The Environment (Biblical Anthropology)

One of the first things that we learned in our Biblical Anthropology series was the concept of dependence. We were created as dependent beings – of course, the very fact that we were created means that we are in some way dependent.

And as human beings, we’re not only dependent on God, we also depend on one another, and on our environment in general.

And that’s why our next topic is “The Environment”. And it is, without a doubt, a very current topic. As was the case when I taught this series in Spanish, we are being inundated with news about the earth and climate change. When I first taught this series, the big news was COP26 – “the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties” – in Glasgow, Scotland.

But the truth is that most of us have grown up with environmentalism. Saving a species from extinction – climate change, pollution. It’s one of the great conversations of our generation.

And so we’re going to go to the Bible to study this issue. And as has been our custom, we’re going to start at the very beginning – Genesis 1. We started there at the beginning of our Biblical Anthropology series, and it feels like we’ve been hanging out there ever since!

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

The source of everything – God Himself. And let’s remember what we learn in Colossians – “… by him [Christ, the Son] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible … in him all things hold together … in [him] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 1:16-17; Colossians 2:3).

Our Lord is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. All wisdom and knowledge is found in Him.

God created all things, and so all things belong to Him. God never sold off His rights to the universe. He didn’t lose everything in a bad investment. All things are His.

The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein…

Psalm 24:1

Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

Job 41:11

And so let’s begin with the basics:

1. God created all things.
2. God sustains all things. (Everything ultimately depends on God.)
3. God owns all things.
4. God is sovereign over His creation.
5. God gives all things their purpose.

Remember when God created the first man and woman, He gave them this command:

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 1:28

We’ve talked before about this as the “Creation Mandate” (in our discussion of technology). And in the same chapter, we read about the original state of Creation:

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 1:31

Now, moving on to chapter 2:

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Genesis 2:15

All of this is part of the purpose that God gave to the first humans.

Now, before we go any further… the environment has been a matter of massive debate in our lifetimes, and of course the Church has been involved in that conversation. At times, unbelievers have accused Christians of not caring for the environment, of not being concerned about the earth.

We don’t like to be called bad people, and we don’t want conflict. And so very often the response has been something like this:

“Just look at what the Bible says in Genesis 1 and 2. These verses show that we should be administrators of our earth as Christians. We are indeed responsible to care for the environment. And so – we’re all on the same side, right?”

And we take a giant leap from Genesis 1 and 2 into everything that we are being told to do.

In fact, believe it or not, there’s a “Green Bible”. Listen to this promotional material for this edition:

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. This Green-Letter edition of the Bible will highlight scriptures in green ink that teach about God’s care for creation and how God interacts with creation, in an effort to bring greater awareness to how this message is woven throughout the Old and New Testaments. Essays from leading conservationists and theologians on how to read the Bible through a ‘green lens’ as well as a green topical index and Green Bible trail guide for personal study will be paired with teachings throughout the ages to show people how caring for God’s creation is not only a calling, but a lifestyle.

The Green Bible (2010)

First of all, for those who have studied hermeneutics (Bible interpretation), this line “With over 1,000 references to the earth in the Bible, compared to 490 references to heaven and 530 references to love” will be recognized as absolutely horrible logic – counting up references (verses?) about something, out of context, and using that to measure relative importance (now we know that the earth is more important than love?) – ridiculous. Just – don’t buy this Bible.

But anyway, we’ve seen this general strategy before. Take a phrase from the Bible, out of context, such as “love your neighbour”. Next, redefine the words, and use the phrase to promote whatever the world wants to promote. And this creates a “false consensus”. In other words, it looks like everyone is in agreement – on a very surface level – when that is really not the case.

I was at the gas station and someone came up to my window to show me their absolutely marvellous product. And sadly for them, I wasn’t interested. And so she said, “Don’t you like free gifts?”

“Not today, thanks.”

“Don’t you care about the environment?”

“Um… thanks….”

Now of course, if she really wanted to give me free gifts with which I could save the world, I guess I should have paid a lot more attention! But I have a feeling that there was a little more to it than that! 🙂

Yes, we have a lot of agreement with many who are not believers. Yes, as we’re going to see, we can work together – believers and unbelievers – to care for the planet. However, as we’ve seen throughout our study, very often our points of agreement are somewhat superficial. Look at the five absolutely basic fundamental truths that we have already looked at today – how many of these would an unbeliever accept?

And so we’re not going to simply appeal to Genesis 1 and 2 to include all the current ideas about climate change and conservation – we need to go a little deeper.

We’ve started with a look at the world in its perfect state, and God’s first commands. But we know that the world didn’t stay that way. So next time let’s look at the Bible’s teaching about the world after the Fall…