God and Nature 2025 #2
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By William Horst
In his letter to the Romans, Paul refers to the present suffering and eventual liberation of creation: “[T]he creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now” (Romans 8:20–22, NRSV).
Biblical scholars usually understand creation’s “[subjection] to futility,” “bondage to decay,” and “groaning” in reference to the narrative of the Garden of Eden, where God pronounces a curse on the ground in response to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:17–19) (1). Earlier in Romans, Paul talks about death and sin entering the world through Adam (Romans 5:12–21), which has led to the common understanding among Christians that death and decay invaded God’s perfect creation at the time of Adam and Eve, and these phenomena will be removed when Christ returns. Some authors have gone so far as to suggest that the principle of entropy resulted from the “fall” of Adam and Eve, and it will be reversed at the Second Coming (2).
In his letter to the Romans, Paul refers to the present suffering and eventual liberation of creation: “[T]he creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now” (Romans 8:20–22, NRSV).
Biblical scholars usually understand creation’s “[subjection] to futility,” “bondage to decay,” and “groaning” in reference to the narrative of the Garden of Eden, where God pronounces a curse on the ground in response to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:17–19) (1). Earlier in Romans, Paul talks about death and sin entering the world through Adam (Romans 5:12–21), which has led to the common understanding among Christians that death and decay invaded God’s perfect creation at the time of Adam and Eve, and these phenomena will be removed when Christ returns. Some authors have gone so far as to suggest that the principle of entropy resulted from the “fall” of Adam and Eve, and it will be reversed at the Second Coming (2).
Paul says, “not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption” (Romans 8:23). |
Of course, the standard understanding of Romans 8 does not square easily with evolutionary science. If humans emerged from an evolutionary process that included innumerable generations of organisms living and dying, physical death and decay must have been present in the world long before Adam and Eve were ever born. For that matter, it is not clear that Genesis associates the curse on the ground with an introduction of death or decomposition. In the most straightforward reading of Genesis, the curse on the ground relates to its agricultural yield, since the explicit result is that Adam will work the fields to cultivate wheat with which to make bread, instead of enjoying the free fruit that is so abundantly present in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:17–19). Adam and Eve are warned that they will surely die if they eat the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:17; 3:3–5), but this appears to result from their being denied access to the tree of life when they are expelled from the garden (Genesis 3:22–24). The curse on the ground is associated with a change in the amount of toiling Adam will need to do to provide for his family, not with human mortality or any other change to the created order.
Another interpretation of Romans 8 presents itself if we look to the prophets of the Old Testament. Many prophetic passages describe the land of Israel weeping and mourning due to the negative effects of human sin (3). The personified land laments either because of drought or because of the damage resulting from invasion by foreign armies, both of which reflect God’s judgment against disobedience among the people of Israel. The significant number of passages involved makes this an important theme in the Old Testament, and because Paul was undoubtedly familiar with these writings, it is likely that he meant for creation’s “groaning” to evoke the notion of the earth’s travail (4). If this is right, it is significant that none of these passages hint that the earth mourns over the phenomena of death and decay. Consistently, the problem involves the detrimental effects of human rebellion against God’s ways.
Creation’s “[subjection] to futility” and “bondage to decay” in Romans 8 can likewise be understood in reference to the detrimental effects of human moral depravity. The words “decay” and “futility” used in the original ancient Greek text of this passage are sufficiently flexible that they could describe physical decomposition and transitoriness, or moral corruption. In the preceding chapters of Romans, Paul employs the language of slavery, domination, and warfare repeatedly to describe the prevailing power of sin in human lives apart from the liberating work of Christ. For example, Paul says, “[T]hanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient… and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:17–18, NRSV). In this and other passages, a person’s turning to Christ involves freedom from bondage to sinful inclinations and obedient submission to God’s ways (5).
Even Paul’s description of “death” entering the world through Adam (Romans 5:12–21) can be understood as a metaphorical expression of humanity’s subjection to the influence of sinful appetites (6). Based on this moral metaphorical use of the language of slavery in the preceding sections of the letter, it would make sense that creation’s bondage also has something to do with human moral disorientation. In other words, human moral failure has destructive effects not only for humans, but also for the earth as the habitation of humans.
Paul does not explain exactly how creation suffers because of human moral depravity, as his primary focus is on the hope of glory, which is incomparably greater in magnitude than any present suffering (Romans 8:18). However, several scholars have suggested that ecological factors might play a role. Most recently, Presian Renee Burroughs has argued that Paul and the Roman readers of his letter likely would have had some awareness of how Roman imperial warfare and agricultural practices caused various kinds of environmental degradation including deforestation, erosion, and pollution, to say nothing of the toll taken on human lives (7).
