian approaches to the environment, just to help you to see how different they are to the Bible.

Dualism

First, Dualism. Dualism is an old belief, thousands of years old, but it’s still around today. The idea of dualism is that there are two ‘realms’, the ‘physical’ realm and the ‘spiritual’ realm. In the higher, spiritual realm are souls, angels, eternity, God. In the lower, physical realm is matter, change, bodies, the earth. If you’re a dualist, then the higher realm is better and more important than the lower, physical realm.

How do you treat the world if you’re a dualist? There are two possibilities.

Either, you see the physical environment as ugly, evil and distracting to the soul, something to be avoided, so that when you hear about environmental issues, you ignore them, you shut yourself into a monastery and contemplate your navel.

Or you could, as a dualist, join in the abuse of the physical environment, because it’s not really important. Who cares about the environment? It doesn’t matter. It’s not spiritual. It’s just matter. Do what you like with it. Some Christians have been guilty of dualism in the past. In fact, the apostle Paul had to combat dualism back in the first century, because Christians were in danger of falling into it. 1 Timothy 4:1-5 says:

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

The Bible isn’t dualist, it believes the world is good. Are you a dualist? Do you think the spiritual is all that matters?

Materialism

The second popular approach is called materialism. For example, say you’re a materialist. If you’re a materialist in the proper sense, you believe that there is no God (or if there is, he’s got nothing to do with the world or with you). The material world is all that matters. You have no soul. You are, first and foremost, a consumer.

Ultimately you can abuse the world if you like, there’s no higher power to tell you what to do. You can buy whatever make-up you feel like, who cares if it’s tested on animals? You leave the lights on at home, burn up as much petrol as you feel like, because matter is matter. As long as you’re happy who really cares what you do?

The former Soviet Union was a whole superpower founded on communal materialist principles. The Aral Sea in the Soviet Union, was once the size of Tasmania. Over the 20th Century, this great sea has shrunk by 80%. That is, only 20% of the Aral sea is left. Its waters have been diverted for irrigation of cotton farms to bring wealth to the Soviet Union. What’s left is heavily polluted by weapons testing, industrial projects, and fertilizer runoff. Apparently, the disappearance of a whole sea the size of Tasmania was no surprise to the Soviets; they planned for it to happen.

Which makes perfect sense to a materialist. A sea is just a sea. Drain the sea to grow your cotton if it makes your society better off. Of course, if you’re a materialist, you might start to get a bit worried if you think the world won’t sustain your wasteful behaviour. You might start to realize that if you keep draining seas then maybe there won’t be any seas left. Which would be very inconvenient for you because you can’t grow any more cotton or at least it would be inconvenient for your biological offspring who will carry your DNA into the next generation. Where would they ride their jetskis? And so, you might do something about the environment, because you are afraid that your lifestyle will be affected. Are you a materialist? Here’s some logic for you; it’s often used on the street by environmental groups: We shouldn’t cut down the Amazonian rainforests. Why? Because we might find a cure for cancer there, and you might have cancer one day, and you might need those rainforests. If you think that’s the best argument not to cut down the rainforests, then you’re probably a materialist. Because that reason is all about you, your future consumption and health

Paganism

Some people have come along and said, No, materialism is no good at all! There’s something so selfish and wrong about it! Surely the world is more than just a thing to be consumed. Surely, there has to be some higher power or powers that should prevent us from abusing and raping our environment like this. A popular solution amongst environmentalists is to embrace what’s called ‘paganism’.

Pagans believe in God, in a sense. But the trick is, God is in the world – the world itself is God. They usually don’t call it God—they call it, ‘Mother Nature’, or ‘Gaia’. For a Pagan, the world is one big interconnected organism. And all things have equal value and equal status as part of that whole. Plants and animals have souls, spirits, that are worshipped. We have to respect everything in nature, the whole ecosystem. Humans have no right to use nature for our own ends.

But the problem with Mother Nature is that she often isn’t very motherly. In fact, some people believe that humanity is a cancerous growth that might be spewed out by Mother Nature one day. James Lovelock, for example, has written a book with a lovely title, called The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is Fighting Back – and How We can Still Save humanity!

