Timothy Stewart

BHT 521/Being in the Story, Creation, the Imago Dei, and the Cultural Mandate reflection,
Week 2
June 4, 2021
Word count: 1495

God’s Good Earth and Our Place In It

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which

Christ, who is sovereign Lord of all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”1 This quote by Kuyper was first

given us in class as a contrast to D. L. Moody’s quote about the world being a shipwreck from

which we all must be saved. I wanted to begin my reflection paper with this quote because while

the Moody quote describes my thinking as a young Christian, the Kuyper quote describes what I

have been moving toward ever since. I remember several years ago having a conversation with

my brother about the world, and he made the offhand comment, “well, it’s all going to burn

anyhow.” The moment he said that I knew that that was what we had been taught, but something

inside of me knew that I was not there theologically anymore, and that the world had greater

value than we had been raised to believe. Growing up on our family farm we lived out the

conviction that “it’s all going to burn anyhow” through the use of our family dump where we

burned garbage. The smell was terrible and the chemicals we released were bad for the

environment, but at least we were consistent with our theological beliefs. Since then, I have been

on a spiritual journey that no longer allows me to see the world as a poor farm boy who needs to

get rid of the trash, but rather as a caretaker of a world that God repeatedly affirmed as “good”

(Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25).

1
Abraham Kuyper, “Sphere Sovereignty,” in Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader, ed. James D. Bratt (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 488.

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Where Are We?

In the lectures surrounding the Bob Marley song “Exodus,” Dr. Middleton spoke about

typology and how we use the scripture as a lens through which we read our lives. In order to do

this properly, Dr. Middleton said, “we need to put ourselves in the shoes of the characters,” in

the biblical narrative. Applying this principle to the cosmic geography diagrams that represent

the universe as understood by the first readers of the Bible, its clear to me that they understood

creation to be beautiful and good, not something that was simply to be disposed of someday for

something better. That said, God’s creation is not only good and beautiful, but it serves a real

purpose. In Psalm 148 we see all of creation praising God. The sun and the moon, animals,

mountains, trees, and people are all called to praise the Lord. Why? “Let them praise the name of

the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his glory is above earth and heaven” (Ps. 148:13 NRSV).

The reason creation is so great is because it has been created to praise God. For the same reason

that God took seven chapters (Ex. 25-31) of Exodus to describe how the Tabernacle was to be

built, with attention to design and what costly materials were meant to be used for what, we are

to praise God, because “his glory is above earth and heaven.” We live in an amazing world

because this world is meant to reflect the glory and give praise to our amazing God.

Terence E. Fretheim writes this regarding Psalm 148, “One of the major difficulties with

such a psalm is that it offends our anthropocentric sensibilities to be on a list with hills, horses,

and hurricanes” (Fretheim, Nature’s Praise of God In The Psalms). One of the problems with

being created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) is that we sometimes see ourselves as the center of

our universe, functionally displacing God as God of our lives. Psalm 148 does an excellent job of

putting us back in our place as a part of creation and not in the place reserved for the creator.

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Who Are We?

Imago Dei is the Latin for “Image of God.” According to Genesis 1, humanity is created

in the image of God (Gen. 1:26). Distinct from the rest of creation, humanity is created at the end

of both creation narratives in Gen. 1 and 2. It is clear from the text that God has a different

relationship with humanity than he does with the rest of creation. “The Lord God took the man

and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15 NRSV). In the T&T Clark

Handbook of Christian Theology and The Modern Sciences, Dr. Middleton argues that there is a

biblically sound argument for Adam and Eve not being real individuals but rather archetypal

representatives of all humanity. While I understand his argument, I am not sure 1. If I agree with

his conclusion, 2. If we can know from the text one way or the other, and 3. How much it matters

to the narrative if Adam and Eve are real individuals or archetypal representatives (Middleton,

T&T Clark Handbook). If the goal of scripture is to foster a right relationship between God and

humanity, it seems to me that that can happen with either perspective.