If creation’s groaning in Romans 8 is understood as an evocation of the earth’s travail in the Old Testament prophets and creation’s bondage is understood in terms of the concept of bondage to sin that appears in the preceding chapters of Romans, there remains no further reason to find in this passage the idea that physical death and decomposition were introduced to God’s previously pristine creation as a result of human disobedience. This means the passage can be harmonized more readily with an evolutionary understanding of human origins.
Turning to the twenty-first century world, it should not be difficult to imagine how human greed, selfishness, and pride lead to increased consumption, waste, pollution, and a lack of sustainability. Burroughs draws extensive parallels between the abuses of creation under the Roman Empire and abuses of creation perpetrated through modern industrial agriculture. Burroughs proposes regenerative agriculture, and especially perennial agriculture, as a potential contemporary application of Paul’s letter to the Romans, as these approaches deprecate many of the damaging ecological effects of contemporary agricultural norms (8).
As I write this brief essay, I sit less than two miles from the site of a 14,000-acre wildfire that destroyed thousands of homes—in addition to numerous businesses, churches, and schools—in the Los Angeles area earlier this month. I personally know perhaps a dozen people whose homes burned down. This was one of several simultaneous, major fires caused by a combination of drought and unusually strong winds, and climate change likely exacerbated the environmental conditions that led to this particularly extreme devastation (9). Because of these recent events, the groaning of creation, together with faithful humans (see Romans 8:23) feels especially acute.
Ultimately, human action will not deliver creation from its present bondage. This will take a decisive act of God on the future day when Christ returns and the children of God are revealed and glorified (Romans 8:17–19, 21). However, this does not excuse faithful humans from playing a role in the present. Paul says, “not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption” (Romans 8:23). Luzia Sutter Rehman points out that the imagery of labor and groaning in Romans implies an active anticipation of the end of the age, since a great deal of hard work goes into giving birth (10). The image of Christians groaning together with creation in anticipation of God’s liberation lends itself to taking an active role in working for ecological benefit, while we look forward to the fullness of liberation and glory at the consummation of the age to come (11).
References
William Horst received his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary, where he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of New Testament Greek. He is also an adjunct professor for International Theological Seminary, and the author of Morality, Not Mortality: Moral Psychology and the Language of Death in Romans 5–8 (Lexington Books, 2022).
Another interpretation of Romans 8 presents itself if we look to the prophets of the Old Testament. Many prophetic passages describe the land of Israel weeping and mourning due to the negative effects of human sin (3). The personified land laments either because of drought or because of the damage resulting from invasion by foreign armies, both of which reflect God’s judgment against disobedience among the people of Israel. The significant number of passages involved makes this an important theme in the Old Testament, and because Paul was undoubtedly familiar with these writings, it is likely that he meant for creation’s “groaning” to evoke the notion of the earth’s travail (4). If this is right, it is significant that none of these passages hint that the earth mourns over the phenomena of death and decay. Consistently, the problem involves the detrimental effects of human rebellion against God’s ways.
Creation’s “[subjection] to futility” and “bondage to decay” in Romans 8 can likewise be understood in reference to the detrimental effects of human moral depravity. The words “decay” and “futility” used in the original ancient Greek text of this passage are sufficiently flexible that they could describe physical decomposition and transitoriness, or moral corruption. In the preceding chapters of Romans, Paul employs the language of slavery, domination, and warfare repeatedly to describe the prevailing power of sin in human lives apart from the liberating work of Christ. For example, Paul says, “[T]hanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient… and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:17–18, NRSV). In this and other passages, a person’s turning to Christ involves freedom from bondage to sinful inclinations and obedient submission to God’s ways (5).
Even Paul’s description of “death” entering the world through Adam (Romans 5:12–21) can be understood as a metaphorical expression of humanity’s subjection to the influence of sinful appetites (6). Based on this moral metaphorical use of the language of slavery in the preceding sections of the letter, it would make sense that creation’s bondage also has something to do with human moral disorientation. In other words, human moral failure has destructive effects not only for humans, but also for the earth as the habitation of humans.
Paul does not explain exactly how creation suffers because of human moral depravity, as his primary focus is on the hope of glory, which is incomparably greater in magnitude than any present suffering (Romans 8:18). However, several scholars have suggested that ecological factors might play a role. Most recently, Presian Renee Burroughs has argued that Paul and the Roman readers of his letter likely would have had some awareness of how Roman imperial warfare and agricultural practices caused various kinds of environmental degradation including deforestation, erosion, and pollution, to say nothing of the toll taken on human lives (7).
