Apostles’ Creed: the Maker of Heaven - Earth

June 22, 2008

There are 20(!) posts separating this post on the Credo and the last post reflecting on the final words of the first article. It’s fitting, I think, that we are reflecting on theme of creation in the midst of a political season. If the general election tells us anything about the world it’s this: when folk run around in denial of their responsibility of God (choosing, instead, lip service) - anything (except honesty, vulnerability, integrity, courage in the face of the overwhelming) is possible.

In the last post on these words, we reflected on the ways in which creation is connected to theological themes such as soteriology and eschatology. We also noted the theological implications of Genesis 1-2 - including the observation that Genesis 1-2 is a critique of the first ‘heterosexual’ couple. The primary text I used in that discussion was Jennings - we now move on to think about Science and Theology, heaven, and we will reflect on Karl Barth’s entry in Dogmatics in Outline.

After concluding our reflections on the first article, I want to take a moment and review one or two of the confessions in the Presbyterian Book of Confessions - and think on, if you will, what those texts tells us about God.

I believe [see also 1.2a] in God the Father Almighty [see also 1.5a], Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

1.6a God: Maker of Heaven and Earth

Let’s begin with a few, preliminary Barthian thoughts:

1) Knowledge of creation is also a matter of revelation. That is, we do not know creation by studying it - we know creation on the basis of our knowledge of God. Creation is not God - but is a reality distinct from God (it follows then that pan(en)theism is an error). It is true that we may study creation and understand it’s processes - but we do not know creation - that is, we do not understand, for instance, that God created the world as the external basis of the covenant - of the promise that God is our God and we, human beings, are God’s people. We do not know creation - it’s meaning and purpose - apart from God’s dealing with human beings - apart from God in the person of Jesus Christ.

2) We do not know that this world is real and not, as Barth says, ‘only the ”veil of Maya” apart from Jesus Christ entering the world. Jesus is the divine testimony: you are real.

3) Creation is a matter of grace. What this means is simply that God has no need of this world and human beings in the world. Creation is God’s choice to have to do with, to love, a reality distinct from Godself.

4) Human beings are free in creation. ‘Freedom to decide means freedom to decide towards the Only One for whom God’s creature can decide, for the affirmation of Him who has created it, for the accomplishment of his will; that is, for obedience’ (56). If we decide for something else, we decide for that which we are not, by nature, inclined to decide for - namely, that which ‘arises out of the weight of God’s ”No!” (57). If this impossible possibility takes place - it is a fall into nothingness, non-being - as it is what is excluded by God and is, therefore, not real.

5) It follows, then, that deism is an error. World and humans in the world came into being by God’s Word - as a manifestation of God’s grace - and continue to exist on the basis of God’s Word, Jesus Christ. If God were to leave the world to it’s own devices, nothingness would prevail - as humans are not powerful in the face of nothingness. We exists because God makes our existence God’s business and pleasure (as Jesus reveals).

6) Human beings exist (on earth under heaven) to know this God and to enjoy this God forever - we exist to be nothing more - or less- than what God created human beings to be: human beings (open to God and open to humanity - as Jesus reveals).

With the above broad strokes in mind, let’s explore Barth’s exposition of ‘heaven and earth.’

1) Barth begins with a caution: beware of world-pictures - whether an ancient world-picture or a modern world-picture. Christians are free to understand the ‘how’ God created the world. We are not fettered to any particular understanding - whether an ancient or modern understanding of the ‘how.’ What is revealed is a raw fact: God created the world through God’s Word. There is much room, of course, for understanding what ‘through God’s Word’ means.

2) Heaven is a created reality and must not be confused with God. Heaven is a boundary - an inconceivable, inaccessible, created reality. The implication is that mystery exists even with the created reality. There are, even in the created realm, places, realities, etc. humans cannot penetrate. If this is the case with regard to the created reality, the incompressibility of God takes on an even more radial quality. Heaven is inconceivable - earth is conceivable. Both are created realities.

3) ‘Man is the creature of the boundary between heaven and earth; he is on earth and under heaven’ (63). It is within this space that God chooses to manifest Godself in the face Jesus Christ. It is within his space that the meaning of everything else is revealed.

Barth concludes by noting that the covenant between God and human being was not an afterthought - as if creation came first and then God’s resolve to be with human being came later. No, Jesus was before the foundation of the world - and, therefore, God’s covenant, God’s gracious decision to be with, for, and among human beings was decided prior to created reality.

Let’s conclude with a word about the Theology - Science debate.

The earth is conceivable - and, therefore, open to exploration and understanding. Science, therefore, is a discipline that all should take note of and respect. Science errs, however, when it, on the basis of what is conceivable, asserts God cannot and does not exist. Earth does not reveal God - God reveals the truth about the earth.

In addition, various sciences will always be - partially - in error so long as they attempt to understand created reality, including the human being, apart from the revelation of God.

It is on the basis of the revelation of God that we can judge the truthfulness or validity of scientific exploration. For instance, evolution is a valid theory - perhaps even a fact - so long as it is not concluded that evolution = no God. Evolution know becomes absurd and an error.

Posted by Tony Posted in Posts by Tony, Queer / Theology, The Church