Evangelical Environmentalism

Evangelicals and other conservative Christian groups have historically distanced themselves from the subject of environmentalism. This distance has been maintained for a variety of reasons but perhaps none is more important than the need to stay removed from any association with any form of liberalism. It has been both the secular liberals and the religious liberals who have been championing the environmental cause.

More and more, however, evangelicals are and have been eradicating this distant stance toward environmental issues. Many conservative Christian groups and denominations have become much more vocal on issues related to the environment. It is important to note that when these conservative Christian groups address these environmental issues that they do so by talking of “creation care” and “stewardship of the environment.”

How should Christians respond to the various environmental issues being discussed today? I want to argue that there must be a balance between the use and the care of God’s creation that exhibits both a concern for God’s glory and the value of human beings who are made in the image of God. What is needed is a more thorough biblical and theological understanding about the place of human beings in the world.

In Genesis 1, we read of the glorious and powerful way in which the Lord created all things. One of the most prominent features of Genesis 1 is the repeated evaluation of the world by God Himself. As God looked out upon His creation, He sees that it is good. From the creation of light to the creation of the beasts of the field God said that His creation was good. What does it mean for God to say that all that He had made was good? It means that He took pleasure in all that He had made. It means that His own character was reflected in what He had made. It also means that creation is not the sort of fragile entity that it is sometimes thought to be. If God’s creation could not withstand the smallest changes without a cataclysmic result, would He declare it to be good? If we could make the earth inhabitable by causing the slightest change in global temperatures, is the creation truly good as God declared it to be?

Some might reply by saying that this declaration of the goodness of creation came before the fall of Adam and Eve and the subsequent curse that has effected all of creation. Remember, that even after the Fall and the Flood, God promised that the cycles for life on earth will continue as long as the earth does (Genesis 8:21-22). Whatever may have happened to the goodness of God’s creation after the Fall cannot be said to involve such a weakening of the earth’s resilience that the planet could be rendered uninhabitable by human beings.

A similar truth is conveyed in Psalm 104:5-9 which celebrates the sustaining power of God over creation so that the waters will not return to cover the earth. This promise and that of Genesis 8:21-22 necessarily implies that there is a theological presupposition that affects how we are to interpret scientific data. The observation and findings of science must be submitted to the supreme authority of God’s Word. After all, human observation and interpretation of the natural world is a subjective exercise that cannot be severed from the observer’s own assumptions and presuppositions.

The other obvious issue that must be addressed is the God-given responsibility to rule over creation (Gen. 1:26-28). As those created in the image of God and according to the likeness of God, human beings are God’s representatives on earth. As God’s representatives, we are given the command to subdue and rule the earth. In some sense, just as God subdued and ruled over the chaos to create an orderly world, we are to subdue and rule over creation. In Genesis 2, the ruling and subduing begins through the cultivation of the garden and by the naming of the animals.

While it is important to avoid an interpretation of these texts that would promote selfish exploitation of the earth, it is also important to avoid an interpretation that would reduce human beings to servants of the environment. Rather than committing either of these errors, let us seek to understand the amazing world that God has created in order that we might fulfill the mandate given to us by our Creator. We cannot rule well nor subdue properly what we do not understand and appreciate.

Undoubtedly, good and wise stewardship of the earth will involve conservation and preservation of natural resources but good stewardship does not mean that we conserve and preserve for nature’s sake. We do so as those who are entrusted with a world that does not belong to us but to God who made it to reflect His power and glory. What we need is a careful balance between the use and the care of God’s creation.

As the people of God set out upon this careful use of creation, we must do so in a theocentric fashion and avoid the anthropocentric and geocentric approaches so common today. Psalm 104 serves as a good example of this kind of theocentric approach. It is a Psalm that highlights the wonders of God’s world but never loses sight of God Himself. It begins by declaring the greatness, splendor and majesty of God (vv. 1-2) and ends with words of praise to God (vv. 31-35). Here we have biblical warrant to pay attention to all that God has made so that we might revel in His greatness and glory.

Finally, let me add that it is vital that both the Christian and the church keep all of these environmental issues in proper perspective. As we set our hearts and hands upon the biblical mandate to be wise and careful stewards of creation, do not forget that we are pilgrims who have set out on a journey to a city whose builder and maker is God. We live in a world that groans under the curse of sin and which waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God (Romans 8:18ff). Our hope does not lie in the promise of clean water and clean air. Therefore, we must be careful to point all people to the hope of Christ through whom and for whom all things have been created (Col. 1:16). The church must not lose sight of her greatest mandate, to declare to the nations that “it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Col. 1:19-20).