Our Alienation from Creation as a Consequence of the Fall
Our Alienation from Creation as a Consequence of the Fall
The rejection of the Creator meant a separation from creation as well
In my previous post, I noted how our modern conception of nature treats nature as if it were somehow separate from humanity and not something of which we are a part. While I traced how this split really became clear in the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment, in many ways, it goes deeper than that.
Created as part of Creation, yet Stewards of Creation
From the very beginning, humanity was created by God and, therefore, a part of creation. The flow of Genesis 1 shows that humanity is part of creation as God created humanity along with the rest of the land animals on the 6th and final day of creation. Nevertheless, the account also makes it clear humanity was given a unique status:
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1:26-28)[1]
This text sets up two different things about humanity, both of which need to be held in tension. First, we are a part of creation, created along with the animals, and in many ways, we are animals. The other is the unique placement of being made in the image of God and, therefore, given dominion over the other animals, including the command to subdue the earth. The word used for subdue, כָּבַשׁ, can also mean to conquer or bring into bondage. Then in Genesis 2:15, we are told “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Here the idea was to help care for, protect, and even cause the garden to be rested and at peace. It seems to me the call was for humanity to tame the earth. However, even here, there is a key reminder given, as the name Adam, which relates to the Hebrew word for man or humanity, is based on the Hebrew “Adamah” which means dirt or ground. This is meant to remind us we are a part of creation and not something different from it.
Sin Created the Separation between Man and Creation
Of course, everything went south quickly with the Fall into sin in Genesis 3. This included how humanity’s role of dominion over the earth was now going to be difficult. Note the warning God gave to Adam after the fall:
Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, “You shall not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Gen 3:17–19).
What is of interest here is how Adam’s relationship to creation changed. No longer would humanity have full dominion over a responsive nature. Now man started to be alienated from the rest of creation, even while still being a part of creation.
Are Cities a Form of Alienation from Creation?
The process of alienation continued in Genesis 4. Here we find Adam and Eve’s first son Cain becoming jealous of his brother who offered a better sacrifice to God.[2] God’s response was a further division between Cain and the ground: “[N]ow you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth” (Gen 4:11–12). From this point, a separation between the two lines from Adam and Eve, Cain and Seth (their third son), was created. Cain’s line is depicted as more evil, with murder being more native to them (Gen 4:23-24). Curiously, it is Cain who built the first city (Gen 4:17).
I can’t help but wonder about the message here. It appears when you are alienated from creation, then you build a city to separate yourself from creation. In much the same way, today we find those who live in cities are much more alienated from “nature” and creation. Often city-dwellers are more uncomfortable and even scared of being out in “nature” as they are unfamiliar with the setting and the dangers which may lurk in the bushes.
I have also found atheism appears to be more common in cities than in rural areas. I wonder if much of this is because alienation from creation is related to alienation from the Creator. Part of this comes from the fact that a farmer, or even an avid gardener, is much more cognizant of his dependence on forces outside his control such as rain, frosts, and hailstorms.
Cities Redeemed
All of this is not to say it is wrong to live in a city. Even the Bible hold cities such as Jerusalem as good places. Rather, it seems sin has caused a rupture between humanity and the rest of creation such that cities can seem like places where one is safe from “nature.”
However, God’s plan is not the destruction of cities, but their redemption. This is clear in Revelation 21-22. In these last chapters of the Bible, John is given a glimpse of the renewed creation to come. Here, however, the centerpiece is a city: “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2). However, even here this city is not a haven from the rest of creation, rather it is described as garden-like with “the river of the water of life” flowing through it and the tree of life on either side of the river (Gen 22:1-2).
It seems, therefore, our separation from “nature” and viewing it as alien to us is really a consequence of our sinfulness and the corruption we have wrought in the world. The only answer to this is found in Christ who redeems us and creation (Rom 8:19-23). Likewise, this reconciliation will only be complete when Christ comes again to make all things new.
[1] All biblical citations from: The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016)
[2] There is a debate regarding what made Cain’s sacrifice inferior to Abel’s, but that question is not relevant to our discussion here.