Paganism can breed great fear and anxiety, because how do you know what Mother Nature will do to you, and when? Maybe global warming is inevitable? Maybe Mother Nature will produce massive storms and tsunamis that wipe us out as a species? Maybe Mother Nature has given up on us and is going to start again? Who are you or I to say?

The view from above

How you view the environment is very much caught up with what you think of God, what you think of God’s relationship to the world, and what you think of your place in the world. The view from above makes a difference to what you do here on earth.

So what about the Bible? What’s the Bible’s view from above? Is God green at all? Does he care about the world? Well to answer that I want to explore the story that the Bible tells about the world. The Bible has a lot to say about the world: where the world came from, what state the world is in, and the future of the world. And as it tells this story to us, I hope we will see that God and you and I are very much involved in that story. We are intimately caught up in the story of the world. I hope that as we understand the Bible’s story of the world, it will help us to know what to do with the world, how to think and feel and act rightly towards the world. And hopefully make a positive difference

People and the world (Genesis 1-2)

In this first article, we’re going to concentrate on the beginning of the story of the world, where it came from.

Please look up Genesis 1, the opening chapter of the Bible. It would really help for you to read it through right now. This chapter describes the creation of the world. I want to focus on some of the key points of the passage in front of us.

The first point is that the world is not the same as God. God chose to make the world—but God was there before the world was made. The first verse says: in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In other words, God isn’t a pagan.

The second point is that the world is good. Whenever God makes something, he sees that it is good. The light is good, verse 4. The land and sea are good, verse 10. The trees are good, verse 12, and so on. God loves what he has made. And that means that the world has value, given to it by its creator

The third point is that you and I, men and women, we have a special place in the world. We’re part of the world, we’re not God. But we are made in the ‘image of God’. See, especially, verses 26-28. We are part of the world, but we have a special place in the world. A special relationship to God, different to the world. We also have a special relationship to the world: we are the rulers of the world under God.

We also see that in Psalm 8). God has made us to rule the works of his hands. Everything he has made is under our feet (‘flocks and herds, wild beasts, birds, fish.’) Our job is to rule these things. That is our God-given role.

How to rule the world

In 1967, a man called Lynn White wrote a famous article called ‘The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis’. It was more sweeping artistry than real history. But it was very influential. You may have heard of it. In his article, Lynn White blamed Western Christianity for most of the environmental degradation that has happened in the history of the world.

His accusation was this: The Bible—and Genesis 1 especially—had been used to justify wholesale exploitation of the environment. Lynn White says:

‘God planned all of this [creation] explicitly for man’s benefit and rule: no item in the physical creation had any purpose save to serve man’s purposes.’

We can’t deny that some Christians in the past have been arrogant and selfish towards the environment? And to our modern ears, the Bible does sound pretty harsh, doesn’t it? ‘Fill the earth’, ‘subdue it’, ‘have dominion’, ‘rule’. Doesn’t that sound like God has given us the world to dominate, to bash into shape?

But like anything in the Bible, we need to read these verses in context. Remember in this chapter that God saw that the world was good before he made human beings. The world has positive value in God’s eyes, simply by being created by him. So as we rule, we have to remember that we are ruling something God has made and that God believes is good. It’s not just good for us, it’s good for God even before we came along.

(If you want to know more, have a look at Psalm 104)

Secondly, have a look at how that rule is described in the next chapter:

The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. (Genesis 2:15, NIV)

Our ‘rule’ is not selfish rule. It’s not being a despot or a tyrant or a dictator. Ruling the world is all about serving; serving God (who made the good world), and serving the world itself by taking care of it.

This makes sense of what we see humans doing all the time. There’s an organization called Save the Whales—they even have a song. You can download the MP3. But you won’t find a bunch of whales getting together to form a society called ‘save the humans’, will you? Whales can’t download MP3s about saving humans. That’s because humans are there to look after the whales, not vice-versa. Our special role in the world is to be the servant kings of the world. God does not want us to exploit the world purely for our own greedy gain. But at the same time, God doesn’t want us to leave the world alone. We’re not just to be the stewards of the world, not just the park rangers, making sure nothing happens to it. God wants us to be active, to turn chaos into order like he did at the beginning. To save whales, to fill the earth and subdue it.

