The focus of Easter and Eucharistic messages is predominantly what we human beings get out of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection. A close reading of Scripture, however, quickly reveals that those events have cosmic implications and applications.
The Cross: A Cosmic Event
Humanity undoubtedly needs redemption, but is that all Christ died for 2,000 years ago? While we have tended to focus on Jesus coming to save humans, the New Testament offers a much broader vision.
John 3:16 declares:
“For God so loved the world that he gave…”
The original word translated “world” is “cosmos”, referring to the whole created order. So something much bigger than the redemption of humans was being transacted at Golgotha.
Colossians 1:15-20 (NASB) states:
“It was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him (Jesus), and through him to reconcile to Himself all things, having made peace through the blood of his cross; whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
Six times in these six verses we read “all things” just to make the point clear – God is reconciling all things to himself through Christ. God’s redemption and reconciliation are not just about humanity; they are cosmic in scope.
What Theologians Say
- Jürgen Moltmann argues in Jesus Christ for Today’s World that according to the New Testament, Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection is not only a historical event. It is not just the new covenant God once signed to guarantee forgiveness of sins and eternal life to those who accept Christ as their Saviour. Moltmann says:
There can be no redemption for human beings without the redemption of the whole of perishable nature… (1994: 83).
- Bernhard W. Anderson argues in “From Creation to New Creation” that creation language in Israel’s language of worship is theologically related to God’s redeeming work (see, for example, Psalms 8, 19, 24, 95, 104)
In large measure God has entrusted the care of creation to us, and we participate in its ultimate redemption through our actions.
The Resurrection: A Cosmic Event
Moltman continues:
We also have to understand it [Christ’s resurrection] as the first act in the new creation of the world. Christ’s resurrection is not just a historical event. It is a cosmic event too (p. 83).
Biblical writers compare Jesus’ death to a single seed sown, which dies to produce abundant harvest (John 12:24; 1 Corinthians 15:37ff). A beloved Easter hymn echoes this perspective:
Now the green blade rises from the buried grain.
What that in the dark earth for many days has lain.
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again like wheat that rises green.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV):
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old is gone, the new is here!”
In Romans 8:22 he writes:
“Creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the children of God”
Indeed:
“the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:19).
The birth process involves great anticipation and waiting, but just what is being born? God’s new creation is in the process of being born right now in our midst, and God’s chosen means for this is through us – his church. The new horizon of the children of God grants hope
“that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21 NIV).
We who are in Christ bear witness to this hope of new creation. Indeed, our resurrected life, presaged in our baptism, has significant implications for the flourishing of the rest of creation.
The promise of Scripture is that the bodily resurrection of Jesus portends cosmic redemption and is the beginning of the transformation of all creation. The Christ who gives eternal life to mortal humans will also liberate creation from its groaning. Since Christ’s resurrection, the whole of God’s creation is on the move toward the ultimate Kingdom of God. It is a process, an ongoing story of Christ taking place in history in which God himself and his people are participating.
The Gospel: A Cosmic Message
Jesus signified that there is Good News to be proclaimed not only to humans but indeed to the entire created order. In Mark 16:15, he commanded his followers:
“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (ESV, emphasis mine)
The nature of that Good News is fundamentally the same for both people and nature, namely the hope and assurance that they will remain in existence (material continuity) and be set free from all that currently blights and limits them (redemption, restoration and renewal). It is a message that Paul unpacks cogently in Romans 8:18-25, and which finds expression in Isaiah 65:17-25, Ezekiel 47:1-12, Colossians 1:15-20, and Revelation 21 and 22.
The Cape Town Commitment
The breadth of this commission is echoed by Lausanne’s Cape Town Commitment (2011):
Integral mission means discerning, proclaiming, and living out, the biblical truth that the gospel is God’s good news, through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, for individual persons, and for society, and for creation. All three are broken and suffering because of sin; all three are included in the redeeming love and mission of God; all three must be part of the comprehensive mission of God’s people.
The Mission: A Cosmic Responsibility
Unfortunately, Christian theology’s preoccupation with humanity, its privileging of spirit over body and earth, and its apocalyptic eschatology with fiery scenes of earth’s destruction have contributed to an often trifling concern about God’s will fully being done on earth. Compared to environmentalist groups, the church is rather silent about the stewardship of natural resources.
“Environmentalist” is still a dirty word among some Christians. For some, the label is synonymous with secularism, Gaia worship, New Ageism and politically liberal special interest groups. Although some Christ-followers find it increasingly difficult to ignore the environmental impact of their lifestyles and are beginning to feel a holy stirring as they wake up to crazy weather patterns, smoggy skylines and disappearing forests, others are uncomfortable with “environmentalists” and even less comfortable with their “agenda.”
The problem is that Christians can no longer afford to sit on the side-lines.
- Millions die annually from preventable, water-related diseases. Most are children.
- Extinction rates continue to exceed natural rates by more than 100 times.
- Our energy consumption funds mountaintop removal coal mining while our oil addiction fouls the air and laces the pockets of oppressive dictatorships.
Our faith provides an inspiring narrative to face these crises – we serve the One who created everything, called it “good” and asked humans to care for and protect it.
The time has come for Christians to more intentionally and seriously tap into the story line. Even though we live in hope of the divine consummation of creation, we cannot abandon what is uniquely ours to do – namely to express and demonstrate the good news to the whole of creation.
Stewardship isn’t primarily a political, social or economic issue; it is a moral issue the people of God have been called to address. If we desire to remain true to God’s Word, Christians must redeem the cause and make it our own. We need to rediscover the scriptural basis for creation care, engage in our planet’s daunting problems and propose solutions that reflect divine insight and wisdom. As stewards of creation, we stand in for God who chooses not to do it without us. That is a privilege and a responsibility we have yet to adequately and fully realise.
Further reading
- Reconciling All Things – Colossians 1:20 reveals God’s plan to reconcile all creation, not just souls, calling Christians to embrace creation care as worship
- Transformation Not Obliteration – Discover N.T. Wright’s transformational theology: Earth is renewed, not destroyed, with real implications for creation care and stewardship.
- Climate Crisis, Romans 8 & Discipleship – Explore how Jesus’s death connects to climate justice, Romans 8, and the call for Christians to choose discipleship over denial.
Sources
- Anderson, Bernhard W. 2005. From Creation to New Creation (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers).
- Lausanne Movement. 2010. The Cape Town Commitment: A Confession of Faith and A Call To Action (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers).
- Moltman, Jurgen. 1994. Jesus For Today’s World (London, SCM Press).
Phillip Donnell is the Director of New Creation New Zealand, which seeks to inspire and equip Christians to care for creation.