God gives Adam and Eve the responsibility of caring for the Garden of Eden. While they

fail to obey God’s command to not eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

and are cast out of the garden for that reason, their job of being caretakers of God’s creation is

never rescinded. In Gen. 12 we see the calling of Abram (later Abraham) by God to leave his

home and, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so

that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will

curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:2-3 NRSV). The word

bless is used multiple times in these 2 verses and understanding its meaning is critical to proper

interpretation of this command. Middleton writes, “Although Gen 12:3b is translated in many

Bibles as ‘and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed,’ matters are not that simple.

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As is well known by biblical scholars, Gen 12:3b may legitimately be translated ‘and by you all

the families of the earth shall bless themselves’ or possibly ‘bless each other’” (Middleton, The

Blessing of Abraham and the Missio Dei). Middleton goes on to argue that God’s blessing is

meant for Abraham and his people such that the world will look at them and desire to be blessed

as they are blessed.

As the Ministry Partner Development Coordinator for Campus Ambassadors, I oversee

the support raising efforts of Campus Ambassadors Staff. Support, be it financial or otherwise, is

a form of blessing. God’s people support our missionaries through their finances, prayer, and

service to enable the ministry of the Gospel to college students. If we are the heirs of Abraham,

then it appears that God is calling us to live in such a way that the world would look at us and

say, “I wish I was blessed by God the way the Stewart family clearly is.” One of the things we

teach our staff is that if we are going to call people to be generous toward us, then we need to

make sure that we are modeling generosity in our own lives. I have always looked at the Gen. 12:

1-3 passage as a call to be generous and be a blessing to the world around me, but this

interpretation of bless takes things to the next level. If we are seeking to be a blessing to others,

which is a good thing, then the thrust of the relationship is in our hands, but if we are seeking to

live in such a way that people desire to be blessed as we are, then that requires me to ask myself

a different set of questions. We no longer have as much control of the relationship as we once

thought we had. And where might we begin? Well, obviously prayer is a great place to start, but

we can also get back to basics and begin with taking care of the world around us and inviting

others to join us. If we want people to be blessed as we are then proximity is essential.

Making the world a better place is not the ultimate goal of humanity. God desires

relationship with humanity and the arc of scripture is about God working out his plan to reunify

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heaven and earth such that God and humanity are never parted again (Rev. 21:1-3). But for that

to happen, a salvific work much be done. The sin committed in the Garden of Eden and every

human sin since had separated humanity from their holy God and needed to be addressed. Jesus

ultimately accomplished this through his death, burial, and resurrection, for the sake of saving

those lost in sin (1 Cor. 15:1-5, 1 Tim. 1:15). But this was not the first time this model was

revealed in scripture. God used the Exodus story as a foreshadowing of how he was going to

accomplish his work. In The Exodus as a Paradigm of Salvation handout, Dr. Middleton talks

about the 9 stages of the Exodus story that lead to the salvation of the Hebrew people. As a

college campus minister, I’ve noticed that in recent years campus ministers from many different

organizations and different parts of the country seem to be seeing fewer people coming to Christ.

I wonder if this is because as each year passes, the average college freshman has less and less

biblical knowledge and perhaps the Gospel that campus ministers are offering does not resonate

with the new students because it assumes too much. My thought is that perhaps we need to help

students better understand the Old Testament narrative, especially the early chapters of Genesis

and the Exodus story, so that when we get to the New Testament and Jesus, they have a context

that enables them to understand their need for a savior. I am reminded of the story of Darmack

from Star Trek and how Captain Picard had to spend time with his alien friend, learning his

stories in order to understand what it was he was communicating. Again, this takes proximity,

and time.

All of that said, God has given us an amazing world to live in and God has chosen us to

be his ambassadors to the world, representing him such that humanity and creation will be

ultimately reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20).