The Bible Speaks on Ecology
- Jan 24, 2006 - comment
Ecology has been defined as the study of the relationship between organisms and their environments. Responsible Christian stewardship requires that the people of God not upset the delicate balance of the total created order supporting life on this earth.
Recent emphasis on ecology by public officials, private interests, and the mass media has brought people to a new awareness of their special responsibility to be better stewards of the earth. This may be a new awareness, but it is old truth. The Bible, in its very beginning, speaks of this God-given responsibility as God charged Adam and Eve with the responsibility “to work it and watch over it” (Genesis 2:15). This charge has never been changed or withdrawn. For Christians, efforts to prevent pollution of air and water and to promote conservation of energy and soil grow out of the Bible’s mandate as well as out of a spiritual understanding of social responsibility. The earth and its resources belong ultimately to God and should be treated as His. The Bible’s basic teaching about ecology is clear.
- The earth is a part of God’s good creation.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
“He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be shaken. You covered it with the deep as if it were a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away—mountains rose and valleys sank—to the place You established for them” (Psalm 104:5-8).
“I made the earth, and created man on it. It was My hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host” (Isaiah 45:12).
“In the beginning was the Word… All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created” (John 1:1, 3).
- Humanity was created as an integral part of God’s natural order.
“Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He placed the man He had formed” (Genesis 2:7-8).
“You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust” (Genesis 3:19).
“So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken” (Genesis 3:23).
“The first man was from the earth and made of dust” (1 Corinthians 15:47).
- God has entrusted mankind with special responsibility to care for the limited resources of the earth.
“So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.’ God also said, ‘Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you, for all the wildlife of the earth, for every bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth—everything having the breath of life in it. [I have given] every green plant for food.’ And it was so” (Genesis 1:27-30).
“The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it” (Genesis 2:15).
- While God has entrusted the care of the earth to mankind, it still belongs to Him and is subject to His power.
“The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord…” (Psalm 24:1).
“…the earth melts when He lifts His voice” (Psalm 46:6).
“…for God is King of all the earth” (Psalm 47:7).
“But He said to them, ‘Why are you fearful, you of little faith?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm. The men were amazed and asked, ‘What kind of man is this?—even the winds and the sea obey Him!’” (Matthew 8:26-27).
- The blessings of the earth are good gifts from God.
“And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die’” (Genesis 2:16-17).
“The earth has produced its harvest; God, our God, blesses us” (Psalm 67:6).
“He causes grass to grow for the livestock and [provides] crops for man to cultivate, producing food from the earth…” (Psalm 104:14).
We treat gifts from friends and relatives with special care. Can we do less with gifts from God?
- When human beings pollute the air, poison the water, and abuse the earth it is often to attain excessive material gain; and the Bible teaches against such greed.
“Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains” (1 Timothy 6:10).
“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).
- As we practice our stewardship of natural resources, we should remember that God cares for His earth together with all that is in it and that He will one day redeem it.
“God saw all that He had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).
“When the earth and all its inhabitants shake, I am the One who steadies its pillars” (Psalm 75:3).
“Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; play the lyre to our God, who covers the sky with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, and causes grass to grow on the hills. He provides the animals with their food, and the young ravens, what they cry for” (Psalm 147:7-9).
“Aren’t five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight” (Luke 12:6).
“For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it—in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now” (Romans 8:19-22).
Conclusion
As we try to make responsible decisions about caring for our environment, we do well to pray in the words Jesus taught his disciples to pray: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
All Scripture is from the Holman Christian Standard Bible unless otherwise indicated.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Science, Environment