We Love Nature

At the end of last year, I met our recent graduates again during the joint graduation ceremony. Time has crept on; they have left the seminary for five months. In other words, they have been serving in their pastoral positions for several months. I often hear about their wonderful testimonies. In addition to some compliments from churches, one of our board members lauded them publicly in the board meeting. This outpouring of support profoundly delighted me, for they are the honor of our teachers, the honor of our seminary and the honor of God. I treated that occasion as my “President’s Time” in which I exhorted our graduates and explained to them the issues that our seminary is currently focusing on. I would also like to share the message with all of you.

God-centred Education

In the new academic year, the seminary started focusing on a new theme: “Ecological Theology.” This theme, in fact, is a continuation of our theme from the previous year. First of all, let us review what “God-centred education” involves. In last academic year’s opening convocation ceremony, I noted that God-centred education concerns God’s actions in the past and future, as well as His present actions. Therefore, we should “remember” God’s creation and redemption, be “aware” of God’s commandments, and “look forward” to the land that God will give us to inhabit. The content of God’s redemption, commandments and his promised land are all about “shalom” (peace).

“Shalom” correlates to the relationship between humans and God, humans and each other, as well as humans and the land. Firstly, peace is the proper and harmonious relationship between humans and God. Secondly, peace is the proper and harmonious relationship between humans and each other. These two relationships of peace are founded in Ephesians 2:13-18: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility … thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit” (NIV; same version hereafter). Jesus came to the world to destroy the walls between humans and God, and humans and each other, thus bringing a genuine peaceful relationship to all.

The third peaceful relationship is the proper and harmonious relationship between humans and the world. Jesus not only destroyed the walls between humans and God, humans and each other, but also the wall between humans and the entirety of creation; thus He brings a truly peaceful relationship to humans and the world. The Book of Isaiah describes peace in this way: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.” (Is 11:6-8) This passage projects an image filled with peace: a peaceful coexistence between animals and humans. Of course, it is an eschatological condition, yet this condition also has implications for the present.

Ecological Peace or Ecocide

As “shalom” relates to the harmonious relationship between humans and the world, I thus talked about ecological peace in the opening convocation ceremony last August, and now I would like to continue the discussion on this topic.

What does the relationship between humans and the land look like today? Unfortunately, nature is being increasingly devastated. The destruction of the environment, in turn, severely endangers the existence of humanity. The earth loses its balance, moving closer and closer toward ecocide. In fact, ecocide also reveals a kind of human spiritual illness, which is an addictive behavior. On the one hand, we understand that destroying nature is ruining our own lives. On the other hand, we cannot stop doing it. We continue to deplete the ozone layer, contribute to deforestation, damage farmlands and destroy thousands of species every day. This is because we cannot manage and get rid of our bad habits. We maintain our addictions.

How about Christians? Some Christians regard themselves as the earth’s regents, who can rule over the dominion as they want and freely exploit the earth for their benefits. This is wrong. God orders humans to “rule over” the land, and this implies the meaning of taking care of the land. Genesis chapter two shows God’s care toward the created world: “Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed….The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Gn 2:8, 15) In God’s plan, humanity is not just the ruler of the land; humans are also the gardeners, the caretakers of the land.

Furthermore, from the perspective of Christian theology, the land can be renewed, since the Holy Spirit is not only God’s Spirit, but also the Spirit of Creation. His work is to create, sustain and renew humanity and other species so that they can live in solidarity. The Holy Spirit grants the breath of life. The Holy Spirit works in all spheres of life. The Holy Spirit is intimately related to the earth, yet unconstrained by nature.

If we understand all creatures and our environment in this way, we can neither think that humanity is the regent of the land, nor think that we can rule over the land and destroy everything on the earth freely. Instead, we need to take care of creatures who face natural and human-made disasters. We care about God’s created world not only for our self-interest but because this created world belongs to God.

The Future Hope of the Created World

Now I would like to explore a bit further with you. Let us talk about humans’ love of nature. Let us examine two passages from the Scripture ─ Romans 8:18-22 and Colossians 1:19-20 ─ which are often cited in discussions about environmental protection issues.

We deal with Romans 8:18-22 first, in which the passage discusses the future of the created world. In verse 18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Paul points out that the future hope of the world is glorious; glory comes from God’s work in Christ. In verses 19-22, “For 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, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” “Creation” appears in every verse from verses 19 to 22. “Creation” means the entire universe created by God. Most of the modern exegetes see “creation” as sub-human creatures which exclude humanity. Paul indicates that the creation “was subjected” to frustration and was in “bondage to decay.” God is the One who announces the curse, pointing out why creation cannot yet achieve its created purpose. Meanwhile, the natural world is affected by human sins and the subsequent fall, thus it faded from the original created goodness. Creation, however, groans and patiently waits for the day of freedom and liberation. Paul is describing the expected glory of nature. Therefore, the fate of nature is not mere destruction, but transformation.