If creation’s groaning in Romans 8 is understood as an evocation of the earth’s travail in the Old Testament prophets and creation’s bondage is understood in terms of the concept of bondage to sin that appears in the preceding chapters of Romans, there remains no further reason to find in this passage the idea that physical death and decomposition were introduced to God’s previously pristine creation as a result of human disobedience. This means the passage can be harmonized more readily with an evolutionary understanding of human origins.
Turning to the twenty-first century world, it should not be difficult to imagine how human greed, selfishness, and pride lead to increased consumption, waste, pollution, and a lack of sustainability. Burroughs draws extensive parallels between the abuses of creation under the Roman Empire and abuses of creation perpetrated through modern industrial agriculture. Burroughs proposes regenerative agriculture, and especially perennial agriculture, as a potential contemporary application of Paul’s letter to the Romans, as these approaches deprecate many of the damaging ecological effects of contemporary agricultural norms (8).
As I write this brief essay, I sit less than two miles from the site of a 14,000-acre wildfire that destroyed thousands of homes—in addition to numerous businesses, churches, and schools—in the Los Angeles area earlier this month. I personally know perhaps a dozen people whose homes burned down. This was one of several simultaneous, major fires caused by a combination of drought and unusually strong winds, and climate change likely exacerbated the environmental conditions that led to this particularly extreme devastation (9). Because of these recent events, the groaning of creation, together with faithful humans (see Romans 8:23) feels especially acute.
Ultimately, human action will not deliver creation from its present bondage. This will take a decisive act of God on the future day when Christ returns and the children of God are revealed and glorified (Romans 8:17–19, 21). However, this does not excuse faithful humans from playing a role in the present. Paul says, “not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption” (Romans 8:23). Luzia Sutter Rehman points out that the imagery of labor and groaning in Romans implies an active anticipation of the end of the age, since a great deal of hard work goes into giving birth (10). The image of Christians groaning together with creation in anticipation of God’s liberation lends itself to taking an active role in working for ecological benefit, while we look forward to the fullness of liberation and glory at the consummation of the age to come (11).
References
- See, for example, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, Romans: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 505; Robert Jewett, Romans: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007), 512.
- For example, T. Ryan Jackson, New Creation in Paul's Letters: A Study of the Historical and Social Setting of a Pauline Concept (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010), 163.
- Amos 1:2; Hosea 4:1–3; Jeremiah 4:23–28; 12:1–4, 7–13; 23:9–12; Isaiah 24:1–20; 33:7–9; Joel 1:5–20. For discussion of these passages, see Katherine M. Hayes, “The Earth Mourns”: Prophetic Metaphor and Oral Aesthetic (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2002).
- See especially Laurie J. Braaten, “All Creation Groans: Romans 8:22 in Light of the Biblical Sources,” Horizons in Biblical Theology 28 (2006): 131–59; Jonathan Moo, “Romans 8.19–22 and Isaiah’s Cosmic Covenant,” New Testament Studies 54 (2008): 74–89.
- See also Romans 6:6, 11–22; 7:14–25; 8:4–9.
- William Horst, “Death through Adam as a Moral Metaphor in Romans 5,” God and Nature (Summer 2024): https://godandnature.asa3.org/horst-death-through-adam.html.
- Presian Renee Burroughs, Creation’s Slavery and Liberation: Paul’s Letter to Rome in the Face of Imperial and Industrial Agriculture (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2022), ch. 3. See also J. Donald Hughes, Environmental Problems of the Greeks and Romans: Ecology in the Ancient Mediterranean, 2nd ed. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014); Robert Jewett,
“The Corruption and Redemption of Creation: Reading Rom 8:18–23 within the Imperial Context,” in Paul and the Roman Imperial Order, ed. Richard A. Horsley (New York: Trinity International, 2004), 25–46. - Burroughs, Slavery, ch. 7.
- See Yufei Zou, et al., “Increasing Large Wildfires over the Western United States Linked to Diminishing Sea Ice in the Arctic,” Nature Communications 12, 6048 (2021): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26232-9.
- Luzia Sutter Rehman, “To Turn the Groaning into Labor: Romans 8.22–23,” in A Feminist Companion to Paul, ed. Amy-Jill Levine and Marianne Blickenstaff (Cleveland: Pilgrim, 2004), 74–84.
- For a more detailed exegetical argument in favor of the position I have presented here, see William Horst, “Creation’s Slavery to (Human) Corruption: A Moral Interpretation of Romans 8:20–22,” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 73
William Horst received his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary, where he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of New Testament Greek. He is also an adjunct professor for International Theological Seminary, and the author of Morality, Not Mortality: Moral Psychology and the Language of Death in Romans 5–8 (Lexington Books, 2022).