Is Creation Inherently Good?

Many religions and philosophies teach that the material universe is amoral, that is, neither good nor evil. Others actually say that the world is evil. For example, many of the pagan philosophies the early church encountered taught that the material universe was corrupt, and that to be truly saved, human beings had to escape the bondage of their bodies. This negative view of the world was one reason the Apostles’ Creed emphasized that God made the heavens and the earth. In the Bible, the universe is God’s good creation that reflects his good character.

In Genesis 1, we are reminded of the goodness of creation in verses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25 and 31 — seven times in all. And in the last of these, Scripture records that the entire creation is not just good but “very good.” As Moses wrote in Genesis 1:31:

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

Sadly, soon after God created the world, Adam and Eve sinned against God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And as a result of humanity’s sin, God placed the entire creation under a curse. One text that speaks of this is Genesis 3:17-19, where God spoke this curse to Adam:

Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food.

And this curse on the ground was not limited to farming. It affected the whole world in all of its aspects. Listen to what Paul wrote in Romans 8:20-22:

For the creation was subjected to frustration ... in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay… [T]he whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

But despite God’s curse, we should not make the mistake of thinking that the creation is no longer good. Yes, humanity’s fall into sin damaged the creation. But it is still God’s world, and it is still fundamentally good. Listen to his words in 1 Timothy 4:4:

Everything God created is good.

Notice what Paul said here. He did not say that everything created “was” good, but that everything God created “is” good.

The fact that the physical world is good — that God declared it good — has lots of practical implications for us. For one thing, we need to protect the environment. We are stewards over this creation. For another thing, ultimately, God is going to preserve this creation. He is going to re-create. There is going to be a restoration of creation, rather than destruction of creation. We are going to live forever in a new heaven and a new earth. The physical world that God created is a good thing. Our physical bodies — our physical presence — is a good thing. [Dr. Mark Strauss]

Thorns and thistles and the sweat of one’s brow, have distorted God’s creation, but as Christians, we have begun the process — or God has begun the process within us — of re-creating us. We are a new creation in Jesus Christ and, as the hymn writer says, as Christians, we see something that Christless eyes have never seen. We begin to see creation as God’s handiwork. Therefore, as Christians we see art, beauty, structure, coherence, integration, within creation itself. And this is what we anticipate in the new heavens and new earth, when God’s creation will be made entirely new, and we will be able to enjoy creation as God intended us to enjoy creation. [Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas]

So, whether we are talking about marriage, or food, or any other thing created by God, we can be confident that it is good because the Father that created it is good.