CREATION & REDEMPTION

The headers for our weekly mailers have had some wonderful reminders of the beauty of the Helderberg Basin. It is a great blessing to live here… and in my case to have spent nearly 20 years serving at Christ Church in these magnificent surroundings. As Christians, it is vitally important that we have a robust doctrine of creation. Creation is God’s handiwork, not the result of impersonal forces or random events. The Scriptures everywhere call us to acknowledge this: “Give thanks to the LORD… who by his understanding made the heavens… who spread out the earth upon the waters” (Psalm 136). This is our Father’s world, the inspiration and impetus for every creative endeavour!

Equally important however, is a robust doctrine of redemption. Creation is fallen, people are estranged from their Creator facing an eternity without God. The world is full of problems, suffering and injustice included. The gospel of redemption is our only hope… but first things first! As J.I. Packer puts it: “The gospel does bring us solutions to these problems [suffering and injustice], but it does so by first solving… the deepest of all human problems, the problem of man’s relation with his Maker, and unless we make it plain that the solution of these former problems depends on the settling of this latter one, we are misrepresenting the message and becoming false witnesses of God”. Creation and redemption are the "two poles" around which Christian life and ministry revolves.

Yours in Christ
Gavin