JACKSON, Tenn. — Oct. 31, 2018 — Douglas Moo, professor of New Testament at the Wheaton College Graduate School, said Christian care for creation should stem from a love for God and a love for other people.
鈥淕od鈥檚 care for creation, his purpose to renovate it as an eternal habitation for God鈥檚 people, means we should care for creation and work toward the end God has determined for it,鈥� Moo said.
Moo was the featured speaker at 51社区鈥檚 first School of Theology and Missions Lecture Series Oct. 29, speaking on the topic 鈥淐reation and New Creation: From Eschatology to Ethics.鈥�
Moo said his concern is to awaken the evangelical world to the issue of the environment, an issue most in that world have avoided or opposed.
鈥淢any of us in the evangelical world have succumbed to our culture at this point in which we have lost a vision of the God whom we serve, who has created the world around us and has asked us to steward it for his purposes and glory,鈥� Moo said.
He said this stems from the fact that, while the Old Testament speaks at great length about creation and God鈥檚 design for the created world, the New Testament is relatively silent on it, emphasizing God鈥檚 work through humans. Moo said God鈥檚 design for creation in the New Testament is wrapped up in the idea of new creation.
鈥淣ew creation is a big idea,鈥� Moo said. 鈥淎 simple, succinct summary of God鈥檚 program that broadly includes humans reconciled to God, transformed into his image; a community joined in worship of God; and a cosmos recreated as the eternal dwelling place of God鈥檚 people.鈥�
He said while the New Testament does not massively develop a theology of creation, it includes key moments that illustrate how God鈥檚 Old Testament work and concern for the created world continues in the New Testament version of what he is doing 鈥� reconciling all things to himself in Christ.
鈥淭he New Testament is clear that in this era, the focus of our new creation work is on transforming human beings into the image of God by bringing them into relationship with Jesus Christ,鈥� Moo said.
He said in the end, all creation will be made new, and the new creation will have both continuity and discontinuity with the old creation. That idea should inform how Christians live now and how they care for the created world.
鈥淕od has destined creation not to destruction, but to renovation,鈥� Moo said. 鈥淚t will be liberated and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.鈥