God’s Mission in Creation: Why Did He Make Us?
A Harmful Implication
“It’s better to say that the mission of God has a church in the world than that the church of God has a mission in the world.”
It’s uncertain who first made this statement, but it is regularly repeated, from mission textbooks to Twitter.1 It’s delivered as a summons to God’s people. “You see, God is on a mission, and we Christians are called to be a part of it. Let’s get going!” This sentiment is true, and I am happy to affirm it.
But I do have concerns with this ditty of a quote. There is an implication in the statement that is unhelpful, even harmful, for it suggests that the church exists for mission. It is the mission that is ultimate. Yet, a mission by nature exists for something else.
And God’s mission is to gather a people from all nations into a family, a family that would share in the very life of Father, Son, and Spirit. We’re going to see that this is the purpose of both creation and redemption. The mission exists for the church, not the other way around. How do we know? Consider four arguments.
The Mission of God and the Witness of the Church
Justin A. Schell
The Mission of God and the Witness of the Church takes readers on a canonical journey to examine fundamental questions about the mission of God and his loving desire to commune with his people.
1. The Shape of Creation
How the Bible begins alerts us to the purpose of creation. In Genesis 1, each day of creation adds to the beauty and wonder of God’s new cosmos, each beginning with “And God said” (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20) and ending with “and there was evening and there was morning, the first [second, and so on] day” (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23). The sixth day appears to be a day like any other (Gen. 1:24), but takes a drastic turn in verse 26.
Instead of simply calling some new thing into existence, Father, Son, and Spirit confer among themselves. This next creation will be unlike all that comes before it. It will be the end of creation, both in chronology and in teleology (i.e. it’s designed purpose). Simply by ordering the days of creation thus, God has shown us that humanity is at the center of his intentions. That becomes clearer as we learn more about God’s plans for the man and woman.
2. The Image Bearers
Man and woman are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26–28). Many scholars have pointed out that there is a representational aspect to this, namely, that humanity exercises dominion as God’s vice-regents. But that representation is founded on a familial relationship. Ruling as God’s vice-regents is what the image bearers do, but sons of God is what the image bearers are. Our ability to represent God exists because we are his children. Or said another way, we exercise dominion in the world because the king is our Father.
In Genesis 5:1-3, we read, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them . . . . When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.” Here, the reality that Seth is the image and likeness of Adam is linked directly to humanity’s being the image of God. We are God’s image because we are his children. God made man and woman so that they might participate in his family.
No wonder, then, that he desires the man and woman to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:26). No wonder, then, that God’s call to Abraham included the blessing of many offspring (Gen. 12:1–3; 22:17). No wonder, then, that God calls his people “my son” (Ex. 4:22). No wonder, then, that receiving Christ, believing in his name, grants one the right to become a child of God (John 1:12). Even before the beginning, God intended a world filled with people who could share in the sonship of Christ so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:29).
Sonship is the reason God created humanity in the first place. It is also the reason he has undertaken our redemption.
3. The Spreading of Glory
At this point one might wonder, What about God’s glory? Isn’t this a man-centered view of God’s purposes in the world? After all, doesn’t God say in Isaiah 43:7 that he created humanity for his glory? But, what does that mean, “for his glory?” Surely it cannot mean to provide something for God that he is lacking. I need to be glorified, so I have made them for my glory. No, that’s not right.
After what we have seen, could it be that we were created for the purpose of sharing in God’s glory? That the superabundant God, overflowing in glory, created a people who could behold, extol, and even come to share in God’s glory? Isn’t that why the cross is ground zero for the revelation of the glory of God, according to Christ? For he argued that falling to the earth and dying, and thus bearing much fruit, is what he meant by “the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23–24).
God created humanity for the purpose of familial communion. God redeems humanity for the same reason.
So, later that evening, Jesus could pray to the Father that he has now shared with his people the very glory which Father and Son have always shared (John 17:5, 22). In the same manner, the eternal love of God between Father and Son is also poured out on his people (John 17:23–24).
This is no man-centered understanding of creation and salvation. Far from robbing God of glory, it acknowledges just how richly glorious he is. He is no Allah, the god of Islam, creating in order that a submissive humanity might notice how powerful he is. No, the Triune God is worthy to be praised, to be glorified, precisely because he is a God who, by nature, gives out life abundantly.
4. The Commission of our Lord and the Conclusion of the Age
How a story ends is a strong indicator of the purpose of an author. That’s why we flip to the end of the book, even before we begin to read it. It shows us the end for which the story was written. How does the Bible end, and what does that tell us about God’s purposes in creation and redemption?
God created humanity for the purpose of familial communion. God redeems humanity for the same reason. So, after his resurrection, Jesus spent forty days teaching his disciples. He taught about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:8). Specifically, he called his disciples to proclaim his saving act throughout the world (Matt. 28:18–20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:44–48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8) so that men and women from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation might come into communion with the Triune God, for that is what eternal life is (John 17:3).
This activity of proclaiming the gospel as a testimony to all nations is to continue to the end of the age (Matt. 24:14; 28:20). These last days are a moment of mercy, especially among the Gentiles (Rom. 11:25; Heb. 9:26–28; 2 Pet. 3:8–13). This gospel was proclaimed in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and is now on its way to the ends of the earth, with particular interest given to those peoples and places who have not yet heard (Acts 1:8; Rom. 15:20). These days are to be marked by this mission.
Why? Because God has always desired a world filled with image-bearing men and women, sons and daughters, sharing in the fellowship of the Triune God. This is why he created. This is why Christ died. This is why we wait. We look for a new heaven and new earth where an innumerable multitude of men and women from all nations will gather around the throne of the Lamb, singing, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev. 7:9–10)
And in the end, this multitude will have what Adam and Eve were created for. They will live in the presence of God as his children (Rev. 21:3–4; 22:1–5). In fact, the Father will give us in marriage to his Son, confirming our place in his family forever (Rev. 19:6–9; 21:9). That is how the story ends, if “end” is the right word.
Why did God create? Why did he redeem? What purpose does his mission serve? The answer is almost too good to be true. You will be with God face to face, as his child, wed to his Son, enjoying his overflowing goodness forever. Hallelujah! Maranatha!
Notes:
- The earliest usage I’ve found is 1998 by Tim Dearborn in his book Beyond Duty, but it has been attributed, with slight modification, to Alan Hirsch, Howard Snyder, Roland Williams, and Christopher Wright. Perhaps they are all indebted to Jurgen Moltmann, who said: "It is not the Church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the Church" in The Church in the Power of the Spirit: A Contribution to Messianic Ecclesiology, London: SCM Press, 1977, 64
Justin A. Schell is the author of The Mission of God and the Witness of the Church.
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