Quotes

Martin Luther
God... is present everywhere in and through the whole creation in all its parts and in all places, and so the world is full of God and God fills it all, yet God is not limited to or circumscribed by it, but is at the same time beyond and above the whole creation.¹

John Calvin
Let all regard themselves as the stewards of God in all things which they possess. Then they will neither conduct themselves dissolutely, nor corrupt by abuse those things which God requires to be preserved.²

Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Orthodox Churches
To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin...For humans to cause species to become extinct and to destroy the biological diversity of God's creation, for humans to degrade the integrity of the earth by stripping the earth of its natural forests, or destroying its wetlands... for humans to contaminate the earth's water, its land, its air, and its life with poisonous substances...these are sins.³

Creation: God's Magnificent Artistry

GOODNESS:God's original creation is good. "And God saw everything that God had made, and, behold, it was very good," Genesis 1:31.

REVELATION:Creation reveals God's character. "For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities -- God's eternal power and divine nature -- has been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that humans are without excuse," Romans 1:20. See also Psalm 19.

VALUE:God values all of creation. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of God," Matthew 10:29.

DEPENDENCE:All things depend on God's continuing care. "[Christ] is before all things, and in Christ all things hold together," Colossians 1:17.

THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S AND EVERYTHING IN IT, PSALM 24:1

Sin's Destruction and God's Redemption

SIN'S DESTRUCTION:"The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice... The whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time," Romans 8:19-22.

GOD'S REDEMPTION:"God was pleased to have all God's fullness dwell in [Christ] and through him to reconcile to God all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross," Colossians 1:19-20.

Earthkeeping: Our Responsibility

CARE-TAKERS:We are care-takers. "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till and keep it," Genesis 2:15. The Hebrew words shamar and abad, usually translated as "till and keep" in this verse, could be just as accurately translated as "serve and preserve." The word shamar is also used in Numbers 6:24: "The Lord bless you and keep you." God desires that we treat the creation in the same way that God treats us.

STEWARDS:We are stewards of God's earth, ruling over that which is not ours. "You [God] made humans ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under our feet: All flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas," Ps 8:6-8.

SERVANTS:We are servants. Jesus "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many," Mt. 20:28. Christ-like rule is servanthood.