Reformed and Presbyterian Christians have always been “big” on the doctrine of providence. This is the Christian view that God is involved with the world and has not simply created the world and stepped back, leaving it to run on its own or by pure randomness. As they used to put it, “God is not an absentee landlord!”
Reformed folks have seen God’s providence as having three parts.
· Preservation: God upholds the creation;
· Cooperation: God works with all created beings;
· Government: God guides all things toward the ultimate divine purposes.
But I suspect it is the last two of these parts we focus on most, if we think of God’s “providence.”
The Reformed believe people are not “puppets,” unable to make human choices. They believe people have the ability to choose between options, to decide on issues such as which TV show to watch, or what color to paint the kitchen. Therefore, they believe God enables humans to cooperate with the divine purposes to maintain and sustain life. God works in us and through us to do what God wants accomplished, i.e. God “cuts us in on the action” in this world! God could do it all without us; but God gives us abilities to make decisions so our human wills and the divine will can cooperate. This is one part of providence.
Second, the Reformed tradition emphasizes God’s “governing” the world through God’s plan and purposes. God is involved in history and God’s work in this world is to guide all things to achieve God’s ends or purposes. Not only is the “eye of God” over history, the “hand of God” is in history. God’s plan and purposes also enter our human lives. The Reformed believe God guides us in accordance with the divine will. God knows us intimately and works in us to carry out the divine will. We ask for this in the Lord’s Prayer: “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:11).
I suspect the “preservation” part of providence gets little attention. It’s a crucial “beginning point,” after all. Had God created the world and then simply stopped, what then? If God’s power did not uphold that which was created, the whole creation would disintegrate — collapse back into nothingness! We owe the ongoing order of creation, the continuation of all life in the created order to the sustaining power of God. As the staunch Calvinist Charles Hodge put it, preservation means “all things out of God owe the continuance of their existence, with all their properties and powers, to the will of God” (Systematic Theology 1:575).
The preservation aspect of providence should take on an even greater meaning today. Providentially speaking, God not only “upholds” the creation, but calls us as a dimension of the divine will and purpose to cooperate with God, and each other, in the preservation of the good creation. This takes on crucial relevance for us in the face of climate changes, the issue of “global warming,” the “greenhouse effect,” and all the other environmental concerns that are increasingly part of our news and culture. With heightened concerns over the future of the earth, its preservation should be a part of Christian stewardship and responsibility. According to providence, God is at work to preserve the earth. But God does so, in part, through cooperation with those who seek the divine purposes and will for the creation.
So we should see concerns for the environment as a Christian calling — as part of our participation in the providence of God. The divine verdict on the created order was that “it was good” (Gen. 1:25). Our responsibility to tend the earth, as “stewards,” emerges from God’s providential preservation of the earth and the call to participate in the divine design for creation. We believe we cooperate with God in carrying out ministries in the church, for example. Why not see a vigorous concern for a theology of the environment also to be part of our cooperation with God’s will and plan for the world?
The three parts of providence go together. In our days, with a heightened awareness of the dangers of human actions that harm and despoil the creation, our Christian responsibility is to cooperate with God and each other to preserve the earth.
No matter what one believes about the validity of “global warming,” or the movie, “An Inconvenient Truth,” Reformed and Presbyterian Christians, who believe in God’s providence, have this environmental responsibility. They must:
· Be aware. We need a concern for the world that, as Christians, leads us to learn all we can about the environment as part of the good creation.
· Care. We need a theology of creation that leads us to be concerned about both “redemption” and “creation.” The world is God’s good gift. We need to care for the needs of creation, as well as the human needs that happen in creation.
· Pray. We need to pray each day for the preservation of the earth, as part of God’s providence, coupling this prayer with our prayers to “do God’s will” (cooperate with God) and carry out God’s purposes (guidance).
· Act. We need a theology of God’s providence that propels us into action for the preservation of the earth. Our means and degrees of involvement will vary. But Christian activism for the preservation of the world is not an option. It is a crucial necessity!
The issues before us are complex and elicit differing opinions. But in these critical times Presbyterians should stand firmly with other Christians in awareness, care, prayer, and action, as we praise the providence that upholds the created world in which we live.
Donald K. McKim is Executive Editor for Theology and Reference for Westminster John Knox Press. He previously served as Academic Dean and Professor of Theology at Memphis Theological Seminary, as Professor of Theology at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, and as pastor of several PC(USA) churches.