At the beginning of the story of the world, human beings were good for the world. And as we rule, we also enjoy the benefits of being God’s rulers. If we look back at chapter 1, we see:

Then God said [to the human beings], “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground– everything that has the breath of life in it– I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Genesis 1:29-31)

We can enjoy the world as we subdue it, and this is very good, according to God. When you eat food, that is very good, because that is what the food is for. Here’s a description of ecological harmony from the Bible:

He who tends a fig tree will eat its fruit (Proverbs 27:18).

So how does this all work out? How do you and I actually go about ruling? How do we know what to do?

Did you notice that repeated little phrase ‘according to its kind’ in Genesis chapter 1? It’s there in verse 11, 12, 21, 24, 25. God has made vegetation according to their various kinds; fish according to their kinds; birds, livestock, wild animals, according to their kinds. There’s variety in creation. This variety helps us to understand that we do different things with different parts of creation. This next little verse is an example of how this works:

Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel (Proverbs 12:10 ESV).

One of the things about being righteous is that you have regard for the life of your beast. That is, you know the value of an animal’s life—not just for your own selfish purposes, but in terms of what God has made. The righteous persons understands that the animal has been made a certain way ‘according to its kind’. And he respects that creation. An animal is different to a human, of course. Respecting a chicken is different to respecting your mother. But a righteous person will still respect the life of the chicken, as a chicken. It’s not just an egg-producing machine. Do you buy free-range eggs? Why? Why not? Do you regard the life of the chicken? Not just the taste or the eggs. The life. Because God thinks the chicken is good. The good ruler of the world is the one who discerns what this value is. While we eat the eggs and the chicken nuggets, we also take care of the chicken while it’s alive according to what God has made it, not just what we can get out of it. This is what ruling and subduing, is all about

What is a tree for?

Try to work out all the things a tree is for, according to God.

A tree is good.

A tree is beautiful.

A tree is for food.

A tree is a blessing from God for his creation, even in those wild places where no human being has set foot.

This is interesting, because this part of the book of Job is all about how God has made and cares for all the little details of his creation even though human beings may have nothing to do with it! God says to Job ‘Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?’ (Job 39:1). The point is that Job has no idea when the mountain goats give birth. But God does; and he cares about the mountain goats giving birth. Reading Job 39-40 is like watching those nature documentaries: when you watch those shows you go, ‘wow, all this stuff happens and I never even knew’. But God knows, and God has a purpose.

Also,

A tree is for birds.

A tree is a blessing from God for people and a sign of peace, giving shade and shelter to those under his protection.

A tree is a gallows for a man cursed by God.

A tree is for houses for kings and people.

A tree is for the praise of God’s glory.

A tree has lots of purposes. Some of the purposes of a tree are for humans. But others have nothing to do with us, do they? A tree is there to praise God, a tree is there to feed and house birds. And of course we’ve discovered other purposes for trees, too, that the Bible doesn’t mention. A tree is for making oxygen.

Even in warfare, God tells his people that they should do what’s right by the trees.. Not wanton destruction, but sustainable development.

If these are the things a tree is for, how should we rule trees? Our job as rulers is to discern the purpose God has given for things, and act accordingly. So we should do our best to make sure that as many of the purposes for trees as possible are fulfilled. Cut some down for building, leave some for the birds, make sure there are beautiful forests. This is what people mean when they talk about ‘sustainable development’. It’s what the Bible calls ‘wisdom’.

It’s not always easy, is it? There’s no cut-and-dried answers to this. Christians may disagree with each other on this. We may have to use scientific tools in our pursuit of understanding; research and maps, etc. But that is exercising dominion.

