A few decades ago, I took my first class in environmental science. I well remember the dire warnings of over-population, energy shortages, mass starvation, and the ever present threat of thermo-nuclear war with the ensuing nuclear winter that would plunge the earth into a new ice age. All of this would happen by the year 2000. Well, as we all know, those predictions proved to be pseudo-science.
Presently, the major threat to the future of humanity is climate change. I must admit that I’m a skeptic. Not that I’m a denier, just a skeptic. Several years ago I sat in a theology class and listened intently as the professor talked about eco-theology, the threat of climate change, and the Christian’s responsibility to save the earth. As the professor concluded, I commented, “I understand your concerns, but you have not taken into account other threats such as the eruption of the Yellowstone caldera, or even worse, a stray asteroid striking the earth.” My point was, and remains, that some things are beyond our control.
Even so, as I press beyond my skepticism of climate science and consider the teachings of Scripture I find sufficient evidence for a robust eco-theology. First, the creation narrative of Genesis establishes human responsibility to care for, and cultivate, the earth. “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). Human disobedience to God resulted in being expelled from Eden. Here lies the first pillar of a biblical eco-theology:
Humans must live in obedience to God.
This present age is afflicted with “thorns and thistles” (Gen. 3:18), but the divine mandate to cultivate and keep the earth has not been revoked. “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains” (Psalm 24:1). Humans living in obedience to God are the stewards of creation. In fact, the Hebrew term that is translated “to cultivate” has a religious connotation as if serving in the temple of the Lord. “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (Is. 6:3).
Genesis tells us that human sinfulness increased exponentially: “the wickedness of humanity was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually“ (Gen. 6:5). Human violence provoked divine judgement in which all life would be exterminated from the earth: “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth” (Gen. 6:3). Even so, God acted graciously by saving a human family, and a breeding pair of every creature, so that life could once again flourish on the earth. Here is the second pillar of a biblical eco-theology:
God graces all life with flourishing.
After the great flood, God commanded, “Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it” (Gen. 9:7). From Mt. Ararat, Noah’s family, and all the creatures of the ark, scattered throughout the earth. Any behavior that threatens the flourishing of life is to resist the grace of God. To pollute the air, destroy the forests, poison the rivers, or use the oceans as a giant sewer is to desecrate God’s good creation. Likewise, to abort infants, oppress the poor, promote sexual deviancy, or love violence is to grieve the Holy Spirit of grace and inhibit human flourishing.
Several generations later, as the people of Israel were preparing to enter the Promised Land, they were warned: “do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out” (Lev. 18:28 NLT). How could Israel defile the Promised Land? By engaging in various forms of sexual immorality, injustice, and idolatry. Just as the first humans were expelled from Eden, and the generation of Noah was exterminated from the earth, likewise Israel will be vomited out of the Promised Land if they defiled the land by their sinful actions. Here is the third pillar of a biblical eco-theology:
Human sinful behavior makes the earth sick and a sick earth expels defiled humans.
If climate change is indeed threatening the future of humanity, then we must do more than reduce hydrocarbons in the atmosphere and develop clean energy. We must repent of sexual immorality, injustice, idolatry, and exploitation of the earth.
Building on the Old Testament redemptive ecology, the apostle Paul reminds us of human sinfulness: the refusal to acknowledge God, idolatry, sexual immorality, and violence. In summation, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23); and the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). Because of the sinfulness of humanity, the entire creation has been subjected to futility – chaos, corruption, and death (Rom. 8:20). A dying earth “groans and suffers” as it anxiously longs and eagerly anticipates new birth – eschatological glorification (Rom. 6:23b; 8:19-22). Here lies the fourth pillar of a biblical eco-theology:
The only remedy for the chaos and ultimate destruction of this present physical cosmos is the day of the LORD.
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. . . according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:10, 13).
