I.
One of the lasting legacies of the 20th century is environmentalism — and I don’t mean the “green” kind that gave us Earth Day.
I am referring to the “nature vs. nurture” debate, which you may recall being comically portrayed in the 1983 film Trading Places.
The premise of the movie is based on the question: are people the product their nature (their breeding, their heredity, their genes) or of their environment (the family into which they were born, how they were brought up, where they went to school, in a word, how they were nurtured)?
For the first part of the 20th century, until the end of World War II, the “naturalists” gained some real headway. For instance, laws were passed to sterilize those deemed by the State to be undesirable.
If that sounds like Nazi Germany, you’re not wrong, but it also sounds like Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho and many other states.
Forced sterilization continued in Oregon until 1981 and the state officially apologized to its victims in 2002.1
Eventually, however, the “environmentalists” won out. Human beings, it was said, could be molded and shaped — nurtured — by their environment. This has been the rationale for every social welfare program since the 1960s, from the “War on Poverty” to calls today for universal Pre-K.
II.
Both the naturalist and the environmentalist believe that human nature is changeable, but Paul has been arguing throughout his letter to the Romans that human nature is not changeable, unless it is Christ Jesus who effects the change.
Paul writes:
“So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”2
Like both naturalist and environmentalist, Paul wants things to change.
Like the naturalist, Paul believes in mortification of the flesh. He writes that we need “to put to death the deeds of the body.”
Like the environmentalist, Paul knows that “the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it.”3
In other words, it’s this awful environment we’ve inherited from Adam that’s to blame for the futility and frustration we face in life. Our personalities, relationships, and work are twisted and warped by it.
Because of Eve’s treachery and Adam’s disobedience, God cursed the work he gave the human race to do. Hence, the futility and vanity of the whole human project to date.
But there is a hope to be found — not in social engineering of the environment nor in the surgical engineering of the body — but in the “children of God.”
Paul writes:
“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.”4
In other words, creation is waiting for Adam (and by Adam here I mean us, mankind, the whole human race) to do its job — faithfully.
But that day will never come because Adam (and, again, I mean all of us) are born rebels, unfaithful from the very first breath we take.
Take a step back for a moment and see the picture Paul is painting. Creation is a glorious canvass, which any thinking person would acknowledge to be God’s handiwork, and yet the little placard placed next to it by the museum curator reads, “Unfinished Work. Adam. c. 4004 B.C.”
Why is it unfinished?
Because the centerpiece of the whole tapestry, Man, this child of God, refuses to sit for his portrait. He is too vain. Having decided for himself what looks good and what looks evil, he is forever putting his face on. Yet he is never ready for his close up.
Meanwhile, all creation waits with eager longing.
III.
In fact, it’s worse than just waiting around for a fussy actor to perform.
According to Paul, creation suffers from “its enslavement to decay,” and it also suffers pain, not unlike the pains of labor and childbirth.5
What Paul is getting at here is not just old age, sickness, and death. If we were just trying explain why things run their course the way they do, then we could set aside Paul and his gospel be content with natural religion.
That is, a religion that tells us things must simply follow their “natural” course from birth to death, guided by the hand of some unseen “soul of the universe.”
You’ll sometimes hear people talk about “the universe” in this way. When they do they are showing themselves to be disciples of this natural religion.
But that’s not Paul’s gospel. Paul is deeply offended by death, and he thinks there is something we can do about it. He writes:
“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”6
For Paul, death is not natural, and the explanation for death is not “the universe” but the curse meted out by God to crush the rebellion led by His disobedient children — children, who, in fact, have lost their rights as heirs to their Father’s kingdom.
This means that the human race will forever be trying to govern something that does not want to cooperate and will not allow a pretender to the throne to govern it.
The creation resents us.
No amount of engineering — social or surgical — can put things right.
IV.
But there is hope in the children of God, and in the Son of God in particular.
If creation is waiting in vain for Adam to do his job — which is to rule creation faithfully, equitably, and with justice — and (along with his wife) to populate the earth with like-minded souls,7 then creation took a deep sigh of relief when Jesus Christ was born.
The long wait was over, or, at least, as Winston Churchill might have put it, it was “the end of the beginning.”
Christ’s first coming is the beginning of the end of the curse.