And actually a lot of it is quite simple. When you go to press ‘print’ on your word processor, to send a file to the printer, to use paper, that comes from woodchips, from trees. You should ask—am I using this tree in the best way? Do I really need this printout? Can I save the paper so more trees can fulfil their God-given purpose in other ways? Especially in old growth forests. Can I recycle the paper? This is possible and right in God’s world

We had a go at starting up a compost heap a few years back. Why? Because each Australian, on average, contributes one tonne of waste each year, and we’re turning the land into tips to get rid of this rubbish. But God has made the land for reasons other than dumping rubbish. It’s for beauty, for living in, for growing crops, for recreation. And it’s getting to the point where it’s harder to find land to do these things, because the land is taken up with rubbish. So our compost heap helped to reduce our rubbish and helped the earth that God has given us to be used for other purposes. It’s not rocket science. We are created by God to rule our world, to serve our world, to enjoy our world.

The curse

But I know what you’re thinking. ‘Stop telling me about your compost heap. What about the Aral Sea? What about Chernobyl? What about Global Warming?’

We’ve only just looked at the beginning of the story, haven’t we? We still have a huge problem, don’t we? The fact is, we don’t rule the world properly. We’ve stuffed it up, big time, and all around us is the evidence.

Does the Bible tell us why? Well, yes. And in the next couple of articles we will look in more detail at that terrible circumstance. But we will also see what God has done about our crazy broken world.

This article is part 1 in a 3-part series, adapted from a talk given at the Wollongong ECU Reload Conference in 2009.
15th April, 2009 | Category: Creation, Environment, Genesis |

Overpopulation

“With regard to ‘filling the earth and subduing it’, do you think that Christians also have a responsibility to the earth and its strained resources? I.e. is it possible for Christians to have ‘too many’ kids? (Is the earth overpopulated and strained; how much should we consider this?)”

The answer to this question is ‘yes’ and ‘no’!

Yes, Christians certainly have a responsibility to the earth and its resources. In the context of Genesis chapters 1 and 2, where this phrase is found, ‘subduing’ the earth implies a responsibility towards the good world that God has given us – our job is to be the ‘image of God’ in the world, servant rulers over the creation. So we must take our responsibilities seriously, caring for the earth as God cares for it.

However – and this is where the question is heading – does the second part of God’s command negate the first? That is, have we come to a point where there are simply too many people in the world, and where any more ‘filling’ will mean that we aren’t properly taking care of the world? Or to ask it in perhaps a more biblically faithful way, have we already completed our obedience to God’s command to ‘fill’ the earth – i.e. is the earth now full and we can stop procreating?

The answer to these questions is a resounding “no” (at the very least not yet) – and let me explain why. Overpopulation, at least by itself, is not causing the strain on the earth’s resources. What is causing this strain is a much more basic problem, a problem which Francis Schaeffer identified way back in the sixties, a problem which the Bible talks about again and again – human greed (e.g. Exodus 20:17, Romans 1:29, James 4:2-3). It’s not that there are too many people, it’s that each person, on average (especially in the West), is unsatiably using more and more resources. Think of Australians: in general, on average, we are gobbling up oil to get ourselves around more conveniently, we are gobbling up land because the average household size has dropped so that fewer and fewer people are now living in bigger and bigger houses – not to mention the extra cost in electricity for heating and lighting, etc. The strain on the earth’s resources would be stopped overnight if we all became content with what we had and happy to live with larger families under one roof.

Or take food resources, for example. To quote a statistic I heard only recently (see this news article): there are now more obese and overweight people in the world than there are malnourished people in the world (that includes countries such as China). That statistic means that there is far more than enough food for everybody, many times over. It’s just that it’s not being distributed properly – because of corruption and greed. The technology that we have at our disposal means that we are able to distribute the world’s resources. At least in the area of food, the statistics show that we are far from overpopulated.

In my experience, when I have met couples who refuse to have children because they don’t want to contribute to “overpopulation”, it’s far more likely that this is not the real reason. The real reason is much more likely to be that they don’t want their comfortable lifestyle, and their desire to be “upwardly mobile” (i.e. covetous) to be affected. In fact, a far better thing for them to do for the world’s resources would be for them to have children and to teach them, by word and example, to be less greedy, more content to live with each other in the same household and use less petrol and electricity, etc.

Of course, the best thing we can do for our world is to speak and live out the the gospel, to our neighbours and our children, which will bring change in people’s lives, teach us contentment, and enable us to put greed and covetousness to death.

16th July, 2007 | Category: Genesis |