Present Renewal of All Things

Then, let us have a look at Colossians 1:19-20: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Paul mentions the present situation of the created world. “All things” in verse 20 points to the universe created by God, and proclaims that the whole created world has reconciled with God in Christ. “Reconciliation” is God’s work through Christ on the cross, restoring creatures who betrayed Him back to His sovereign dominion. “Reconciliation” is “a universal restoration or renewal.” Here, we can somewhat consider the situation of nature within the entire creation. Although Paul’s argument does not focus on nature, “all things” in his usage includes the natural world. The natural world is also under the sovereignty of Christ’s reconciling rule. The restoration of the world includes the restoration of nature, and the restoration of nature involves the land.

We have briefly portrayed the core message of several verses in Romans chapter 8 and Colossians chapter 1 at a stretch. Up to this point, I will not go further into the passages; yet I hope that these two passages will become a “post-graduation assignment” for our graduates, an assignment for them to study continuously after graduation. I invited them to talk about these two passages in Sunday service preaching, or to discuss the ecological implications of the passages in Sunday schools, fellowships and Bible study groups.

An Already-But-Not-Yet Peace

In addition, from Romans chapter 8 and Colossians chapter 1, as well as Ephesians chapter 2 that we discussed above, we can notice that “reconciliation” is a restoration of relationship. “Reconciliation” includes conciliation of the relationship between humans and God, as well as conciliation of the relationship between humans and nature. In Christ, nature is now restored to its originally created status. Evil will be abolished, the land will be liberated from its bondage to decay. Of course, this peace has not yet been fully established. It is an “already-but-not-yet” reality. In principle, peace is achieved on the cross by Jesus Christ; it is as of now, in which every Christian can already experience. Nevertheless, peace has not been fully established until the End in which its fullest extent will come forth.

Love People, Love Nature

Under the umbrella of God’s “reconciling gospel,” we, as Christians, have to protect nature and be fond of it. We ought to help people to love one another as they love themselves, to cherish others’ lives and to cherish various lives in nature as well.

Maybe, you have heard some excuses from people who do not care about the world ─ this world will vanish and only human souls can survive the fire of judgment; therefore, only human souls deserve our attention. Based on our discussion on the Scripture above, however, we may reply: perhaps the world will be destroyed into zero, yet the Bible orders Christians to engage in the world and take care of the needs of the world. This message is fairly obvious. It is similar to our physical bodies which will decline and deteriorate one day, but we are not going to forsake our daily physical needs and ignore our health because of this fact.

Moreover, knowing that God’s plan for the future is to restore the world He created, we should participate in this world, establishing righteousness in the creation. Just as we should lead more people to experience the reconciled relationship with God, we should also maintain the original perfection of the creation. The “not yet” of a restored created world needs an “already” ethics, which is engagement in God’s created world. So, we only need to engage the world faithfully, be responsible to our duty, and let God rule over everything. We are neither pursuing “Green Utopianism,” nor deluding ourselves that our efforts are sufficient to end the environment’s “pains of childbirth.” We are mere participants in a plan of which God is in charge and in which we love people and protect humanity’s environment. We need to know: the created world is owned by God. The cosmic order is designed by God, and it decides how humans should live in this universe. Humans have to learn how to live in step with this order.

To conclude, nature needs our love and protection. When we practice “loving one another as oneself,” we have to take care of our living environment at the same time. When we protect the poor, we have to protect the living environment of the poor. In fact, the environment where others and the poor live is our environment as well. More fundamentally and importantly, the created world is God’s world. If the land and all other creatures are created by God, then, because of God their dignity must be respected and thus be protected.

Conclusion

I bless our graduates to be excellent preachers who proclaim the gospel of peace. I urge them to help their brothers and sisters in churches to “remember” God’s creation and redemption, to be “aware” of God’s commandments and to “look forward” to the land that God will give us to inhabit. God’s redemption, commandments and his promised land link with “shalom.” “Shalom” correlates to the relationships between humans and God, humans and each other, as well as humans and the land. Jesus not only destroys the wall between humans and God, humans and each other, but also the wall between humans and the entirety of creation, thus bringing the true peaceful relationship between humans and all things. In that day, “[t]he wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest” (Is 11:6-8).

Let us love nature with one heart.

Feb 2018