Cursed, In Hope

Today is Earth Day, and for me that is a reminder of both the curse of sin and the hope of redemption.

Last week I heard a message in which one of the most well-known Bible teachers in the world cited an evangelical statement of commitment to care for God's creation. The statement said, 'We commit ourselves to extend Christ's healing to the creation.' The Bible teacher then said, with great cynicism, 'I've got news for you: He cursed it! He started all the weeds and disasters.'

After quoting another evangelical statement saying, 'The cosmos in all its beauty, wildness and life-giving bounty is the work of our loving Creator,' the Bible teacher continued, 'What did they do, skip Genesis 3? He cursed it. God created it good, man sinned, and He corrupted it.'

This grieved me, because it seems to be a gross distortion of the Biblical teaching. Yes, some Christians have become so extreme in their commitment to preserve the environment that they seem to care very little about preaching the saving message of Christ crucified and risen for sinners. This is a grievous error. But it does no good to react to that error by plunging to error on the far opposite side of the pendulum, and doing it with great arrogance and smugness as well.

In reality, what this Bible teacher did was not distort the truth, but truncated it. Yes indeed, God did curse the entire created cosmos as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve. But that is NOT the end of the story, as this Bible teacher seemed to suggest so adamantly. Sadly, the Bible teacher did not mention how Romans 8 fit into his scheme of good creation, sin, and curse. In that chapter, Paul writes,

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Yes, the creation was subjected to futility; it was cursed. But it was cursed in hope, that one day the entire creation will be set free from the curse of bondage and corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. The created world that God cursed is groaning for its coming redemption from that curse, as part of the glorious triumph of the Son of God over sin, death and hell on the Cross.

How a reputable Bible teacher could so casually, cynically speak of God's curse on the creation without mentioning this verse is unfortunate. And whether this Bible teacher agrees with me or not, I believe that Earth Day is a day for Christians to both grieve and celebrate. To grieve, because our sin is what condemned this creation to its current state of bondage and corruption. But also to celebrate, because one day Jesus the Redeemer will set the entire cosmos free from the curse to the praise of His glorious, extravagant grace.