Creation as Witness – The Law of God and Public Policy: The Environment (5)

Creation as Witness

The Law of God and Public Policy: The Environment (5)

It is the glory of God’s people to discover God’s glory.

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. Proverbs 25:2

Speaking to a group of pagans in Lystra, the Apostle Paul commented in passing that the Lord had left a “witness” to Himself in the productive lands they had enjoyed for generations (Acts 14:17). The creation, as we have seen, bears witness to the glory of God. Not all men see that glory—the pagans of Lystra apparently had not—but God is determined that His glory should not only be present but known in His creation. The work of drawing out the witness to God which creation bears falls to those who know the Lord and know how to use His creatures in such a way as to glorify Him.

Part of our concern for public policies designed to ensure the right use of the environment is that we should be able to “search out” the glory of God which may be discovered therein. When public schools prohibit meaningful discussion of all things religious and pursue a curriculum that furthers an economy of material wealth, they are actually impeding the witness God makes through His creation. Schools should be places where students learn to observe the glory of God through the work of science, express it in their artistic endeavors, and celebrate it together as friends, families, and worshipers. This is not to say that public schools should be turned into Christian schools; rather, it is simply to insist that public policy must not be used to obscure the glory of God or impede the discovery of that glory on the part of any who seek it.

Professional endeavors that come short of bringing out the glory of God, while not matters of public policy per se, should also come onto the radar screen of areas to be improved by Christians living according to the requirements of an economics of justice. How does the practice of law bear witness to God? What about running a business? Governing a community? Operating various kinds of equipment? And how do we bring out that witness to the people we serve by such means? There is a witness to God in every aspect of the creation—both the environment and our culture—and part of our concern in an economics of justice must be to bring that witness out so that God may be glorified appropriately.

Public policies which hinder our ability to do this should be opposed and replaced by those which make it possible for all people to benefit from considering the beauty, goodness, and truth of God as these come to light in created things. The creation and all culture strain to bear witness to God, Who has concealed His glory in them. The duty of those who are His “royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9, 10) is to pursue policies and practices that make it possible for us to “search out” God’s glory and to glorify God at all times in all things, and to oppose policies that do not.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.