Christ inaugurates the day when all creation is set free from futility. Christ’s resurrection means that a redeeming force and people are now at work in history.
Christ’s people are set free — unleashed — to be effective in all aspects of life, including governance. Believers are made fit both to rule themselves and to exercise the dominion over the earth that was originally Adam’s.
V.
So, we Christians have Adam’s unfinished work to do.
No retreating to the monastery to shut ourselves off from the world. No burying our talents in the ground or hiding our light under a bushel.
Yes, there is a groaning, born of pain and resentment, both in the world and in our souls.8 But Paul says these “present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”9
For now, we get to call God our Father, while we wait for our adoption as God’s children to take full effect.
That is why there is hope for us.
Paul concludes with these words:
“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have?”10
There is an old saying that you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Paul is saying you can’t hope and have your fulfillment too.
This life is not the time for fulfillment. This life is the time for hope and action.
The power of Christ’s resurrection is at work in us. We are a resurrection people. If we are going to finish Adam’s job, then there is certainly work for us to do.
That means there is a role for the Christian naturalist and the Christian environmentalist — but not in the way the world defines those terms.
We must preach that human nature must change if it is to have any hope of being God’s friend.11 That means each one of us needs to take an aggressive stand against sin in our own lives or else we will make God our enemy.
Paul has told us again and again that we must give no quarter to personal sin or in the life of the church. We must suffocate it, drown it, and squeeze the life out of it.
We must also change the environment. If we cannot allow sin to rule in our hearts, then we certainly cannot allow sin to rule over us.
Christians must become, once again, a political people. Cross and crown go together. Jesus has told us to make disciples of all nations.12 That is a political statement as much as it is a theological one. It means teaching the nations how to govern themselves in accordance with all that Jesus has taught us.
If you take that seriously you will realize how far the Church has done the exact opposite in recent decades, letting the world disciple the Church, rather than the other way around.
Paul writes:
“We share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”13
That glory isn’t just for the life to come. There is a share of this glory that we must contend for in the here and now.
But there will be opposition. Paul guarantees it. He knows there is no neutrality. We are all born enemies of God and by His grace some of us are converted and switch sides.
But anytime a Christian steps outside of the “safe space” of personal piety to press the claim God has on the human race he will get pushback.
Such is the risk of being a monotheist. Paul will have more to tell us about that next week. Amen.
Preached on July 23, 2023 at St. Peter’s Lithgow, Millbrook, New York.
Proper 11 - Year A
Romans 8:12-25
Questions for reflection and discussion:
1. The 20th century saw a debate among social engineers that pitted ____________ vs. ____________.
2. Both the naturalist and the environmentalist believe that human nature is ____________.
3. How is man’s plight an example of “nature”?
4. How is man’s plight an example of “nurture” or “environment”?
5. As a result of Adam’s sin, creation is subject to ____________.
6. Creation is waiting for the revealing of the ____________.
7. Explain what is meant by “natural religion.”
8. Paul is deeply offended by ____________.
9. Paul’s gospel teaches that death is not ____________.
10. Explain why the rest of creation resents the human race.
11. Christ’s resurrection means that a redeeming force and people are now at work in ____________.
12. Explain how cross and crown go together.
Parents and Grandparents, you are responsible to apply God’s Word to your children’s lives. Here is some help. Young Children – draw a picture about something you hear during the sermon. Explain your picture(s) to your parents or the minister after church. Older Children – Do one or more of the following: 1) Count how many times “creation” and “futility” are mentioned. 2) Discuss with your parents why it’s important for leaders to be humble.
(1) nature/nurture; (2) changeable; (3) his flesh is destined to die; (4) man inherits a degraded environment and his personality, relationships, and work are twisted and warped by it; (5) futility or decay; (6) children of God; (7) a religion that accounts for death as part of the “cycle of life”; (8) death; (9) natural; (10) creation is subject to decay and futility because of Adam’s sin; (11) history; (12) by sharing in Christ’s suffering we are made fit to rule creation with Him in glory
The Associated Press, “Eugenics Victims to Get Apology,” The Register Guard, November 16, 2002. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZFBWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jesDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6596,4132204.
Peter writes that to Christian believers are given “exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Pet. 1:4).
See: Matt 28:19-20, N.B., v. 20, “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”