Jonathan Clarke wrote:
..........................................................
> > 2) One significant feature of some NT writings is the eschatological
> > orientation of creation. The emphasis is on what God will do with creation
> > in the future rather than how God created it in the past. Ephesians 1 & 4
> > and Col.1:15-20 are especially noteworthy in this regard. & this future of
> > creation is Christ, "for whom" all things are created & "in whom" all things
> > are to be gathered up.
> > But we shouldn't move too quickly to speak of God's purpose as
> > "salvation". Eph.1:10 says that God's plan for creation is to unite all
> > things in Christ. That is God's purpose before sin and the need for
> > salvation are considered. I think that the answer to old question of
> > whether the Incarnation would have taken place if humanity had not sinned is
> > "Yes."
> > Related to this is the fact that what it means to be genuinely human
> > is known from Christ, not Adam and Eve. In the first place, the only thing
> > that the NT tells us about A&E is that they sinned! (& the OT doesn't tell
> > us a lot more!) But we're also told nothing about being conformed to the
> > image of A&E or "growing up" into their stature - as we are with Christ in
> > Rom.8:29, Eph.4:15, &c.
> > & in line with this, the use of Ps.8 in Heb.2 makes it clear that it
> > is through & in Christ that humanity is given true dominion over creation.
> > It is true that the NT does not have nearly the emphasis on care for
> > creation, & especially for the land, that we have in the NT - e.g., Lev.25.
> > But the fact that true dominion is possible only in Christ tells us a great
> > deal about the _kind_ of dominion we are called to - one of care & service
> > rather than simply exploitation.
>
> I agree. If Christ is head over all things and yet came to not be served but to
> serve, this says something very interesting about human "dominion" of creation
> in Genesis 1 and Psalm 8. In what way are we to serve creation?
& to take this another step: If cosmic and biological evolution is (& I
certainly think it is) part of the way in which God achieves the eschatological goal
set out in Eph.1:10, then an adequate theological understanding of evolution will
have to be christological.
Shalom,
George
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