Wolters defines creation as “the correlation of the sovereign activity of the Creator and the created order” (14). This activity includes but is not limited to the physical act of creation from nothing. God created and he continues to order his creation. Wolters uses the word law “to stand for the totality of God’s ordaining acts toward the cosmos” (15). This distinguishes law from gospel and does not include redemptive work, but it does include the laws of nature and the norms by which we best live. God has built some norms into creation, and we know them because God has revealed himself in creation and our conscience attests to these norms. The Lord created a good world and upholds it with his hands. He expected people to create and form culture, and these works will endure. Following his creational order leads to shalom.
Even as we proclaim a good creation, we feel the effects of sin on the world. Sin is a parasite on the world, distorting human hearts, but it is not part of God’s good creation. Instead, it makes things profane and “worldly.” The fall has disordered everything. Because of the far-reaching effects of sin, the whole world cries out for redemption.
God does not leave creation in its disordered state but offers redemption. He redeems people through Christ, and redeemed people can participate in the kingdom of God by working to redeem all of creation. We see this redemption in the miracles of Jesus as he works to set creation aright. We are set in the world to create culture and participate in the development in creation, therefore the goal is not to return to Eden without a developed human culture. This redemption is the work of removing sin and the effects of sin in all aspects of creation. The redemption of Jesus Christ extends as far as the fall.
Wolters then argues that it is up to the Christian to understand both structure and direction in contemporary life and respond according to this Christian worldview. There is always something worth preserving in our culture, and we are to be about the work of sanctifying. We find the structures that are out of alignment with God’s design, like that of the family, and we work to bring them into order. Even aspects of life, like dance and sexuality, can be seen through the creation-fall-redemption framework. Christians look to all of life through this worldview.
All of this activity fits within the story of Scripture. The Bible tells the story, and we live it out, extending to all of creation. This grand narrative of Scripture, creation-fall-redemption, is shaping our very lives. This story now leads us to mission, to tell the story to the world, to announce the kingdom, and to work to bring it about.
Key Words
- Worldview – the comprehensive framework of one’s basic beliefs about things. (2)
- Creation – the correlation of the sovereign activity of the Creator and the created order. (14)
- Law – the totality of God’s ordaining acts toward the cosmos (15)
- Redemption – the recovery of creational goodness through the annulment of sin and the effort toward the progressive removal of its effects everywhere. (83)
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