Creation – Soteriology and Redemption

Lazarus Pachigalla | President of RWM | L.I.F.T.

            Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, wrote in his letter to the Romans that creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the children of God.[1] Paul believed that as creation was subjected to futility because of mankind, therefore when the children of God are set free from the law of sin, creation would also be set free from the bondage of decay, which was thrust upon it.[2] By using the word creation Paul wanted to symbolize everything that is not human and of the material world, and by children of God he meant the Christians. Paul is writing to the Romans who are currently been in the midst of persecution that it is not only the believer who looks up to the heavens for the second coming and the redemption of the children of God but also all creation is awaiting the mighty day when the Lord will gather his children up and reveal them as his sons and daughters in their glorified bodies.

            This paper will be an exegetical analysis of Paul’s theology of creation in respect to the salvation of the sons of God and the redemption of the world as a direct result of the redemption of the children of God. Paul, as well as many other Jews, believed that creation was cursed because of mankind’s sin. Paul, however, also believed that creation would be redeemed at the point of Christ’s return when the sons of God would be revealed. This paper will be divided into the following structure to follow the argument put forth:

• Soteriology
• The fall of creation
• Paul’s understanding of creation and salvation
• Romans 8:19 – 23

Soteriology

            The definition of soteriology is “the doctrine of salvation.” The word salvation is derived from the word sōtēria, sōtērion. In the New Testament it is often used to represent the past, present and future tense of a persons salvation process. It is the encompassing event of being saved.[3] Paul often uses these three dimensions in his text when speaking on salvation.[4] The use of the word salvation in the New Testament has several meanings few of which are rescue, deliverance and save. The definition of salvation that will be used for this paper is salvation as divine rescue from sin.

            Sin was introduced into the world through man’s disobedience, and sin subjected man to death, but also not only man, but also all creation. To redeem mankind and creation it was necessary to make a sacrifice, Jesus. Salvation is the most inclusive term for what God has accomplished for the world through Jesus Christ.[5] Through salvation only redemption is possible, it is impossible to be redeemed without salvation. God the Father gave his Son, Jesus, to die for mankind as a sacrifice; in so doing he is able to provide salvation to whomsoever believe in him. 

The fall of Creation

            In the beginning, when God created the world, he created everything mankind would need, a perfect habitat or paradise.[6] He made the world a perfect place for Man, a creature whom he created in His own Holy image. After God created the heavens, the earth, and all that is in and on the earth, he gave them over to mankind to do with His creation as he wished. Man and women, God made them and He blessed them and said “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over … the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” When God spoke these words over Adam and Eve, he gave them ownership of the world and everything that exists on and in it. With ownership the Lord put in their hands he subjected creation to the will of mankind. The world that He gave them was such a perfect environment that they needed no clothing to shield themselves from the harmful effects of the weather. “Theologically speaking, man and the universe belong together…”[7][8] Creation was made for man and man was made to dwell in creation.

            However this perfect world that God had created did not last very long. Adam and Eve sinned against the Lord God; by disobeying the one command He gave them, which is to not eat of the tree of good and evil. Through the disobedience of mankind sin entered the world and God cursed the man and woman that they would die, and he also cursed the ground because it was also subjected to man.[9],[10] From that moment the earth, was subjected to the bondage of decay.[11] The earth, which had previously flourished and irrigated itself, was cursed to infertility temporarily curable only by the sweat of man and his labor. God’s perfect creation had been smeared; sin had taken its root in the world.

            However all was not lost, in many examples the Lord God shows his favor upon those whom keep their faith and abide in him. For example Abraham, by whose faith God counted it as righteousness, there were also Isaac and Jacob, and many more whom God blessed and in blessing also blessed the land that was given to them, that whatever they did flourished and prospered.

            In the Old Testament writings’ Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah was told by the Lord during a famine to not go to Egypt, but to the land that He will show him.[12] Isaac who like his father knew to obey the voice of the Lord heeded the words of the Lord and obeyed. Due to his obedience the Lord God blessed him, and he sowed a seed in that land, and in the same year reaped a hundred fold.[13] Though the land was in famine, God who showed his favor upon Isaac had blessed the cursed ground and Isaac was able to reap a hundred fold the seed he had sowed.

Paul’s Understanding of Salvation

            Paul’s usage of the word salvation is unambiguous.[14] “It is important to grasp that for Paul, behind the whole process [of salvation] always lay the initiative of God.”[15] He firmly believed that God’s grace is what opens the door to salvation. Paul understood that God’s grace is ever evident in the life of a Christian. He uses the word “grace” often to describe the event of Christ and the vital breakthrough of the individual.[16] Throughout the New Testament salvation is spoken about as the rescue and restoration of God’s people through the divine means of Christ’s death on the cross.[17],[18] Paul believed in the believers being justified by Christ’s blood that he shed for all mankind.

 Romans 8:19-23

“for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”

            In the passage, Paul writes that it is not only Christians, who will partake in the glory to come but all creation.[19] “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God;”[20] “Like man, creation must be redeemed because, like man, creation has been subject to a fall.”[21],[22] Paul understands that creation was subjected to the bondage of decay because of mankind’s sin; therefore creation Iwill be redeemed when mankind is redeemed. For Paul, “the reversal of Adams’s fall naturally requires the reversal of the curse on the ground.”[23] Paul believed that there would come a day when this creation will be redeemed and there will no longer a curse be found, John writes this as well in Revelations[24],[25] Paul’s words denote that creation will be not annihilated completely and replaced by a totally new universe, but he believes that the present universe will be transformed to fulfill the purpose for which it was created. Paul uses the word futility, to describe what creation has been subjected to by the fall of man. He wants to convey that the fall had subjected the world to the same fate as mankind and like man have become no longer of use for what was intended.[26] James Dunn writes, “As man’s futility is his assumption that he is an independent creator, the failure to realize that he is but a creature, so the futility of creation is its being seen solely in relation to man, instead of as God’s creation to be ordered by God.”[27] Paul is writes that when God “subjected all things to Adam, and that included subjecting creation to fallen Adam, to share in his fallenness.”[28] Paul is making the argument that if creation was subjected to the curse because of man, that it would be redeemed at the day of redemption.

When Paul wrote, “that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains” Paul may have been speaking about the Jewish expectation of the messiah and the time of distress which would usher in the messianic age.

            To borrow from Athanasius in his book On The Incarnation, he wrote that Man had fallen so far away from the right image of God that only through the Son could the image be re-established. Paul wants the Romans to realize that when man comes to be in his glorified body like Christ’s, the fallen nature of creation will also be transformed. 

Conclusions

            This paper has analyzed the Paul’s writing in Romans 8 “that creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the children of God.”[29] This paper has researched the belief that creation was subjected to futility because of mankind.[30] This paper has also been an exegetical analysis of Paul’s theology of creation in respect salvation. This paper has accomplished the tasks that were set before by dividing the paper into the following structure to follow the argument of the paper:

• Soteriology
• The fall of creation
• Paul’s understanding of creation and salvation
• Romans 8:19 – 23

            Further study can be made on the history of belief that land is blessed because of the faith of a person, on soteriology for creation, and also on Paul’s development of soteriology in respect to creation.

— Lazarus Pachigalla / President of RWM / L.I.F.T.